[andylovesburritos]

i bought a pale ale kit and got it all brewed and in the fermenter, pitched the yeast according to the package and waited 12 hours. No sign of life and 36 hours later still no sign of life. i am going to buy another batch of yeast, but have i waited too long or would it be okay to re-pitch? like i said there are no bubbles so i can assume there is no infection, but i'm fairly new to this.

[bluesman]

What kind of yeast did you pitch?   What temp did you pitch?

There may be a lag and/or a leak in your fermenter. Airlock activity or lack of is only an indicator of CO2 pressure in the fermenter. The yeast may be in the lag phase or growth phase. Look inside the fermenter for any activity (krausen) like a cloudiness or foam on the top of the wort.

What was your recipe? OG?

[classic]

What temp did you pitch the yeast at? I'm assuming it was dry yeast, did you rehydrate it?  You can repitch without ill effect if you had reasonable sanitation practices, either way it's worth a shot.  However, I wouldn't wait much longer than 48 hours.

[andylovesburritos]

i bought a kit from the local homebrew store and it contained everything you need to make beer, all i need was some of the tools to brew it up. it came with its own yeast packet that i saved just in case, but ironically my dog ate it. none of the ingredients were labeled so i don't know what the specific recipe is, i don't even know what kind of hops they gave me. needless to say i won't buy a pre-made kit from that store ever again.

i chilled the wort to 60 degrees so i could get an o.g. reading and that is the temp i pitched my yeast, but when i went to sanitize the hydrometer, i broke it so i need to buy a new one.

upon further inspection i found there is activity I'm just using a fermenter bucket that appears to not seal up tight, so with that being said i really appreciate that small bit of info that i should have known from the start. so no problem after all and thanks for the replies!!!

[denny]

Good to hear, Andy!  FWIW, leaky bucket lids and messages about the beer not fermenting are pretty common.  So, you've just joined the club!

[bluesman]

Glad to hear you have some activity. Also good to know you pitched at 60F with dry yeast as pitching rates and temp as well as proper aeration are vitally important to achieving great beer.

Welcome to the hobby...errr obsession and the almighty AHA Forum Andy! 

[euge]

I go by looking at the beer. Experience has taught me the signs of fermentation. I don't bother with fermentation locks and just lay the lid on top of the bucket so I can peek in after the first 12 hours. When the krausen drops I know that gravity checks in a couple days will reveal that it's mostly done.

[morticaixavier]

i chilled the wort to 60 degrees so i could get an o.g. reading and that is the temp i pitched my yeast, but when i went to sanitize the hydrometer, i broke it so i need to buy a new one.

After the 2nd time I did this I realized that there is no reason to sanitize the hydrometer. You shouldn't be pouring the sample back into the wort/beer anyway so no worries.