Yeast murder?

[Heals]

Hey guys - apologies if I'm being completely paranoid about this, but I'm worried I may have killed the yeast in my last batch.

I was putting together a Black Rock East India Pale Ale, with a 1kg booster (250g corn syrup, 250g light malt, 500g dex) and fuggles hops. The wort was about 28 - 29 degrees when I pitched the yeast, I didn't even think to check (still a newb!). It's been 24 hours, the brew is sitting on about 23 degrees now but I'm still yet to see any sign of fermentation at all.

Is it too early to freak out?

[Ross]

Heals relax, yeast loves that sort of temp, it just doesn't do the taste much good - but since there's no visible activity yet, that's not a worry either
she'll come good...

cheers Ross

[Heals]

Thank god - thanks ross, I'm still very much a beginner (this is only my second batch).

The woman at my local brew shop told me I should be fermenting at 26 degrees, but looking around here it seems like the consensus is 22 degrees. I've got it sitting around 23-24 now as a bit of a compromise but I plan to leave the brew in the primary for two weeks this time to make sure it does what it needs to do. What kind of effect does temperature have on a brew?

Out of interest, has anyone else thrown together ingredients like I stated above? Results?

I still don't have much of a clue as far as ingredients go, just got a few tips from the brew shop and blindly dove right in!

[mobydick]

G'day Heals. Only new to this thing myself - I'm up to brew number 6. From what I have learned here (and thats a lot), you are better off trying to get your brew down to 18-20 degrees, depends on how low the yeast can manage. Your beer will taste better. I realize that might be difficult on the Gold Coast.

I've pitched into 28 degrees a few times now with no drama at all.

[Heals]

I'm beginning to think the heater pad may have been a waste of money haha.

[Kevnlis]

I'm beginning to think the heater pad may have been a waste of money haha.

Heater pads are best used in summer when you want to lager in the fridge, or if you are in an exceptionaly cold part of the world during the winter.

[mobydick]

Down here in the South I put a t-shirt or jumper on my fermenting barrels to help keep them warm at night. My wife thinks I'm getting more odd

[TommyH]

Heater pads are best used in summer when you want to lager in the fridge

Certainly got me confused. Why would you use a heater pad in summer?

[Heals]

I think he means use them IN the fridge to keep the temperature from dropping too low.

[The Carbonator]

I recently had a fermented in the fridge, and I didnt realise how cold it was in there............I FROZE MY BEER!

It wasnt solid, more like a slushy.

So I bottled one, then turned the fridge dial up and continued to lager.
The bottled one carbonated in around 2 weeks, so I bottled the rest and they are fine.

Also, I have pitched at 36*C before, and that didnt kill the yeast either.

It seems like whatever I do, I just cant kill the yeast........so Heals, I wouldnt worry. But If you asked me, I'd have it fermenting at 18-20*C.

[Heals]

Yep cheers!

I've got it sitting around 18 - 22, it's really hard to get the temp to stay put but I'm switching the heater pad on and off about twice a day to keep temperature as consistent as possible.

[The Carbonator]

I found the easiest way was to:

- put the fermenter in a box
- cut a hole in the side, towards the bottom (heat rises)
- get a lamp (take off the lamp shade and throw it)
- Put a low wattage globe on
- stick the globe through the hole

Easy. Cheap. keeps the temp pretty regular.
Be careful that the globe is well clear of making contact with anything.
You dont want to burn the house down.

you can adjust the heat with the wattage, so start with a low wattage globe


Cheers.

[Heals]

Brew seems to be stuck at a specific gravity of 1012, has been for about four days. It started reasonably low, at 1036, so I'm worried something has gone wrong. No sign of infection as yet, taste is fine, it's just stopped. I've tried rocking the fermenter a bit to stir up the yeast but to no avail.

It's been in the primary for 11 days so far at a temp between 18 and 22 degrees.

[gibbocore]

that sounds about normal for any of my brews, i'd rack now. You may get some extra yeast activity from racking or at the very least you'll have cleaner beer.

(some of my first advice, shoot me down if i'm wrong)

[Ash]

1012 might be about it with the malt & corn syrup in the booster, the original gravity should have been about 10 points higher with those ingredients though (approx 1045)

[Heals]

You're right ash, I did find that strange...I'm beginning to wonder if these kilo bags of dex/malt from the HB store ARE actually kilo bags...

[mobydick]

What was the temp of the wort when you took your OG reading? Did you factor this in? Your real OG will be a little higher depending on whether your hydrometer is calibrated at 16 or 20 degrees.

[Heals]

Of course!!

The temp of the wort when the OG was taken was up at around 30 degrees, would that make the OG reading lower than it should be?

[mobydick]

Absolutely. Have a look at your hydrometer and see what it is calibrated at. It's obviously not adjustable, but printed on it somewhere will be something like "Specific Gravity 20". I think they are commonly 20 degrees, but some are 16 apparently.

Have a look at this Palmer appendix for using hydrometers to calculate the adjustment for temperature.

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixA.html

[Heals]

Fan-freakin-tastic.

Adjusting the reading using that scale the OG was actually around 1039 / 1040 which is almost exactly what the kit instructions specify it should have been. Now to just wait and see if it gets down to 1005 by tomorrow evening.

Thanks a bunch Moby!