Woodfords Wherry not fermenting
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krazypara3165
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Stay calm. Fermentation is not measured by airlock activity but by taking gravity readings. Most fermentation vessels dont have a proper seal so the co2 finds other ways to escape. If you have a hydrometer take a reading after a week and you should see a difference :)
mattyhall22
Landlord.
Any krausen on it? Then an obvious daft question, did you put the yeast in? 
Give it a bit longer then a gentle stir with a sanitised spoon, if nothing try re-pitching some more yeast :drunk:
Give it a bit longer then a gentle stir with a sanitised spoon, if nothing try re-pitching some more yeast :drunk:
mattyhall22
Landlord.
If there is froth (thats the krausen) then it is fermenting. Don't be concerned about the airlock, give it a few days and take a gravity reading. if its going down its working :
Wherry is quite highly rated as a finished product, but lot's of comments about slow / stuck fermentations. I suspect 20c is at the lower end of the kit yeast's ability to produce CO2 faster than the bubbles it makes pop. Just wait a bit longer than expected and it will be fine. Probably be a better drink for a slower ferment.
rangeroverman
Active Member
My Woodfords did the same took about 5 days to get started and then took a fortnight to ferment out to right gravity, as they say "Don't panic Mr Mannering":
I racked my second wherry to a SFV after 17 days because it was a bit cloudy. Added maybe 40g of sugar in addition to Star Sanning everything in sight, on the grounds that some CO2 might be useful.
Bottled it yesterday on day 20 and it looks good. Much clearer than the first, which has thrown a lot of trub during its 2+6 weeks since bottling.
Will give No 1 a taste maybe next weekend.
No 2 had an addition of ~ 30g Cascade hops and 500g of "hopped" DME which was steeped for 30 mins or so and strained onto the kit contents.
Is it the yeast that comes with this kit that is the issue?
The Coopers yeast seems to work wondrously so far with no problems, despite beginner mistakes like pitching at high temps.
I am very tempted to use the Coopers trub yeast for the kits I got at Wilko sales - maybe even a Wherry kit.
Anyone else tried this?
I would pour some of the trub into a coke or similar 500ml bottle, stick it in the fridge and aim to use the "middle third" out of the bottle. Is this a good plan?
That is, if there is anyone on here left who has a Scooby Doo (clue) about making beer.
Bottled it yesterday on day 20 and it looks good. Much clearer than the first, which has thrown a lot of trub during its 2+6 weeks since bottling.
Will give No 1 a taste maybe next weekend.
No 2 had an addition of ~ 30g Cascade hops and 500g of "hopped" DME which was steeped for 30 mins or so and strained onto the kit contents.
Is it the yeast that comes with this kit that is the issue?
The Coopers yeast seems to work wondrously so far with no problems, despite beginner mistakes like pitching at high temps.
I am very tempted to use the Coopers trub yeast for the kits I got at Wilko sales - maybe even a Wherry kit.
Anyone else tried this?
I would pour some of the trub into a coke or similar 500ml bottle, stick it in the fridge and aim to use the "middle third" out of the bottle. Is this a good plan?
That is, if there is anyone on here left who has a Scooby Doo (clue) about making beer.
Hello I also recently started a Wherry kit 13 days ago and after reading various comments on the forum I wasn't over concerned when it took a while to get going. Perhaps 3 days!
Anyway since then it has fermented but without the usual load of foam on top that I'm used to seeing. However last Saturday it seemed to have stopped any form of activity, because I'm using a fermenting bucket I lifted the lid just enough to drop my hydrometer in and the reading was and today still is 1020 where the target reading is 1014.
So I'm concerned that it has stuck and again I have seen forum posts that say to be patient but not seeing any drop on the hydrometer over the last3 days got me concerned. The temperature has been maintained at 21 degrees according to my thermometer so I'm sure that should be ok.
I suppose my next move would be to give it a good stir to see if it gets going again.
However I would like to ask a question, because the kit gets good reviews I know it's a good product but if I did it again I would be greatly tempted to buy another beer yeast from the home brew shop, because reading reviews it seems the yeast supplied could be temperamental in some way.
But! Would another beer yeast completely change the finished brew or in fact spoil it.
Or am I being impatient.
Thanks to all and best wishes.
Brian
Anyway since then it has fermented but without the usual load of foam on top that I'm used to seeing. However last Saturday it seemed to have stopped any form of activity, because I'm using a fermenting bucket I lifted the lid just enough to drop my hydrometer in and the reading was and today still is 1020 where the target reading is 1014.
So I'm concerned that it has stuck and again I have seen forum posts that say to be patient but not seeing any drop on the hydrometer over the last3 days got me concerned. The temperature has been maintained at 21 degrees according to my thermometer so I'm sure that should be ok.
I suppose my next move would be to give it a good stir to see if it gets going again.
However I would like to ask a question, because the kit gets good reviews I know it's a good product but if I did it again I would be greatly tempted to buy another beer yeast from the home brew shop, because reading reviews it seems the yeast supplied could be temperamental in some way.
But! Would another beer yeast completely change the finished brew or in fact spoil it.
Or am I being impatient.
Thanks to all and best wishes.
Brian
I saw a couple of videos on "yeast washing" and have now got a third Wherry, brewed with 2nd generation Coopers yeast at day 8 in the FV. Went off great - noticable krausen within 24 hrs and a good froth by day 2. Now clearing from the top down.
Interesting to see what difference the yeast will make to the taste. I think this will be a potentially interesting experiment.
Even though Wherry No 1 was slow to ferment and cloudy for ages, now it's cleared at 3 months after pitching, it is really great beer. Even the cloudy bit at the end (poured into a separate container) tastes OK and will doubtless be of - er - value in one's - regularity. :electric:
Interesting to see what difference the yeast will make to the taste. I think this will be a potentially interesting experiment.
Even though Wherry No 1 was slow to ferment and cloudy for ages, now it's cleared at 3 months after pitching, it is really great beer. Even the cloudy bit at the end (poured into a separate container) tastes OK and will doubtless be of - er - value in one's - regularity. :electric:
