Sanitiser in the FV!!!

[PaisleyExport]

Howdy folks,

I’m eight batches in to my HB career.
I’ve gone for a Belgian Golden Ale (Duvel clone recipe).
Brewday was a dream, had the football on in the background and all went to plan.
Just pitched my yeast and was moving the FV into the fermentation chamber and I got suck back on the airlock. I’d used no rinse oxy sanitiser water in the air lock and the lot got dumped into my wort! This was sunday, it’s now tues and nothing, no bubbles and no kreusen at all. zip!

time to panic or not ?

Advice welcome

J

 

[IanG]

Been there done that which is why I use no rinse.You need a lot to kill a brew

It'll probably be be something else. temperature (suck back is generally temperature drop), loose seal etc. Double check the basics before panic!

 

[PaisleyExport]

Cheers Ian - got her at a solid 21deg C buts first time use of this bucket so fingers crossed I’ve got a leak!

 

[Clint]

No rinse oxy (sodium percarbonate) produces oxygen and soda ash so your brew will be fine.
Suck back can suggest cold as the headspace is contracting rather than expanding....
I've done this...check you have the probe in the fridge!!

 

[IanG]

Thanks Clint for confirming

PaisleyExport I think you just dumped it early and too hot which might have killed the yeast. (Yeast is a bugger to kill but it can be done)

Option 1: Do nothing and let it brew for longer

Option 2: Buy more yeast and carefully put in without contamination
Edit: I am a lazy *** so option 1 recommended for a week then 2

 

[Zephyr259]

The suck-back here was due to moving the bucket, happens all the time with me too, or did when I used buckets, so I'd just wait and fill the airlock once it was in the fridge.

A small amount of sanitiser isn't going to hurt the yeast once it's been diluted into the whole bucket of wort, but no krausen does sound suspicious. Only way to know for sure is to take a gravity reading but no krausen and no sign of it having been and gone (yeast crud on the walls) probably means it's not done anything.

A duvel clone is going to be fairly high OG, what yeast did you use and how much? What temperature did you pitch at and what temperature has the brew been sitting at since sunday?

 

[PaisleyExport]

Hi Zephyr, OG was 1.065 which was lower than planned but rather than monkey with it I thought I’d just go with it. It’s a small batch (13l) so I went with one pkt of abbey ale white labs wlp 530 no starter. Pitched at 21degs and it’s been at 22degs with little to no variation since Sunday

 

[AdeDunn]

Umph, can't say I'd use a liquid yeast (other than Kveik) without at least a vitatality starter. You may well have pitched dead yeast, unknowingly. No biggy, so long as you have a packet of dried yeast ready to go when nothing happens. Trust me, no krausen etc by now, that yeast was dead.

 

[Zephyr259]

Ok, you've likely way underpitched. Standard pitch rate for that batch would be 155 billion cells. Most liquid yeast pack have 100 billion the day they leave the lab and I think White Labs might be less, I don't use them but seem to recall them being closer to 80 billion. What was the use by or manufactured on date? Liquid yeast loses 20% vitality every month.

As Ade says, your yeast was likely too past it to get going, get some more yeast in there asap and hope it's not already got something else growing in it.

That's also quite warm a pitch, even belgian styles are often best pitched cool and allowed to warm up, otherwise you get a bunch of fusels. Voice of experience here after a terrible Dubbel and a Quad which never even made it to the bottle. :-)

 

[PaisleyExport]

Used by date was Dec 20, under pitch makes complete sense. Going to get some more yeast in there. Will keep you posted if I can bring her back from the brink!

 

[Zephyr259]

Normally you get 6 months use by, this is also my I like Wyeast, they print a packaging date, so probably packaged in June which means you're down to 40% viability by now. That means you pitched about a quarter of the yeast the beer needed. Live and learn, hope you get it rescued.

 

[IanG]

to quote duvel clone

"As I said, this recipe calls for a lot of advanced techniques. If you are unable to follow them exactly, keep calm and brew on! You will still be able to make a fabulous beer by following standard brewing procedures. "

 

[PaisleyExport]

Quick update: so I’ve come home from work today, dry Belgian yeast had arrived, I go to stick it in beer and I discover Krausen and the airlock is bubbling (bubble every 20-30s) -
dilemma !

My gut says leave it be and don’t risk contam by openIng FV. Or do I pitch the additional yeast knowing I’ve under pitched?

any further advice appreciated!

 

[Buffers brewery]

I’ve had this experience a couple of times with liquid yeast. I brewed 5 gallons of Abbey ale on Friday and pitched Wyeast Abbey ale yeast at 20C that evening. No action until Sunday and it’s slowing down now (Wednesday). I’d be patient and see how things progress.

 

[Zephyr259]

Yeah, probably leave it be since it is going now. You may find that you have a very characterful beer due to the underpitch, hopefully it's good character. Either way I don't think adding more yeast now would change it.

 

[PaisleyExport]

Fingers crossed

thanks for the support guys

 

[IanG]

Could you do a post mortem at some point? Taste test should do it! Photo always appreciated

Was it underpitch? Was the yeast past use by date? What would you do different in the next brew

 

[PaisleyExport]

Could you do a post mortem at some point? Taste test should do it! Photo always appreciated

Was it underpitch? Was the yeast past use by date? What would you do different in the next brew

No problemo!

 

[PaisleyExport]

Quick update! Kegged her today she’s stalled at SG 1.020 for the last week. Tried to up the temp and give the FV a swirl to try to get her going again but to no avail. Getting tonnes of banana and spice from the taste of the hydrometer reading sample not unpleasant. In the fridge now will try her in two weeks with a full report once she’s carbed.

 

[PaisleyExport]

Sadly folks this one didn’t end well. It’s was full of sugary flavours, the bananry esters were not complimentary and in the end life’s too short for bad beer and she went down the drain. My first failed batch but loads of learning. Gone AG since and have had three awesome batches. Thanks for the advice folks!