Hello everybody, I’m a new homebrewer. I have a quick question that I hope somebody will help me with.
I brewed a batch of beer on Nov. 4th, and it still hasn’t bubbled and foamed up out of the top of the carboy. I just realized today that the brew is supposed to ferment around 68 degrees, and the average temperature where it’s been fermenting is around 50 degrees or so. Is this batch ruined? If I move it to a warmer temperature will it still foam up, or is it too late? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Go ahead and warm it up and rouse the yeast. Not sure what ale yeast you pitched but I would imagine that 50 degrees caused it to floc out. I wouldn’t be optimistic-except maybe about your sanitation but at this point what are you out?
Yeah, 50 degrees is probably going to be too cold for that yeast. Lager yeast do well at that temp though, but even so you need a lot of yeast - perhaps 4-6 vials/packs or a couple packs of dry lager yeast.
I recommend warming the beer up to the mid to low 60s, but don’t let it get too warm. Fermentation temps much over 70 degrees can generate some unwanted flavors. And remember that fermentation is exothermic so your fermentation temp could be 6-8 degrees over ambient.
As long as your sanitation was good the beer should be fine, especially at 50 degrees.
Also, you may way to pitch more yeast, especially if you used liquid yeast and only pitched one pack/vial. If you are new to brewing I would recommend starting out with dry yeast until you get the hang of making yeast starters or pitch multiple packs/vials.
I’d go ahead and pitch a vial now. Most likely you underpitched by only pitching one vial anyway, unless the OG was very low (under 1.045) and the yeast was extremely fresh.
Well when I brewed this batch of beer I relied on a friend of mine to teach me, who said he knew what he was doing, but he didn’t. Haha. The OG wasn’t measured, by the time we pitched the yeast the wort had cooled down below the temperature at which the yeast was supposed to be pitched. The wort was even burned on the bottom. (not my doing) Right now I’m back on the Oregon Coast and there isn’t a good homebrew supply store, so all I have available to purchase for more yeast is Ale Yeast, not British Ale Yeast. I think it’s safe to say that this batch is f**ked. Oh well, I tried.
Hahaha, RDWHAHB is a great philosophy, I just thought “Der Wütend Bierbrauer” would be a good screen name here because I find it funny. Alright well I’ll give it a stir and see what happens! Thanks guys.