Slow start? 2

[Restin]

I've read this thread:

Slow Start (http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5467)

My story is almost identical. It's been 26 hours and absolutely nothing is happening in my frementer. This is my first ever batch and I'm pretty sure I did everything "by the book". To aerate I shook the 2.5 gallons of water in the fermenter for about 5 minutes . . . violently. I then poured the wort into the fermenter and then pitched the room temperature White Labs vial. It's been at about 68-70 degrees the entire time.

Here's my real question. If I need to repitch some yeast it will take a couple days to get. Should I order some just in case or should I trust in the beer gods and hope it starts fermenting?

[Stodbrew]

My guess would be it will start showing signs of fermentation soon. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[BrewDog]

Restin-

Welcome-
Don't worry. It'll go. Give it some time.

What kind of beer did you make for your first batch?

[Restin]

That's good to hear. I went with a Red Hook ESB clone from Midwest Brewing.

I can't wait to really get into this hobby. I've already started planning my equipment upgrades (all grain, kegging, bigger batches) around anniversaries, birthdays, valentines day, etc . :D

Anyway, I'll quit worrying so much about my current brew and more about my NEXT brew.

[SoxyinMO]

I had this happen to a stout and the LHBS dude said to give the carboy a gentle swirl. I did that and the stout started bubbling, slowly, but definite bubbles.

[Restin]

I'm gonna give that a try. It's been 49 hours and still no activity.

[BrewDog]

This thing kick yet?
If not, the best thing you can do is repitch at this point if you haven't already.

[Restin]

Yeah, kicked off at 69 hours. Nice and slow like :) Hopefully not too slow, I racked it to secondary last night (7 days in primary) and there was still a pretty significant amount of foam. Hopefully it finishes out.

After this episode I think I will stick with starters and perhaps a converted fish tank pump for aeration. At the very least it will give me a bit more consistency.

[YamahaXS]

it will be great. just be patient

[BrewDog]

Glad to hear it went. The lag time can be a killer mentally.
Keep patient and give this batch a little bit of extra time in the secondary (an extra week will do wonders). This gives it time to settle out since it sounds to me like it was still somewhat active when you racked to the secondary.

One other thing, it's a good idea to always keep a packet of dry yeast available in case of emergency. Pick a good name brand general purpose yeast (like Nottingham -- not the generic crap that comes under the lid of a can of LME). Keep it in your fridge, to help keep it alive longer. After a few (6?) months, replace it with a new packet. But don't just throw the old one away. Add the old packet to the BOIL of your next batch. Dead yeast provides super nutrients for the yeasty beasties, and the boil will both sterilize it as well as kill any cells that are left.


Oh, yeah, sounds like time to start your next batch.... :)

[brewmonkey]

Did you take a gravity reading yet? I have head beers that never show signs of fermentation that are done. Odd, but it happens. I had a 21bbl batch of Pale Ale that I thought was a goner because I never saw anything in the blow off bucket. I decided to grab a reading and try to repitch it at 36 hours only to find that it had dropped from 13P to 6P in 24 hours. :eek:

[Restin]

Thanks for all the help guys. Trust me, it's good to hear stuff like this since it is my first. This brew has been a killer on my patience.

Keeping some backup yeast makes a lot of sense, any worries on it being a different strain than the original?

I did manage to get a gravity reading when I racked it. It came in at .022 (started at .054). My confidence level on those readings isn't sky high but I think they are close. After seeing it I immediatley thought about leaving it in secondary for another week. Glad to hear another vote for doing that from someone who knows.

Anyway, my second beer. I think I've pondered over this every day since I made the first batch, and probably drove my wife nuts in the process :D I'm a wee bit on the anal side so what I have in mind is to make the exact same beer but do just about everything differently and then compare. I figure this will give me a pretty solid basis for learning more about the hobby.

Thanks again!

[brewmonkey]

You should try to re-pitch the same strain since the new yeast will obviously effect the flavor profile. The problem is keeping a liquid strain around that will be good to pitch so what I do is keep a packge of dehydrated yeast since it will keep better, longer. It is always handy for an emergency.