Hi. Just signed up (said hello in the intro thread) and have an issue with a simple LME ginger beer kit (mildly expired) not starting to ferment. I thought these were idiot-proof!
A little background that might be relevant for troubleshooting...
So, couple of years ago (can't remember exactly when) there was a closing down sale at a local homebrew shop. I went along and participated in what had all the madness and chaos of a looting (except people kindly stopped to pay when leaving with their arms full) and came away with a Grainfather G40, some kegs and CO2 paraphernalia, some boxed all-grain kits and some LME kits. Then was too busy with babies and stuff for a while, but couple weeks ago got round to some brewing.
First did an all-grain American pale ale kit to try out the Grainfather. The yeast sachet expiry date on that was 11.24, so I thought it'd be probably fine. That indeed seems to have gone great - all targets pretty spot on per the recipe and now ready for kegging (which will be another new journey for me) - very happy with that assuming I don't still **** it up.
Now the problem batch...
Week later (so a week ago now) I mixed up a simple ginger beer LME kit from a pouch. Pouch had a BB date 07.24, so slightly expired, but everything I've read said that shouldn't be a problem. Chucked in the extra DME required, shook up and sprinkled on the yeast from the sachet under the pouch. It asked me to stir it so I did (although I usually don't).
5 days later - nada. Can't see a single bubble coming out, and the water levels in the two little chambers of the airlock is dead level (usually I always see the level higher in the 'outer' chamber as the fermentation creates some internal pressure in the plastic vessel that pushes the water round a little - sure you know what I mean). So I figured maybe that yeast was dead, so I sprinkled in two sachets of yeast from one of the other grain kits with an expiry date 03.25, so that has to get it going, right? Few days later (now 8 days since mixing it up) and still nothing???
That has me flummoxed! Never had an issue like this before and wondering what I can do. Get a brand new yeast and chuck that in - third time lucky? (but how can the not-even-expired second yeast be bad?). Can the extract have gone unfermentable? Not that I know of. If I put more in should I try rehydrating or making a starter (never done that before - always just sprinkle the dry yeast and had no issues). Or can I try something to get what is in there going - nutrient or just give it a good shake?
The room is steady at around 21 C. Any thoughts much appreciated!
A little background that might be relevant for troubleshooting...
So, couple of years ago (can't remember exactly when) there was a closing down sale at a local homebrew shop. I went along and participated in what had all the madness and chaos of a looting (except people kindly stopped to pay when leaving with their arms full) and came away with a Grainfather G40, some kegs and CO2 paraphernalia, some boxed all-grain kits and some LME kits. Then was too busy with babies and stuff for a while, but couple weeks ago got round to some brewing.
First did an all-grain American pale ale kit to try out the Grainfather. The yeast sachet expiry date on that was 11.24, so I thought it'd be probably fine. That indeed seems to have gone great - all targets pretty spot on per the recipe and now ready for kegging (which will be another new journey for me) - very happy with that assuming I don't still **** it up.
Now the problem batch...
Week later (so a week ago now) I mixed up a simple ginger beer LME kit from a pouch. Pouch had a BB date 07.24, so slightly expired, but everything I've read said that shouldn't be a problem. Chucked in the extra DME required, shook up and sprinkled on the yeast from the sachet under the pouch. It asked me to stir it so I did (although I usually don't).
5 days later - nada. Can't see a single bubble coming out, and the water levels in the two little chambers of the airlock is dead level (usually I always see the level higher in the 'outer' chamber as the fermentation creates some internal pressure in the plastic vessel that pushes the water round a little - sure you know what I mean). So I figured maybe that yeast was dead, so I sprinkled in two sachets of yeast from one of the other grain kits with an expiry date 03.25, so that has to get it going, right? Few days later (now 8 days since mixing it up) and still nothing???
That has me flummoxed! Never had an issue like this before and wondering what I can do. Get a brand new yeast and chuck that in - third time lucky? (but how can the not-even-expired second yeast be bad?). Can the extract have gone unfermentable? Not that I know of. If I put more in should I try rehydrating or making a starter (never done that before - always just sprinkle the dry yeast and had no issues). Or can I try something to get what is in there going - nutrient or just give it a good shake?
The room is steady at around 21 C. Any thoughts much appreciated!
