Yeast activation?

[Brittany.]

Hi, wonder if anyone can advise? I did a beer kit today and followed instructions religiously. The last bit was to sprinkle the enclosed yeast on the surface of the brew once temperature down to 24C. I did that and sealed it with and airlock but six hours later its doing nothing. I was expecting bubbles to be flowing through the airlock. Any advice how I can get it fermenting? Thanks. Its my first attempt. I sterilised everything.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Hi, wonder if anyone can advise? I did a beer kit today and followed instructions religiously. The last bit was to sprinkle the enclosed yeast on the surface of the brew once temperature down to 24C. I did that and sealed it with and airlock but six hours later its doing nothing. I was expecting bubbles to be flowing through the airlock. Any advice how I can get it fermenting? Thanks. Its my first attempt. I sterilised everything.

Welcome to the world of home brewing. If nothing else, please note the following first three rules:

Patience, leave it alone and patience again

 

[YeastFace]

Welcome to the forum.

6 hours may not be enough time for visible fermentation to begin. Some can take 12 hours or more to get going.

Also a lack of airlock activity is not always a sign of a lack of fermentation.

Wait a bit longer and sure it'll be fine

 

[Clint]

As above. And....leave it for TWO weeks before looking again. DON'T fiddle with it.

 

[Brittany.]

Welcome to the world of home brewing. If nothing else, please note the following first three rules:

Patience, leave it alone and patience again

Haha thanks.

 

[MrRook]

No need to worry until 36 hours.

 

[Brittany.]

Thanks for the sage advice guys, I looked this morning and the airlock is showing signs of life.

 

[An Ankoù]

While agreeing with everything above, including Clint's "Don't fiddle with it", I'll throw a spanner in the works. We're not here to blindly make beer and then blindly drink it until we go blind, we can buy cans from the supermarket for that! We should also be enjoying the process and satisfying our curiosity about what's going on. This curious phenomenon is called science and it's how we learn. It's true that every time we take the lid off to have a peek, there's a small risk of malign spirits sneaking in and curdling the beer; this comes under the general category of occupational hazards. So the moral of the story is don't be taken in by the moralists who claim that patience is a virtue- it isn't. It's just a way of coping with the fact that things don't happen as quickly as we'd like them to by making ourselves feel all holy about it.
Anyway hi, and welcome Brittany, from Brittany.

 

[Brittany.]

Thanks. Its obviously a magical, organic process that isn't going to be hurried by me. . Lesson one learnt.

 

[Sandimas]

I think the minimum time I've ever got a yeast going is 6 hours, some have been days, depends on the vareity of yeast. It'll probably be bubbling in the morning.

 

[The Baron]

Yeasts are all different, I use kveik a lot and had it going in under 2 hours with just sprinkling but I have had some yeasts take over 24 hours

 

[marshbrewer]

No need to worry until 36 hours.

That's about when I would start to worry, but wouldn't panic and start thinking about new yeast until about 48.