Help - I don't think my beer is alive :(

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I just took another gravity reading. It is at 1038 so down a little in the last 3 days. What do you suggest I do now, it looks like some (a tiny bit) or fermentation has occurred. Cheers
 
The one nutrient that yeast need, which is not present in wort due to boiling, is oxygen. During the lag phase, yeast cells rapidly absorb available oxygen from the wort. The cells need oxygen in order to produce important compounds, most significantly sterols, which are critical in yeast membrane permeability. It is important that you provide enough oxygen to the yeast at the beginning of fermentation. Generally, you do not want to add oxygen later, as it can disturb the delicate balance of flavor and aroma compound creation.
Using proper levels of dissolved oxygen is just as important as using proper pitching rates. Lack of dissolved oxygen causes many fermentation problems. Stuck fermentations, long fermentation times, underattenuated beers, yeast stress, and off-flavors are often the result of too little oxygen. In addition, underaerating can result in lower viability with each generation of reused yeast.
For the average wort and yeast pitching rates, the proper amount of dissolved oxygen is 8 to 10 parts per million. The only way to reach the recommended 10 ppm minimum is with the addition of oxygen. Filling the headspace of the fermentor and shaking vigorously can result in dissolved oxygen levels past 10 ppm, but once you have bottled oxygen, it is much easier to use a sintered stone.
I have pure oxygen injection system but I have gone OTT on my setup.
 
The one nutrient that yeast need, which is not present in wort due to boiling, is oxygen. During the lag phase, yeast cells rapidly absorb available oxygen from the wort. The cells need oxygen in order to produce important compounds, most significantly sterols, which are critical in yeast membrane permeability. It is important that you provide enough oxygen to the yeast at the beginning of fermentation. Generally, you do not want to add oxygen later, as it can disturb the delicate balance of flavor and aroma compound creation.
Using proper levels of dissolved oxygen is just as important as using proper pitching rates. Lack of dissolved oxygen causes many fermentation problems. Stuck fermentations, long fermentation times, underattenuated beers, yeast stress, and off-flavors are often the result of too little oxygen. In addition, underaerating can result in lower viability with each generation of reused yeast.
For the average wort and yeast pitching rates, the proper amount of dissolved oxygen is 8 to 10 parts per million. The only way to reach the recommended 10 ppm minimum is with the addition of oxygen. Filling the headspace of the fermentor and shaking vigorously can result in dissolved oxygen levels past 10 ppm, but once you have bottled oxygen, it is much easier to use a sintered stone.
I have pure oxygen injection system but I have gone OTT on my setup.

Just to reiterate, with dry yeast it is not necessary to aerate your wort because it has all the lipids, sterols etc. built in. Yes it's good practice to do so in general, but not technically required. See post #19.
 
Technically the beer will ferment if you pitch enough nonrehydrated yeast, but you are not giving the yeast an opportunity to make the best beer possible. Skipping rehydration kills about half the cells pitched. Besides having only half as much yeast as is needed, the dead cells immediately begin to break down and affect the beer flavor.
 
Technically the beer will ferment if you pitch enough nonrehydrated yeast, but you are not giving the yeast an opportunity to make the best beer possible. Skipping rehydration kills about half the cells pitched. Besides having only half as much yeast as is needed, the dead cells immediately begin to break down and affect the beer flavor.

I agree 100%, I was talking about aeration though.
 
Technically the beer will ferment if you pitch enough nonrehydrated yeast, but you are not giving the yeast an opportunity to make the best beer possible. Skipping rehydration kills about half the cells pitched. Besides having only half as much yeast as is needed, the dead cells immediately begin to break down and affect the beer flavor.
 
I just took another gravity reading. It is at 1038 so down a little in the last 3 days. What do you suggest I do now, it looks like some (a tiny bit) or fermentation has occurred. Cheers

To return to your real problem - what would I do now?
First - it's now 4th August - has much happened since 1038?
If it is still fermenting, very slowly, I'd give it a chance & let it keep on. But mainly with the thought that I've nothing to lose!

If it seems pretty well stuck - say at 1030 or above - then I'd go with Japanbrew & guess that your mash was too hot. Certainly, if your mash spent a lot of time at 70C, then you'd get plenty of sugars, but not ones that the yeast can break down. This could explain the OG 1050, but poor fermentation progress.
Also, I still think that not rehydrating your yeast in combination with not aerating the wort can't be a good thing!

Personally, I'd now think that (at SG 1030 or more) this was down to experience & dump it. By the sound of it, the FV has been opened a lot with little fermentation taking place. Therefore, you're likely to have had a lot of unwanted organisms floating on the air into your brew (on dust particles certainly, or at this time of year maybe on fruit flies). Most of these spoilage organisms rely on oxygen to reproduce - so active fermentation, producing a blanket of CO2 over the beer, inhibits them. If the beer is doing very little fermentation, and the FV is being opened enough to flood it with air, then in my experience spoilage is almost inevitable.
Personally, I'd just start again, and:
Keep your mash temperature below 68C. 66C is a good average. If you like a crisp, dry beer then 64C is OK.
Rehydrate dried yeast if that's what you use.
Oxygenate your wort. Perhaps it might not be strictly necessary with (some??) dried yeast. But I don't see it doing any harm. Maybe your yeast is a bit old, stored at the wrong temperature, who knows. Personally I always make a starter anyway - so I can see what I'm getting! And then I oxygenate the wort so that the starter can really bulk up the number of yeast cells in the brew.
Just works for me, others will do it differently.
 
To return to your real problem - what would I do now?
First - it's now 4th August - has much happened since 1038?
If it is still fermenting, very slowly, I'd give it a chance & let it keep on. But mainly with the thought that I've nothing to lose!

If it seems pretty well stuck - say at 1030 or above - then I'd go with Japanbrew & guess that your mash was too hot. Certainly, if your mash spent a lot of time at 70C, then you'd get plenty of sugars, but not ones that the yeast can break down. This could explain the OG 1050, but poor fermentation progress.
Also, I still think that not rehydrating your yeast in combination with not aerating the wort can't be a good thing!

Personally, I'd now think that (at SG 1030 or more) this was down to experience & dump it. By the sound of it, the FV has been opened a lot with little fermentation taking place. Therefore, you're likely to have had a lot of unwanted organisms floating on the air into your brew (on dust particles certainly, or at this time of year maybe on fruit flies). Most of these spoilage organisms rely on oxygen to reproduce - so active fermentation, producing a blanket of CO2 over the beer, inhibits them. If the beer is doing very little fermentation, and the FV is being opened enough to flood it with air, then in my experience spoilage is almost inevitable.
Personally, I'd just start again, and:
Keep your mash temperature below 68C. 66C is a good average. If you like a crisp, dry beer then 64C is OK.
Rehydrate dried yeast if that's what you use.
Oxygenate your wort. Perhaps it might not be strictly necessary with (some??) dried yeast. But I don't see it doing any harm. Maybe your yeast is a bit old, stored at the wrong temperature, who knows. Personally I always make a starter anyway - so I can see what I'm getting! And then I oxygenate the wort so that the starter can really bulk up the number of yeast cells in the brew.
Just works for me, others will do it differently.

Thanks for the reply mate. Not much has happened so I think I'm going to dump it. I have tried another extract brew in the mean time which looks like it's going better. Much more active
 
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