Bulldog Brews Evil Dog Double IPA fermentation query

[Looky Charms]

hi there
A question to anyone who has brewed this kit. I put this kit on yesterday. It's a full 24 hours in the fermenter and shows zero signs of activity. I have read that this is a slow fermenting yeast, so this might be ok. How long did it take for others to see activity when they brewed this. It's sitting at a constant 20 degrees C since yesterday.
Cheers

[LordEoin]

Keep the temperature constant and check again at 48 hours

[Looky Charms]

It's more than 48 hours now and still nothing happening. I pitched more yeast last night at 36 hours, and I still have nothing doing.  I'm so puzzled. Is there anything I can do now other than tossing it down the drain?

[auralabuse]

It's more than 48 hours now and still nothing happening. I pitched more yeast last night at 36 hours, and I still have nothing doing.  I'm so puzzled. Is there anything I can do now other than tossing it down the drain?

How are you maintaining the temp,?  Wrap it in some insulation,  even a jacket so the fv isn't losing heat anywhere but defo don't dump it,  the fermentation will happen

[molc]

If it drops below 16 your yeast could just go asleep on you. Once it gets started up, it's exothermic, so with a duvet around it it'll be plenty warm enough.

[Looky Charms]

Hi there. Thanks for the replies. It hasn't dropped below 20 since it went on, so I dont think it is temperature related. We have a 7 month old in the house so the the heat is on round the clock. The fermenter is in a warm spot in the kitchen but not too warm. The temp has held steady at 20. Is it a no-no to agitate the wort?

[molc]

Agitation at this stage should be fine. Just give it a bit of a swirl to get the yeast back in suspension and try not to splash. That said, I can't see why the yeast would have already fallen out in that time, especially if you've added a second pack.

The airlock doesn't always bubble, especially if you have a bad seal somewhere. Some can even have a really small kreustan. The only real test is to take a sample and see if the gravity has started to drop.

Yeast really do like to eat everything and get going. It's pretty hard to stop them doing their thing. As the old adage goes, relax and have a homebrew.

[Looky Charms]

Ok, an update. Thanks to the advice about patience, the beer had dropped from 1078 to 1006 by yesterday. I transferred to secondary with hop tea bags. All looked well with the beer except I have to say it didn't smell too good. Like apples I'd say. Could this be an infection or does it seem normal. Like I say, there were no visual signs of anything nasty. Cheers.

[molc]

Green apples is acetaldehyde. It usually occurs in young beer that still needs to condition or where the yeast has been stressed by under-pitching, I believe.

Once it's bottled and you've added the bottling sugar, just keep the beer warm for a few weeks (~20C) and the remaining yeast should gobble that all up.

[Padraich]

I was given some bottles of Evil Dog.  The longer I've left it, the better it's gotten; as it was ok at the start, but is good now.

In brewing, as in heartbreak, time seems to heal all ills.

[Martin]

I had the same issue with my Australian Lager. Fruity, Cidre like off flavors and smell. All gone though after 2-3 weeks in the bottle. Patience is they key! 

[mervynskidmore]

I brewed this about 6 months ago and it's got a very appley smell and taste. First kit that I've been really dissapointed in. I actually have another one that I don't think I'm going to brew if someone wants it or wants to swap it for something.

[Looky Charms]

And this kit is by no means cheap. I think I'm to be disappointed. The best results I've had this far were from a hacked Coopers IPA at a fraction of the cost. That was fantastic. Must do it again and not be fooled by these expensive kits.

[brianbrewed]

I did the Evil Dog Kit for my Christmas brew.
I brewed it in late august and left it till december.
I drank a few early and wasn't overly impressed.
However the ones I left for christmas were very nice.
Needs aging to help the flavours balance I would reckon.

[RobShamrock]

Sorry to Resurect oldish thread, I've this brew on at the moment, started on 29th Aug., its going to be kept for christmas so I want to do it right and being a relative newbie dont want to make a hash of it, Planning on leaving in FV for three weeks as most seem to report it takes a fair bit to finish, but I'm unsure when to add the Hop Tea bags, I know general rule about 3/4 days before bottlinig so should I just stick to that.

Would it benefit from siphon off to secondary then adding the tea bags ?   But what then about batch priming I'd then have to siphon again to do that. Is it worth the risk of infection or should I just stick with normal procedure and hop into primary and siphon only off for batch prime and instand bottling.

I'm guessing if bottled by end of september they should be well conditioned by Mid December ??