Bad yeast?

[Mark Weusten]

I did a brewkit recipe and 3 days later no bubbling at the airlock. Took lid off this morning and there was some hop scum on the top but not really krausen. Bad yeast? I didnt check the date...

Recipe was

1 x tin Munich lager

 1x tin ultralight liquid malt

 boiled with 2 litres water then added 1kg light dried malt

 added 50g hallertau pellet hops and simmered for 20 min

 poured into fermenter and added giant iceblock to cool down

 topped up to 18 litres

 temp now 22C

 added S-04 yeast and stirred in

 fixed lid and airlock.....no bubbling what have I done wrong?

[Peter Church]

check your gravity, may be possible that you have a bad seal on your fermenter and there is a sneaky ferment going on. If gravity is still high the repitch

[Mark Weusten]

This could be the case as this is a fermenter I have just bought and hasnt been tested. Will check gravity tonight. Thanks

[Kevin Sharp]

Were they 1.8kg tins?

If so that brew would have an OG of about 1.086 which is pushing the limits of one pack of yeast.
To maximise your chances you should hydrate the yeast in water and oxygenate the wort well. A good process for yeast hydration is described here http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html

[Mark Weusten]

Took a gravity reading last night and it was 1040. Had a S-05 satchet so whacked that in. I will checkout that link thanks

[Mark Weusten]

Just to update this, this brew ended up at 1020 but smells very alcoholic. I think the dried malt was completely unnecessary and the original yeast pitch couldnt handle it as per your link. I was aiming for something like Sprig and Fern Tasman lager :-)