Sugar Wash Fermenting Problem

Did a wash yesterday,18 lbs sugar, 6 gal water, temperature 140 degrees, cooled to about 90 degrees, 48 hour turbo yeast pitched. Divided up wash into two fermenter,added water to make 8gal total.
4 hrs ago later very light sign of activity. Have had beer ferments that have been more active than this. Instructions on yeast bag said to not use an airlock.
So, should I add more daddy and nutrients to get things back to work??

Best Answers

  • 90F? That is a bit hot for most yeast. Most should not be pitched over 80F. That could be your issue.

  • Usually you want to Hydrate the Yeast in about 100F for 20mins. Then Temper it down to around 80 by adding a little bit of your cooler wash bit at a time over about 10mins. Then once you yeast is around 78F add it to your 78F wash. You should never add yeast to wash if your wash is not within 5F of your yeast or you can shock and kill it.

  • Im in the tropics so I do everything at ambient temperature which means about 82F +-3F. Also do almost exclusively sugar washes. couple of tips for you that may help your product 1- cut your sugar down to about 3-4KG/6gal. it'll go faster and your yeast wont have to work as hard and throw weird flavors 2- sometimes a yeast may take 24-36 hours to really go depends on age and storage conditions. usually in 24 hours you should be seeing good activity tho. 4 hours is not enough to make a good judgement. 3- sugar will suspend just fine in 80F water it doesnt need to be hot to get it to dissolve. 4- you can probably use about half the amount of TY they recommend if you are not in a hurry and it'll finish in about 5 days

  • Wyeast 3724 is a great one liquid yeast is better for non-hopped washes, as all dry yeasts have other organisms in them from the drying process.. here is a discussion on homebrewtalk

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