SLLLOOOWWWWW fermentation start - question

Matic

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Morning Brewers -

I just brewed my take on a Dunkelweizen last week. I pitched two smack packs of Wyeast 3068 (no starter) in a 5.5 gallon batch. Wort temp was 70 at time of pitching and air in my basement is about 66-687 degrees (I wanted to ferment at a lower temp to get more clove than banana out of the yeast). I didn't notice any airlock activity for almost 80 hours. It is bubbling away fine now, almost five days later. Do you think I have anything to worry about? Off flavors?

This is the recipe: http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/401101/uncle-dunkel-touched-my-weizen

Cheers.
 
leave it as long as it bubbles, it may just have had a bad start, usually fermentation is done regardless of how it starts in 10 to 12 days
 
2 smack packs for that? That's a trifle unnecessary.
 
2 smack packs for that? That's a trifle unnecessary.

It's 7 bucks and, since I order online, I am never sure of the handling process etc. So, if I want to brew right away and don't have time to make a starter (or forget to before brew day), I pitch two packs to air on the side excess rather than underpitching. To my knowledge this doesn't really hurt anything, correct? Would you be worried about the almost 4 days lag time on the ferm start? That's waht I'm really concerned about.....
 
It happened to me the second to last time I used a smack pack. Took about 4 days to show any sign of life. It was a lager. The pack never expanded after smacking. I'd never had that happen before. I just racked it, and fermentation happened. All is well. Also, I have never made a starter. If I'm using dry yeast, I don't rehydrate it.
 
Don't put too much faith in airlock activity , i've had brews throw almost no krausen after 4 days and checked gravity to see if yeast had done anything and if a re pitch was needed to find it was almost finished .

Trust in your hydrometer
 
Don't put too much faith in airlock activity , i've had brews throw almost no krausen after 4 days and checked gravity to see if yeast had done anything and if a re pitch was needed to find it was almost finished .

Trust in your hydrometer
Thanks. I'll take a reading next time I'm concerned - too late now that I we're off to the races. Hopefully she started fermenting without much sign of activity so I won't have to worry about off favors. Hoping to keg and drink this one late this month into November. This was just strange to me as I've never had such an underwhelming/slow start of fermentation.
 
Maybe old yeast matic? They mightn't have been at their best so numbers were down and there fore long lag time. My brew I did on the weekend took nearly 24 to kick off to a steady ferment and that's with a liter and half 1.040 starter spinning for over 24 hours. I was a little concerned for a bit but it's really rocking now.

Look for krausen in fermentor too that's a good indicator that nice foamy ring above your brew usually and inch or more is health- yeast dependant.
 
heck I had a beer that didn't start for 4 days, that i noticed then I took it out on day 5 to room temp and it took off like crazy for 4 strait days, every brew is different and sometimes weird stuff happens, some bad some good but you learn and move on :)
 
Even using the same yeast culture ive had different results , one went beserk and made a mess in my starter jars and another went ninja .
both got the job done , i use transparent FV's so before krausen i see convection
 

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