No krausen/fermentation in all-grain brew

Problems with latest batch...

The problem with this batch is I never got any krausen, and it seems to never have begun fermentation.

I have been using this kit:
http://www.home-brew-online.com/sta...uipment-pack-all-grain-brewing-in-a-bag-p2332

My latest batch was an attempt at orange pale ale (recipe from Booze by John Wright, crony of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall)
I slightly modified the recipe as I only had 2kg of pale ale malt, so I used 2kg of lager malt to make up the 4kg.

Strike water was 13 litres to 76 degrees (all will be in Celsius)

Brought down to about 68 degrees for the mash and added all 4kg of the grain in a bag (annoying method but otherwise afraid grains will get on the element of the boiler)
Mashed for 1 hour and a quarter at this temp.

I heated 13 litres of sparge water to 78 degrees. I took a gravity reading for the hell of it at this point (1030)

I had a difficult sparge because the grain bag was completely full and saturated so very heavy - I halved the grains and rinsed through as best I could, then removed the grains and added the other half to sparge those too.

I was aiming for a specific gravity of 1041 but it was only a bit over 1030 so the book said I could add malt extract powder to bring it up, so I did (took 250g to get to 1040 OG)

I then brought the wort to the boil and added 10g Golding hops and 200g brown sugar. I boiled for an hour and added another 10g hops and orange zest and some pulp from an organic, unwaxed orange that I had sterilised by boiling to be safe and 2 tsp of carragheen. Then 10 more minutes on the boil and a final 10g of the hops. I had 22.5 litres at this stage.

I then turned off the boiler and left to stand (as directed by the recipe) for 40 minutes. I then strained through muslin and decanted from the boiler into the fermenting bucket and used my wort chiller to cool it down to 20 degrees. Then I whisked the wort with a sterilised whisk and pitched in a sachet of ale yeast and sealed with a lid and airlock/grommet. I had 20 litres at this stage. The temperature of the liquid in the room I left it (kitchen) always comes out a steady 18-20 degrees.

After a couple of days there was no sign of fermentation and NO krausen so I re-pitched yeast mixed with room temp water (boiled and let cool down, covered). Still nothing so out of desperation I cooked up some malt extract powder and added to yet more yeast but still have never seen any activity.

It's been sitting there for about three weeks now and I've just taken a reading and it says 1020 gravity... Bucket lid is tight.

Any ideas???

Thanks SO much for your help!

Peter

you may not see yeast activity or any evidence till you drain and discover a thick sediment especially darker brews where you cant see through the beer to the base. and some lids may appear sealed, but escaping co2 will find the route of least resistance..

when did you add the extra sugars, if recently that could account for the higher gravity?? if not then, have you checked the hydrometer in tap water?? rinse/wash in too hot a liquid and the glue holding the paper grade tube can slip..

seems you took a preboil gravity reading but not a post boil reading, its generally the post boil or original gravity thats best used to gauge primary fermentation against, but you can expect this to be higher than the 1.040 preboil..

if the mash didnt do a full conversion possibly indicated by the lower than expected gravity? then 1020 may be the end gravity??

a gentle rousing or stir to mix in yeast that have fallen out as sediment could help, try not to disturb the co2 laying above the brew, then leave alone for a further week before checking the gravity? whats it taste like? you should always drink the samples Never return em

What was your gravity when you pitched the yeast because you say you added brown sugar in the boil. Plus you added more malt extract again. So you have increased the gravity again, making the yeast work again. when did you add the malt?

Fil said:

you may not see yeast activity or any evidence till you drain and discover a thick sediment especially darker brews where you cant see through the beer to the base. and some lids may appear sealed, but escaping co2 will find the route of least resistance..

when did you add the extra sugars, if recently that could account for the higher gravity?? if not then, have you checked the hydrometer in tap water?? rinse/wash in too hot a liquid and the glue holding the paper grade tube can slip..

seems you took a preboil gravity reading but not a post boil reading, its generally the post boil or original gravity thats best used to gauge primary fermentation against, but you can expect this to be higher than the 1.040 preboil..

if the mash didnt do a full conversion possibly indicated by the lower than expected gravity? then 1020 may be the end gravity??

a gentle rousing or stir to mix in yeast that have fallen out as sediment could help, try not to disturb the co2 laying above the brew, then leave alone for a further week before checking the gravity? whats it taste like? you should always drink the samples Never return em

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. That's interesting - my recipe and others I've followed said to expect a think krausen after a day... I really would hope the lid is tight as it's from a brand-new kit! Do you think I should try to seal with tape in future?

I added the extra sugars a couple of weeks ago. I was actually surprised at the gravity reading as I thought nothing had happened; but I had just stirred it so maybe I'll wait until it settles again and take a new reading as I'm surprised that any alcohol has been created at all considering the lack of activity.

I think I may have written my question wrong, but yes, the POST boil gravity was 1040.

Good advice, I will leave for another week now I've stirred it - I have a cask for secondary fermentation, would you recommend decanting into that?

hoptoit said:

What was your gravity when you pitched the yeast because you say you added brown sugar in the boil. Plus you added more malt extract again. So you have increased the gravity again, making the yeast work again. when did you add the malt?

Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for this. Gravity when I pitched the yeast was 1040 (I had brought it up to this with the addition of powdered malt extract)
Then as I saw no activity I re-pitched the yeast, then after over a week as I saw no krausen I cooked up the malt extract, cooled and added yeast and pitched all that, but the gravity was still only 1040 as I didn't add much malt.

dont worry about a lid seal, an airlock is only useful as an indicator of activity and nothing else with a beer that ferments faster (usually).

generally if cask conditioning i understand that folk tend to cask when the gravity is still a couple of points above the expected final gravity so that the using of the last sugars provides the condition in the cask, as you dont know what FG to expect thats gonna be tricky, i would suggest for this brew you complete primary totally and add a small priming charge when you cask it.