[Nancy K.]

I just finished a batch of Wimpy's Christmas Cheer yesterday. Pitched the yeast about 11:00PM. Today at 8:30 there seems to be no activity. It's been a long time since I've made beer but I don't remember the fermentation process taking this long to get started. I used White Labs Euro yeast as called for in the recipe.

In the past I had used dry yeast. I didn't agitate the carboy after adding the yeast but did this morning thinking that maybe that will help start the process. Am I just being impatient.Thank you.

[Nancy K.]

I should've been a clearer.....the yeast was pitched at 11:00pm previous night and following morning at 8:30 still no activity. So it's been approx. 9 hrs since the yeast was added. Temperature right now is 74 degrees.

[BierNewbie]

If you don't make a substantial starter then you can expect up to 48 hours lag time before ferment starts. IMO just pitching the smack pack is not enough for 5 gallons.

[Nancy K.]

Fermentation started approx. 12 hrs after I pitched the yeast. It's now been approx. 16 hrs. and seems to be working as expected.

[rosace]

Agitating your carboy isnt as necessary as you make think.. the yeast know where to go..in there new food source environment.. a good question is did your aerate your ferementer to give your yeast enough oxygen to start their new journey.. WPL 011 Euro strain ferments very good at lower temps, @ 74 F you should be... ok.. but thats still pretty high temp for my ales.. I find lower temps between 68-70 will produce a cleaner beer in the end..

[Nancy K.]

It's been almost a week and fermentation has all but slowed to a stop. Airlock was added on day 2 when the foaming period subsided. There's a little action as I can see but the airlock is not moving at all that I can tell. I hadn't planned to bottle for another week Sat. 11/18, will it be alright in the carboy until then? I have made beer in the past but it's been almost 10 years and thinking back I didn't bottle until about the 14th day. So I suppose it will be alright for another week. It looks and smells wonderful.

[twotownguy]

If you're curious as to how the beer is doing, take a hydrometer reading. 66% (or more) of the sugar that was present just prior to pitching the yeast into the wort needs to be converted to alcohol BEFORE you bottle! Otherwise, you may have exploding bottles on your hands.

Example, if the original gravity was 1.051, the final gravity needs to be 1.017 or lower. (Always drop the "1" when figuring this - it's meaningless).

Leaving it in the fermenter a few extra days can't hurt, but bottling as soon as possible is nice to get it off of the yeast sediment.

[hevimees]

Originally Posted by Nancy K.

It's been almost a week and fermentation has all but slowed to a stop. Airlock was added on day 2 when the foaming period subsided. There's a little action as I can see but the airlock is not moving at all that I can tell. I hadn't planned to bottle for another week Sat. 11/18, will it be alright in the carboy until then? I have made beer in the past but it's been almost 10 years and thinking back I didn't bottle until about the 14th day. So I suppose it will be alright for another week. It looks and smells wonderful.

You beer will be fine in it's fermentor for another week. It will have some time to clear up, and thus when you siphon it away from the sediment before bottling you will have less sediment in bottles.

Lots of good reading about this matter and brewing in general can be found here: How to Brew - By John Palmer

[Nancy K.]

All done! Tastes great too. A friend helped with the bottling...used champagne bottles I had from years ago. (So glad I didn't give away all my equipment).

I want to store the beer in my garage to age for fear of any exploding in my house but the garage is only about 45 degrees and I think that may be a bit too cold. Can anyone give me some advice here. I have the bottles in the cardboard cases in which they came in with a heavy bath towel underneath and another bath towel over the top with heavy casserole dishes on top of them sitting on my counter in case of any explosions. Am I being too cautious and/or is this a waste of time. I had never had any problems before but I have new laminate floors and I would hate to come home from work to find beer on the new floor.

[wild]

Whenever I have a questionable batch, I line a milk crate or cardboard box with a garbage bag and stash it somewhere. The bag and box will hold any kind of mess.
Note: The stronger the garbage bags the better or double line with average bags.

Good luck,
Wild