Where did I go wrong

Hello All,
I have successfully brewed a few 1 gallon batches, so I decided to step up my game this weekend and try a 5 gallon batch. I followed the directions to the best of my ability. Only issue I had was cooling the wort to 100 quickly. I added the 2 gallons of cold water to the fermenter before adding the wort, and after adding it I had to add another gallon to make it to 5.

So I brewed on Saturday afternoon and as of this morning I still have no fermentation activity in the fermenter. I can see all the “sludge” on the bottom of the bubbler but there is zero bubbling on the top. Have I completely lost this batch or is there hope?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

I’m sure you’re fine. I give yeast 72 hours before I freak out about not seeing activity. That sludge at the bottom is probably break material settling, not yeast sediment. What yeast did you use, and what temp was the wort when you pitched it?

With my bmb’s i have about a 50/50 shot of seeing airlock activity…is the wort churning?

Temp was ~80 and I used the danstar America west coast dry ale yeast.

No it isn’t churning at all.

I’d give it 72 hours as stated above by @uberculture and if nothing doing at that point, add another packet of rehydrated dry yeast. Hopefully you have one or can get one quickly…the wort is still full of fermentables, and fermentation will happen.

Considering your issues with getting it chilled I have to ask…are you sure it didn’t ferment out overnight? Is there any sign of a krauesen ring on the fermenter?

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Just checked on it and it finally has a small foamy layer over the top. So maybe it’s just getting a late start!

Just thought it was weird having a one gallon fermenter beside it that is going crazy almost immediately.

Thanks for your help!

Are you using big bubbler. ? These have the tendencies not close perfect. So there is fermenting going on. But not lots of action in the airlock. You got a krausen going on. Even there might be not lots of activty going on in the airlock. There might be fermentig Only way to find out take a hydrometer test

If you’re talking about the Danstar BRY-97 West Coast Ale yeast I just recently had the same issue. I used it in the NB SMASH extract and it took 2 days to get going, and I rehydrated it. If you research it you will find many brewers had the same issue where others had real fast starts. I think I will avoid using this yeast in the future.

Yes I am using the big bubbler. I made sure that everything was closed as tight as I could get it. Isn’t it too early to do a hydrometer test?

As long as you have a krausen forming the fermentation is beginning and will continue. Temperature control is important now. Yeast produces heat as it works. High OG beers can jump in temperature about 8°F quite quickly. Low and average gravity beers may only rise 3° to 5°F in the first three days unless the ambient temperature is quite high. Warmer ambient temperatures mean greater yeast activity which also means higher temperature increases.

I usually don’t take the first SG reading for 10 to 14 days. A second reading 4 to 5 days later with most ale yeasts.

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At 80+ degrees i bet it could ferment in a day but now you got some krausen…get that temp down :slight_smile:

Thats why do stay with the same liqued yeast kveik it works damm good