Long ass lag time... :(

[JonGoku]

I got in a brew day!!!

My wife surprised me with a brew day pass on Christmas, and so I brewed an extract IPA I converted from an AG recipe. The brew day went well and I was actually very happy with how it all went except for when I busted my "siphon spray wort aerator" trying to push it onto the siphon hose. I shook the heck out of the carboy, but I truly wish I could have had more notice so I could have arranged to pick up an oxygenation system from Kevin at the bruery provisions. It is now 48 hours post pitching yeast and I am finally getting "action" in the airlock. By action I mean something like 1 bubble every minute or so. Do you think I should just RDWHAH or should I do that plus throw in another packet of Safale-05? Other than possible poor aeration I did add yeast nutrient as well so I'm a little baffled with the long lag time.

Cheers!

[lexuschris]

Sweet! Congrats on a brew day dude!

I'm sure sloshing your IPA in the carboy would be good enough to get things going. IMHO, give it at least 72 hours before considering any other actions.

And, that O2 system would be a great upgrade...

Happy New Year!
--lexuschris

[JonGoku]

Thanks for the note of confidence. I think I'll go to bed and see how she is in the morning.

[oc eric]

The "siphon spray wort aerator" BLOWS!!! Buy yourself a vegetable steamer and suspend it over your mash tun. It's been working for me ever since I stole the idea from Brew Captain

[JonGoku]

The "siphon spray wort aerator" BLOWS!!! Buy yourself a vegetable steamer and suspend it over your mash tun. It's been working for me ever since I stole the idea from Brew Captain

That idea of Brew Captains is a really good one, however it unfortunately is for a different process than I was commenting on above. What I'm actually talking about is aeration not protecting the grain bed when vorlaufing. The siphon spray wort thingy is the poor mans tool used when transfering cooled wort from the kettle to the fermentor. It helps add back in some of the oxygen that gets purged from the wort during the boil. Brew Captain uses an oxygen tank and diffusion stone to do this in a much more efficiently and sanitary way than this sprayer thing (introducing air instead of pure O2 technically risks introducing baddies). It is my intent to get one of these systems soon, but as the brew day came up as a sudden surprise I didn't have time to grab one. Hency my grunting and moaning over a long ass lag time.

As an update I finally saw a thin layer of krausen last night and had maybe a little less than an inch this morning, so it is definitely finally starting although "taking off" would be an over statement. I'm concerned as I may have had some hose water get in during the cooling process, and the longer lag time gives baddies more time to try and get a hold. Anyways, I've knocked on wood, and will wait to see how she turns out.

[lars]

The brew day went well and I was actually very happy with how it all went except for when I busted my "siphon spray wort aerator" trying to push it onto the siphon hose.
Cheers!

I have one I don't use if you want it.

[JonGoku]

The brew day went well and I was actually very happy with how it all went except for when I busted my "siphon spray wort aerator" trying to push it onto the siphon hose.
Cheers!

I have one I don't use if you want it.

Thanks Lars, I really appreciate the offer, but I think I will use it as an extra excuse to pick up the oxygenation system from Kevin.

[JonGoku]

As an update, the IPA finally did take off, and formed a pretty good krausen, although there was never any need to add a blow off as I was doing 5.5 gallons in a 7 gallon carboy.

This will be my first time dry hopping and I was wondering if anyone had any advice as far as dry hopping prior to bottling. Do I wait for the ferment to hit FG and then dry hop for 5 days or so then bottle? I will be using pellets so would there be any need to use a hop sack?

[brahn]

Yes, wait for fermentation to finish, then add your dry hops. The only times I've used pellets to dry hop was in a keg and I've always used a bag. I think you'd end up with a pretty good mess on your hands if you didn't use a bag. With whole hops in a carboy I never used a bag and it worked out great.

[JonGoku]

Alright, thanks.

[JonGoku]

I uploaded a small clip of the IPA fermenting near it's peak. I think the krausen came up another half inch or so from there, but it finally got to work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mapl3UoDNN4

Hopefully if I get some time later tonight or maybe tomorrow I will test it's gravity.

Cheers!