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You might want to consider taking it out of the fridge and let it warm up gradually to 68 or so, maybe even give it a swirl or 2. If it does not take off after 48 hours at near 70F then I would repitch.

Don, I had the almost the same exact thing happen with my Bavarian smackpack(also for my Oktoberfest). I made the starter 5 days ago and it has been bubbling away for only the last 2 days. did you chill the wort down to 50F before pitching your starter? Just curious. I will brewing in a few...

Also... when do you guys like to pitch your lager yeast starters? Some people say to chill the wort down to ferm temp (50F) and then pitch yeast. Some say to pitch at 70F and wait for fermentation to begin and then chill. I hate the idea letting my wort sit overnight in the frig without yeast.

Its a long story but I now have a 1 quart Bavarian yeast starter fermenting and I have a smack pack of Oktoberfest yeast. I do not have time to make another batch so I am thinking about using both yeasts for my oktoberfest. any thoughts? thanks

I ordered an Oktoberfest kit from Midwest with a Bavarian Smack Pack dated April 07. What did I do wrong? This was the sequence of events: Took yeast out of box (70F) on my porch and put in refrigerator for 24 hours. Removed from frig and allowed to warm up to 70f and then smacked and shook...

Thanks a million! Its boiling now!

should I add 1/4tsp of yeast nutrient to my starter while it is boiling of after it is chilled?

I drain my electric keggle via gravity through a counterflow. I am gearing up my oktoberfest brew tomorrow and its been a while since i brewed so I filled up the keggle with 6.5 gallons of water and timed the drain. 28 minutes....thats water, no trub to clog my bazooka and slow it down even...

thanks for the info! Not useless at all. I have come this far, why not install an inline filter!

Would anyone be willing to point me in the right direction as far as water quality? If there is a good website out there that would be great. Even better would be to check my water at the link below and tell me what I should add :) Click on the link below and look at the Conestoga Plant Results...

You guys are good: the hookers, the mother's day gift, all of it-really good stuff. Has anyone ever made a mill? I am a wood/metal shop teacher with a lathe..... As for the thermometer issue, i will borrow a glass lab 15 inch thermometer (I would think that is accurate as anything) and run some...

JayFlap, How do you drain your electric keggle into your plate chiller? Gravity? Do you use whole hops or pellets? Whirlpool? I am so thankful I finally can ask questions to someone with an electric keggle. Thanks

If your bazooka gets clogged how do your drain your wort? I think the cfc would work fine if a pump was used but without that it takes forever to drain and as the volume in the keggle decreases so does the rate at which it drains and usually it stops or is reduced to dripping with about a gallon...

I am thinking about cutting the garden hose off my homemade c/f chiller to use the copper inside as a prechiller and go back to my old immersion. 3 reasons: 1. I am beginning to believe that cooling the wort (all the wort) at once will yield better hop aroma and less dms. 2. Because I use...

Thanks, keep the ideas flowing. To clear up a few loose ends, I have the grain crushed my local homebrew shop or in this case Midwest. Should I go over it with rolling pin even more? One possible solution to my chiller/volume loss issue might be to scrap the c/f and go back to my immersion...

Is anyone getting decent efficiency by batch sparging in a 10 gallon rubbermaid round cooler? I have about 16 inches of stainless braided hose laying around the perimeter of the cooler instead of a false bottom. I have made about 7 all grain batches (all with this method) and have never really...

I am searching the web for a good deal on an Oktoberfest all grain kit. Has anyone ever used all grain kits from Midwest? I don't typically buy kits but this is cheap and I am broke. thoughts?

I love the setup. the inside white plastic shell has developed waves or indications of warping but that occured the first time or two and since then it has been perfect. I control the element with a Ranco ETC. Scorching is not an issue because i only use this to heat my hot water for sparging. I...

I also brew all grain in my basement with electric. I use a 3.5kw low density element in a keggle. I use a 10 gallon rubbermaid cooler for my hlt with a small heating element in the bottom. I wish I could say I came up with it but I found the idea on www.powersbrewery.com. check it out, that guy...

Wow! Thanks for all of the responses. All of my grain is crushed by my local homebrew shop or Northern Brewer. As for the "problem(s)" one is the low efficiency and the other is loss in volume due to the trub in the bottom of kettle which slows wort drained and sometimes stops it completely...