Evil dog IPA

It would have to be above 40 to kill the yeast, 25 ish is fine, though you want it down to 20 ish pretty soon after pitching ideally.

Thanks MyQul, I pitched it at 25c so I'll see what happens.

It is in the Airing cupboard at the moment and always sits at a constant 22c, so hopfull it all goes Ok from here.

I pitched the yeast out of the packet at 25c, and realise now that I should of waited for it to cool. Time will Tell.

Again thanks for all your help.

Pitching at 25 is ok. Better to pitch cooler, but not critical, I've done 25 several times and it's been fine.

clibit said:

Pitching at 25 is ok. Better to pitch cooler, but not critical, I've done 25 several times and it's been fine.

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Thanks i'm feeling a little more confident now. Should I check the SG again to see if its higher than the original 1020 reading which was far from the 1070 average.

Once again this forums support is amazing!!:thumb:

Dead helpful on here. I'm new to all this myself really but learning lots from reading posts and people answering questions I have about it. Just bought some kit to start doing a brew not from a kit. Awaiting its arrival then will give that ago. Expect to see me asking plenty!!

I'd say no harm in taking another reading though either. I was testing mine nearly everyday in my eagerness to ensure it worked out ok. Drinking the sample of course.

Right so The kit has been in FV 1 now for 9 days, took a reading last night and it was at 1052. I think I have truly messed this kit up as stated before - I tried using a cylinder airlock (new style) and I haven't noticed any activity with it in the whole of the 9 days.

So when taking a reading I changed back to an normal airlock, It has been sat at 22c constant for the 9 days so far and when I had a look in last night there was no foam or cake on the top of the water just a few bubbles.

I'm worried that the fermentation is not taking place and I have royally stuffed this up again - any suggestions?

Could maybe try lobbing some new yeast in? I'm no expert and that might be a bad idea but I almost did it with mine after what o thought was no activity in the air lock. Turns out I had a leak on the lid. But home brew shop person advised a new yeast sachet when I explained I may of had it too cold for a day.

Don't worry about airlock activity as FV's usually arn't airtight so the usually CO2 escapes

If your gravity has been at 1.052 for 9 days, I'd pitch more yeast - make sure you rehydrate it rather than just sprinkling on top and also add some yeast nutrient too. Keep it at 22C at least until you get a krausen

If you've got a wilko near you some gervin ale yeast (£1.70) yeast nutrient (£1) so this brew doesnt turn into some sort of money pit

MyQul said:

Don't worry about airlock activity as FV's usually arn't airtight so the usually CO2 escapes

If your gravity has been at 1.052 for 9 days, I'd pitch more yeast - make sure you rehydrate it rather than just sprinkling on top and also add some yeast nutrient too. Keep it at 22C at least until you get a krausen

If you've got a wilko near you some gervin ale yeast (£1.70) yeast nutrient (£1) so this brew doesnt turn into some sort of money pit

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Hi MyQul

Thanks, I have some yeast nutrient already, I will pop down to wilko's tonight to pick up the Garvin yeast and rehydrate it.

I wasn't sure what the original SG reading was I took a reading when the kit was too warm and got an iffy reading of 1020.

After taking a sample last night I have the suspicion that the lid on the FV was not on properly and that may be letting the gas out.

With regards to the yeast and nutrient, do I put tea spoon of nutrient into 100mm water at room temp then add yeast and stir - sorry I'm new to this.

When this has settled for 15minutes then add to the FV and stir in?

Thanks

Right just took another SG reading tonight and its 1040 so dropped a bit since yesterdays reading. Do I take it I don't need to add anymore yeast as something is working?

Thanks

If it's changing then I'd take that as something's clearly working. Await more experienced advice though. But I'd say just see what happens with it and keep an eye on readings.

Here's what I do to rehydrate yeast:

-Sanitize a cereal bowl with starsan and cover with sterilized foil - anytime your not actually accessing the bowl put the foil on to cover
- sanitize a spoon with starsan

- Boil some water to sterilize (about 200ml)
- Cool water to about 35C
-sprinkle yeast evenly on surface trying not to get any clumps
-Leave for 15 mins
-stir yeast with spoon
-put in freezer to cool for about ten minutes to within 5C of wort in FV temp. Your not really supposed to do this. You're supposed to carefully adjust the temp by adding wort from the FV spoon by spoon full till it gets within 5C of the wort in the FV but doing this takes ages and is a PITA so I just stick it in the freezer to cool down. Never had a problem doing this.
-Pitch reydrated yeast.

As for yeast nutrient I've never actually put any in a brew because I 've never (fortunately)had a stuck fermentation. I use it for yeast culturing/starters to try to compensate a bit for not having a stir plate. I find it really effective for this.
Anyway I wouldn't put it in with the rehydrated yeast directly, after pitching I'd just put a couple of heaped teaspoon fulls (the instructions on my wilko nutrient says 1 heaped teaspoon full per gallon - but I think this might be for wine) into the wort after pitching the yeast and (very gently so as not to add any oxgen) give the wort a stir.

Cross posting here.

Mmm. The yeast seems to be working. What temp is the FV at. I'm guessing either the FV is too cool or your kit yeast is very old and the viability is really low.

What I would do is add some yeast nutrient and give the sediment a very gentle stir to rouse the yeast and get it back into suspension. Then take a another reading 12-24 hours later

Right just took another SG reading tonight and its 1040 so dropped a bit since yesterdays reading. Do I take it I don't need to add anymore yeast as something is working?

Thanks

MyQul said:

What I would do is add some yeast nutrient and give the sediment a very gentle stir to rouse the yeast and get it back into suspension. Then take a another reading 12-24 hours later

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OK, I've been looking at the time line for your brew. So you pitched on the 26th Jan OG 1.052 and is now 1.040?

The yeast is obviously working to some extent but not hitting the predicted FG.
Either, the FV is too cold, you didn't get enough yeast or you did get enough yeast but it was old and the viability is ****.

I would hold fire on adding anything else (yeast or nutrient) and give it a gentle stir to rouse the yeast (yeast can only work in suspension) and wait for a few more days to see what happens. If the gravity doesnt drop any more then I would consider adding more yeast and nutrient

HI MyQul

I do believe im a Numpty! I have sorted this now. Going back to when I started the brew the original SG was 1020??? but I had not let the wort cool down enough to get a clear reading, but in eagerness I pitched the yeast before taking another sg reading when the wort had cooled down so im unaware what the actual original SG reading was.

Now I have inspected my FV and seems that the screw cap when tightened all the way pops up off one of the threads which is leaving a gap for the gas to escape. I have now refitted a old style bubbler airlock and made sure I don't over-screw the cap. Checked last night and the airlock is bubbling every 3 seconds so looks like yeast is fine and all is working well.

I cant thank you enough for your help and I apologise for the stupid questions. :)

All's well that ends well then. Glad you've sorted it out.

Enjoy the brew

Ben-Harrison said:

HI MyQul

I do believe im a Numpty! I have sorted this now. Going back to when I started the brew the original SG was 1020??? but I had not let the wort cool down enough to get a clear reading, but in eagerness I pitched the yeast before taking another sg reading when the wort had cooled down so im unaware what the actual original SG reading was.

Now I have inspected my FV and seems that the screw cap when tightened all the way pops up off one of the threads which is leaving a gap for the gas to escape. I have now refitted a old style bubbler airlock and made sure I don't over-screw the cap. Checked last night and the airlock is bubbling every 3 seconds so looks like yeast is fine and all is working well.

I cant thank you enough for your help and I apologise for the stupid questions. :)

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ben just to let you know I have done two of these before and my SG was 1064 for 22 litres and 1062 for 23 litres so you can use this as a rough guide. I also had them in FV for 26 and 28 days and they were both great tasting, will be doing another soon. I have the bad cat on the go at the minute, looking forward to trying some of it