Not so much "stuck" as never started at all.

[Paperdragon]

Help!

I've made up a brew - ginger beer from actual ingredients. OG 1050-ish. I added some champagne yeast and 4 days later nothing is happening. So I mixed up an old ale yeast starter - it was definitely working and pitched that in. 4 days later still nothing.

It's been in a warm place all the time.

Has anybody got any ideas why the fermentation has never started?

I'm at work so can't remember the precise amounts of the recipe but it had:
ginger root
lemons
limes
oranges
light malt
Coopers beer enhancer
brewing sugar
tartaric acid
liquid ginger extract
lactose

in it. Would any of these ingedients stop yeast from doing its thing?

Any advice, ideas greatly appreciated.

 

[WelshPaul]

Is it still reading at 1050? I've used several yeasts that don't form much of a krauzen and if the lid doesn't form a perfectly airtight seal then there can be no airlock activity.

 

[Darcey]

I did a ginger beer with champagne yeast. It fermented in 36 hours. It was undrinkable.... In fact I have 39 bottles in the cellar 2 years later... check you gravity and see what its down to..


D

 

[Antony]

In fact I have 39 bottles in the cellar 2 years later...

Has it got any better?

 

[Darcey]

I'll open one tomorrow and let you know. It was a bad brew day!

D

 

[rpt]

Why do you think nothing has fermented? You must use a hydrometer and not rely on airlock activity or amount of foam or bubbles.

 

[Paperdragon]

Thanks for the responses.

I didn't think to use a hydrometer - D'oh!

I assumed that it wasn't fermenting as there were no tell-tale bubbles rising to the surface.

I'll check with a hydrometer tonight when I get back home.