dodgy yeast

[peter c]

this must have happened to many people over the years but not to me up until today.
my friend bought over a black rock kit (miners stout),we mixed it all up as instructed ,everything went text book.24 hours later at room temp of 22c,
not even a sign of a bubble,totaly flat.
its more than likley that the yeast is old,my problem is im all out of yeast and its going to take a few days to get some.
does anyone know how long it will keep like this?

[iowalad]

I am with Daab on giving it 48 hours.

In some of my early brews (extract) my aeration was non-existent and did not pitch enough yeast but eventually things got going and the beer turned out okay (some underattenuated).

If fermentation stalls you can take the forum tips on restarting a stuck fermenation at a later date.

I always keep a satchet or two of dry yeast around now just in case.

I would be wary of bread yeast but have no experience with bread yeast.

Good luck.

[peter c]

thanks for the tips,but after 48 hours it came to life.
i feel stupid that i didnt have a spare sachet of yeast around,or atleast a bottle of sediment yeast from a previos brew.
ill let you all know the results,
keep on brewing everyone

[iowalad]

Excellent news, let us know how it turns out.

[steve_flack]

Steve F was saying they reported acceptable results after experimenting with bread yeast on Basic Brewing Radio ( I know the sediment is pretty unstable though).

Follow up on this. Various people emailed the show and the impression I got is that it seemed to vary with what sort of bread yeast you used - some worked and others were 'disappointing'.