slow/no strart to fermentation

dave althouse

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Doing a Zombie Dust clone, (BIAB) wort went into the bucket at 1.040, used Safale -04. No activity at all. Though about repitching with a liquid yeast. thoughts
 
how old was the 04?

also, i love your avatar. haven't seen that show in forever
 
When did you pitch the yeast?
 
Are you pitching at low temp? Some folks like to keep the temp low with that yeast to keep it clean, but if it's pitched too cool it might take a while to go. Pitched at mid-60s, it'll go full krausen within 12 hours. I had some be a little sluggish once when I pitched some trub from the fridge.
 
The yeast was <6 months old. More info on my problem. I am assuming the fermentation takes place based on past batches, foaming and air lock dancing all over. I did check the gravity this am before work and it is at 1.000, which started at 1.040.(I brewed on Friday 16th) So...can it go through the fermentation process with no obvious activity?
 
It can. Airlock activity is a good sign, but no activity could just mean there's not a good seal on your bucket and gas is getting out that way.
1.000 sounds very low. Are you correcting the hydrometer reading based on the temp of the beer?
 
I've had batches that hit 1.000 as well. Makes me wonder what's going on. My yeast are hungry!!
 
I just had one and am thinking infection now it tastes strange, almost like a too strong hop but odd flavor or I think Ive finally had the US05 peachy taste that I keep hearing about from fermenting too cold, my chamber went crazy on that beer
 
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As to no airlock activity, a beer can ferment without it. If you went from 1.040 to 1.000, it fermented. Chances are your gas escaped somewhere other than through the airlock. 1.000 is not impossible with the yeast, just improbable. Mash temps might have gotten too low, resulting in a "highly fermentable" wort, or there might be something else working in there.
 
I've had to rouse S-04 to get it to go above 75% attenuation. That yeast is fast and furious but it blows itself out before it uses up all the sugar, at least in my (somewhat limited) experience.
 

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