No fermentation?

It may be OK or may be too slow. You don't say what kind of yeast and how it was pitched. The wort must be mixed and aerated for the yeast to take off and the temperature range of the yeast must be met. (and the yeast must be viable - not too old, One reason for proofing the yeast before pitching).

I'd start worrying about now. You can still mix the wort if you didn't before you pitched, you can still pitch a packet of dry yeast or proof or start a liquid yeast. Don't open the fermentor unnecessarily, but do check it out.

It may be that everything is just fine and you have a leak around the airlock . . . check that too.

If all else fails and you're up against a wall - pitch a packet of baker's yeast. It will be drinkable and you won't have wasted the effort. If all else fails . . .

I did it exactly the same way as last time - hidrated and pill into backet. Wort should be well aerated as I pull it to the backet from the box.

The yeast is Lager.

Is it really OK to use Backer's yeast ot it's better to find Lager one in next 24h?

You hydrated the yeast then pitched it? How did it look? How did it smell? (should smell like yeast) Did you see some foam on top of the water after the yeast was hydrated?

Lager yeasts usually ferment at lower temperatures. But each has its own range and that information can usually be found on-line. I find lager yeast more variable and they do take a little more care to get started.

Baker's yeast won't be very good - that is a desperation move - when you don't have any viable yeast to use. If the choice is throw out the wort or use baker's yeast, use baker's.

If you can come up with beer yeast you're better off. I know you were planning on lager but if the choice were an ale yeast or baker's I'd pitch the ale yeast. How long you can wait before the wort starts using some wild yeast or starts to grow fungus or bacteria would be dependent on your sanitization techniques and conditions. The faster the yeast takes off the better - the idea is to get the desired yeast working before something else takes over.

If the wort is well mixed and aerated, in some reasonable temperature range (60-80F) and the yeast is viable, there should be some activity at the end of 24 hours. What does the surface look like? No foam at all?

I like to hydrate and start my yeast off hours before I use it so there's plenty of time to start another if the first one doesn't work. I find Doric and Nottingham are very hardy and keep a couple of packets on hand in case my preferred yeast fails to take off.

The yeast that comes in a "kit" with a can of liquid malt extract isn't to be trusted.

Sprinkle it if that's what the directions say. I sprinkle dry yeast in a weak sterile starter solution that is close to body temperature. In an hour there will be bubbles and when I use it I pour the whole starter into the fermenter (about 10 ounces of liquid). Then I rock the fermenter (using glass carboys for fermenters) to mix the concentrated wort, added water, and yeast.

I prepare the yeast well in advance of using it so I know it is working.

I almost always have vigorous fermentation (several bubbles per second or blowing out foam) in 5-6 hours after pitching, never longer than 12 hours.

Thanks anyone who replyed! There was almost no activity in my bin for about

36 hours as by last night, so I took couple of bottles of my beer from previouse load and added the buttom inch from each into the ferementation bean (I got no other way to introduce new yeast at that time).

Now it's bubbling like crazy. Hope it's the yeast from the bottles - not the other thing.

On Sun, 06 Feb 2005 14:11:17 -0500, "aou" said in alt.beer.home-brewing:

Not nearly well enough.

Find a wire whisk - the things chefs use to beat eggs - but about as long as your arm from wrist to elbow. (A hardware store? A kitchen supply store? I don't know where you live, so I don't know what's available to you. You may have to buy one on the internet.) Use that to "beat up" the wort - for about 5 minutes. The whole top will be foam - "fold" the foam into the wort, over and over - then beat the wort some more. (Sanitize the whisk every time you brew, of course.)

There are easier ways to do it, but this is about the cheapest, and it makes sure that the wort is well aerated. Not as well as bubbling pure oxygen through it, but it works for me every time.