Batch #2 - did I kill it?

Yeast & Fermentation
1

-I’m new to home brewing and for my second batch decided to rehydrate a packet of Safale-05 (the red pack).

Sounded like a good idea… except my wife was pissed about the smell and my 1yr old son was freaking out running around the kitchen… I’m sure these are ideal brewing conditions :wink:

In any case, I’d boiled water, poured in 1/4 cup (mistake #1) put it in a sanitized measuring cup and let it cool too about 110F (mistake #2)… which I thought was correct and if I’d stopped to check the directions instead of “getting that crap out of the kitchen” I feared my wife would get a knife and go all Loraine Bobbit on me.

I stirred after 15 min but it got ‘clumpy’ because I should’ve had 1/2 cup of water… I added bottled water to bring to 1/2 cup then stirred again. The temp of my wort was 64 so I added some more cool bottled water (mistake #3?) to bring the yeast temp to 64-68 then pitched.

Three things:

  1. Mixing with 1/4 cup made the yeast clumpy… should I care?
  2. 110 is learned is too warm, from the time I took the reading until I poured the yeast may have cooled it more but I’m guessing I killed some of the yeast
  3. When adding cool water to bring the temp of the yeast down, could that have ‘shocked’ the yeast?

It’s been about 14hrs since I’ve pitched and I don’t see any Krusen yet but there is some bubbling (about 2-3 gurgles per minute). With my first batch I just pitched the yeast dry and it was rocking after 12 hrs. I’m making an amber ale this go around and first round was a red ale.

Thanks for helping this newbie gain some experience.

-Nate

2

relax.

If you have a local store, you can’t hurt it by adding a new pack of yeast. But most likely it will be rocking by 72 hrs. Most likely by 48.

3

Before your next brew day, it might be a good idea to work out the situation with your wife. Beer matures better in a home with harmonious vibes.

4

Around 24 hrs after pitching there’s now a nice cap of krusen going…phew! And it’ll be a lot easier in the spring when I can brew outside :wink:

5

I usually schedule my brewing Saturdays for when my wife is out of the house, although I did a batch of Stout a week ago during a blizzard and there was no “God are you brewing AGAIN?” Maybe she likes the wonderful odor of brewing stout. Of course, I usually score points by washing the kitchen floor when I’m all done. :roll: