Fermentation not Started

[Greendan]

So, I made up a kit yesterday "Black Rock: Whispering Wheat".

I brewed in my usual way, however when it came to the time to pitch the yeast the temp was too high. Then I had to go out, so I sealed the fermenter and went out to lunch for about 4 hours (big lunch!), came back opened the fermenter and pitched the yeast. This morning there is no activity.

Now I'm not gonna freak out completly until this evening, then it will have been 24 hours.

Would the 4 hours wait really made that much of a difference? Can I just pitch some more yeast? Is it worth giving it a good stir to get some more oxygen in there?

[Monkeybrew]

Hi,

What was your final pitching temp?

Did you aerate the wort again before pitching?

What type of yeast is it and was it within the BBE date?

MB

[Greendan]

it was the kit yeast. I didn't check the bbe. I didn't aerate again before pitching. Double oops. Will it be saveable if I aerate and pitch again this evening?

[Greendan]

Final pitching temp was 28c.

[orlando]

Did you rehydrate? If not you can lose up to 50% of yeast cells by not doing so (Yeast: White & Zainasheff). Not aerating is a problem because the first thing yeast does is take that up so that could account for the delay. I would be tempted to wait another day before repitching just to see if it does recover but it might be a little stressed. Temperature is another issue I'm afraid, particularly if you did rehydrate and the yeast was over 8c lower than the wort as this takes it into thermal shock territory.

[Greendan]

I did not rehydrate, but never have previously, so not something I thought about.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

I wouldn't worry yet, it will probably get going in the next 24 hours. Sometimes dried yeasts can take a while to get going.

[Cozzyb]

I recently had two kits both past best before by a month, and both did not start, first one I had a new yeast luckily, but second I had to just bin as I had no yeast in (was only a cheap £5 kit I got on clearance).

[Greendan]

Well when I got home yesterday there was a thin layer of foam. This morning there is around 1 cm of foam. So it is going, just a but slower than I'm used to!

[Monkeybrew]

Well when I got home yesterday there was a thin layer of foam. This morning there is around 1 cm of foam. So it is going, just a but slower than I'm used to!

That's good to hear, sounds like those yeasties have pulled through against the odds