First-ever brew fermenting question

Lukethebrewer · Jun 19, 2020

Hey all - so my first brew day went well, but of course came with a few problems:

- During sparging, the mash tun blocked and wouldn't drain properly into the boiler. Despite having all the other equipment a process that should have been fluid was anything but - any voice of experience here welcomed! In hindsight I guess I should have purchased/made a false bottom to fit the tun? Would any of you advocate this, or any other kind of filter to stop the grains clogging the mash tun tap? Similar issues with boiler tap clogging (possibly with grain too) - is getting a false bottom for this a good idea or should the one false bottom on the mash tun be sufficient to filter out?

- Second issue, and would really appreciate any help with this, probably a common issue with first-time brewers but after 2.5 days I'm still seeing no air lock bubbles - or certainly no constantly rising ones. The immersion heater I purchased to keep temp constant broke - useless piece of equipment - so i've invested in a heat pad (its not arrived yet). Fortunately temp is around 16-18 degrees anyway and the recipe I'm following states 18. And I can't move it to a warmer place really as I'm brewing in an outbuilding. However I did sprinkle the dried yeast on without rehydration. Would you guys recommend rehydrating a new packet of yeast and repitching? Of course I dont know if the brew is ruined, too early to say, but would rather do everything i could to save it?

Thanks for any advice!

Banbeer · Jun 19, 2020

Hi @Lukethebrewer, without knowing your set up I can only guess, when I used a mash tun I had a Bazooka filter on the tap and that worked fine, what's your water to grain per Kg in the mash tun? not used a false bottom, never had to. What yeast are you using?, some can take 72hrs to start, is there a tide mark an inch or more above the level of your wort? if there is then fermentation has started but your FV lid may not fit airtight as most don't and the C02 escapes through the side of the lid. Did you take an OG reading? I would wait to pitch more yeast. Ideally you should have the wort at 18-20°C so wait until your heatpad arrives(unless it's weeks away).

Lukethebrewer · Jun 19, 2020

Hi Banbeer, thanks for the reply, did you fit bazooka inside or out, guessing inside? In the mash it was 15 litres of water and 6kg of pale malt as per a Hughes recipe. I understand it's ok to open lid occasionally to check and I have once yesterday, gravity was the same. I think one issue is the temperature which has gone down to 15 at night even wrapped in a blanket. Is it ok to wait say three days for the heat pad do you think even if fermentation doesn't do anything? Ie assuming its a non-successful ferementation would you just leave it and wait three days for heat pad rather than pitch more yeast? Is there anything wrong with pitching more yeast, was thinking if I rehydrated another packet (didn't rehydrate last time) then it couldn't hurt? (as to do gravity readings you need to open FV anyway? Cheers.

Banbeer · Jun 19, 2020

Bazooka on the inside, temperature definitely too low unless it's a lager you are doing. Three days will be fine as long as you don't keep lifting the lid and no need to waste money on pitching more yeast at the moment but when your heater comes warm the brew to 20-22°C then leave it a day or two at that temp and see what happens. When it starts to ferment leave it at that temp, what have you brewed and what yeast did you pitch and what was your OG?

Lukethebrewer · Jun 19, 2020

Hey, so its an American IPA using Safale US-05. The OG should have come in at 1060 and mine was a tad off at almost 1065. From what you have said though, seems I don't need to start worrying just yet and that even if its not really fermenting an increase in temp easily sort problem even five or so days in?