HELP! 12 hours later and there is no sign of fermentation. 
I even made a yeast starter (1/2 cup of sugar water) and proofed it for about 4 hours before pitching. The small starter was foaming nicely when I pitched it. But, this morning, absolutely nothing.
There are three possible problems that I can think of:
- I couldn't get a SG, so I have no idea if the "environment" is suitable for the yeast. However, I did a taste test and it wasn't sickly sweet, so I don't think the sugar content is too high.
- I might have pitched the yeast while the must was too cold. I didn't defrost the frozen berries awhile beforehand, and therefore I had to wait several hours before pitching. However, I did wait awhile, and I can't imagine the must would have been less than about 10 C (50 F). (I should have taken a temperature reading.) Is is possible I killed the yeast?? I thought I would have simply delayed them a little bit.
- The apple juice I added may, or may not, have been sulphited (sometimes Japanese seem to omit things from their packaging labels). However, this only accounts to about 50% of the volume; the rest is sugar water and crushed berries. I would have thought this would simply slightly delay the yeast from getting started.
Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thanks!
I even made a yeast starter (1/2 cup of sugar water) and proofed it for about 4 hours before pitching. The small starter was foaming nicely when I pitched it. But, this morning, absolutely nothing.
There are three possible problems that I can think of:
- I couldn't get a SG, so I have no idea if the "environment" is suitable for the yeast. However, I did a taste test and it wasn't sickly sweet, so I don't think the sugar content is too high.
- I might have pitched the yeast while the must was too cold. I didn't defrost the frozen berries awhile beforehand, and therefore I had to wait several hours before pitching. However, I did wait awhile, and I can't imagine the must would have been less than about 10 C (50 F). (I should have taken a temperature reading.
) Is is possible I killed the yeast?? I thought I would have simply delayed them a little bit.- The apple juice I added may, or may not, have been sulphited (sometimes Japanese seem to omit things from their packaging labels). However, this only accounts to about 50% of the volume; the rest is sugar water and crushed berries. I would have thought this would simply slightly delay the yeast from getting started.
Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thanks!
