72 Hours and no ferment

Mashing
1

Well it has been 72 hours since I brewed my Breakwater Pale Ale kit. Pitched at 72F holding at 70F since, no bubbles no foam no change in surface of the beer at all! The yeast was in my fridge for 6 months (1056 smack pack) and must have been frozen at some point.

So today for lunch, I went to my local brewshop and purchased a dry pack of US-05 and pitched it at the 71 hour mark tonight.

Also while there (Homebrewmart / Ballast Point Brewery) I tried a longsail Black lager (sooooo good!) and a Habenero Sculpin IPA. The habenero was good and grapefruity with a big after burn. Loved trying he spicy beer, not sure I could dispose of 5 gallons of it though. :evil:

2

I’m glad it took off, but that’s a little warm. Did the smack pack swell?

3

Six-month old smack pack and no starter? I’m not surprised that you didn’t have any activity. Now that you have the US-05 in there, drop the beer temp to the low 60s if you can.

4

Bstein, I know you have been out of commission for a while, but damn that is really stretching the yeast.

Also, have you always fermented your beers at that temp? I have never fermented at that temp, but mostly because when I first started brewing Denny said to brew on the low end. I headed the advice and never tried anything different. Just wondering on your results at that temp.

5

[quote=“mppatriots”]Bstein, I know you have been out of commission for a while, but damn that is really stretching the yeast.

Also, have you always fermented your beers at that temp? I have never fermented at that temp, but mostly because when I first started brewing Denny said to brew on the low end. I headed the advice and never tried anything different. Just wondering on your results at that temp.[/quote]

I have never had yeast that long and the pack said to use within 6 months of June 2012 for BEST results. I got no results so figured it was yeast mishandling or too cold of temps in the fridge. Yes I have always fermented at 70, I live in San Diego it’s always 70…well for the most part my house is usually 70, at night we may dip into the mid 60’s here in the house.

You would be amazed at how tolerant US-05 is, always get good results. I have even cloned some and compared side by side with encouraging results.

6

It didn’t take off, I re-pitched. The smack pack arrived swollen, did’nt even go down after refrigeration.

7

Yea, once it’s bubbling I will move it to the garage, usually in the 60’s in there this time of year.

8

The yeast pack is swollen because the yeast have eaten some goodies (probably from the nutrients pack) and produced CO2. Refrigerating the swollen pack won’t reverse that process.