I brewed a Christmas Ale last weekend. Followed a Northern Brewing Recipe. Brew day went great. This is a g 5 gallon batch that included 1 oz of fresh ginger chopped 1 oz of cinnamon sticks and 1 lbs of clover honey. But for some reason it has not started to ferment. I added 1 pack of English ale yeast and yeast nutrient. I waited 3 days then I added a second round of Ale yeast and yeast nutrient. I have it in the fermenter at 70 deg f. Any ideas of what I can do to get this fermenting???
How do you know that it isn’t fermenting? What is the starting gravity?
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starting gravity 1065
Where is the gravity at now?
I’ve had various strains ferment without a whole lot of noticeble activity. Especialy when using a plastic bucket becuase the lids never fully seal.
If it were me, after a week of no gravity change, I’d make a starter and pitch again.
What type of fermenter are you using? Is it possible the lid has not completely sealed. Activity in the airlock is no way to measure fermentation. Only gravity readings will tell the tale. Even a tiny gap in the fermenter seal will allow CO2 to escape and bypass the airlock.
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I’m using a ss brewtech ss fermenter. I have it set up for pressure fermenting
The relevant question is did you confirm that there is no fermentation by taking a hydrometer reading that matched the OG, or did you guess there is no fermentation based on apparent lack of activity?
Gravity reading, no pressure and no foam cap development.
Was it an all-grain or extract recipe? Though, even if your mash temp was way off on an all-grain batch, the pound of honey should’ve given you enough sugar to have some fermentation activity.
Are you sure your fermenter isn’t set to Celsius? 70C would inhibit fermentation… 
Yes it was all grain at 154 deg f mash temp and the fermenter is set to Fahrenheit
Thanks
Are there any other adjuncts in the recipe? Apple cider? Dried fruit? Anything funky? I’ve killed a batch inadvertently by adding cider with preservatives. Dead as nails.
Other than the fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks and honey that’s it
How about the yeast? Any chance that both packets that you pitched were purchased at the same time and potentially expired or mishandled? Did you rehydrate or make a starter to verify they were active before pitching?
It sounds like you know what you’re doing, and it is hard to find faults in your procedures - so it must come down to environment or ingredients: If you have a big pail of sugary stuff and you cannot pitch a packet of yeast into it and have anything at all happen, something is not right!
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Was the yeast dry or liquid?
The honey alone should give you several points of gravity (1 lb into 5 gal is a 1.007 OG by itself). So there should be something to get some gravity change unless the yeast was just totally kaput.
But what are the odds of both packets being totally dead?
English ale yeast can be a slow starter with less obvious activity. Agree with checking the gravity and repitch if still high.
Thanks no activity in 10 days. I decided to dump it 
See it was already dumped. Was wondering if the Joey was raw/pastierized or maybe had preservatives added. If it had preservative, maybe that was the issue.
Thanks, I didnt think of that. I’m still looking for answers for why this didn’t ferment.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen honey with preservatives. Have you?
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Haven’t really looked I guess. I was just thinking about the first time I was making hard cider and had heard that I should be sure to avoid preservatives (I didn’t have a good source of fresh juice). I’d think honey would store great without any sort of preservative. Mostly was just trying to find a possible idea!