[MidlandBrewer]

During the last minute Tesco run pre Christmas I was lucky enough to pick up 2 Geordie Bitter kits marked down to £4.00 each.
I thought id grabbed myself a bargain but neither of them have worked?!
Ive been brewing kits for ages now and Ive never had a batch go bad.
All the equipment was cleaned using the Wilkos Brew Sanitiser (which I always use).
I brewed in 2 seperate bins, one tried and tested and one brand new (both sanatised).
I used the same sugar as always..... I followed the instructions exactly but theres no fermentation!
This has never happened before?!
The kits were in date and unmolested, the reson for marking them down was my Tesco are stopping selling them...
Any advice on whats gone wrong?

Should I write a letter to Tesco or to Geordie do you think?
First 2 kits of the year down the sink, not the best start!

[Blewit]

If you haven't already poured it away I'd try adding some new yeast. Brewing is basically cultivating yeast to obtain it's byproduct (alcohol). The things that stop it growing are not enough food (sugar), incorrect temperature (though there is a fair bit of room either way), and chemicals (hope it's not that).

[Barry C]

How long has the brew been in the fermentation vessel and at what temperature?

I brew 'all grain' and recently had a very slow batch, slow to start and slow fermentation. Usually the yeasties are having a fair old party within 24 hours and the airlock is bubbling away nicely, but on this occasion hardly anything after 48 hrs.

Tried agitating it to get going, nothing. Eventually rescued it with new yeast (Safale 04) and a slight increase in temperature.

[MidlandBrewer]

I was thinking about adding more yeast but was put off as the worts already been sat for over a week (I think 10 days)….. Is it worth the risk do you think?
My beer is kept near to the Rayburn and is a fairly constant 22 degrees.
It’s just strange as it happened to 2 batches at the same time, I can’t get my head round it….

[Growster...]

In desperation once, I popped some ordinary wine yeast into a similar stopped beer, and it went extremely well from then on.

What's the OG?

[MidlandBrewer]

Just got home from the office to find a letter from Cesars Malting (who make these kits) apologising for the beer kit not fermenting.
To apologise they sent me 3 new beer kits! 2 Yorkshire bitters and a Mild!
What lovely people

[Growster...]

Just got home from the office to find a letter from Cesars Malting (who make these kits) apologising for the beer kit not fermenting.
To apologise they sent me 3 new beer kits! 2 Yorkshire bitters and a Mild!
What lovely people

Excellent result Mid! Happy brewing!

Off topic somewhat, I read somewhere years ago, that you used to be able to get supplies of fresh brewers yeast from Whitbreads, but I don't know if that's still the case.

[Blewit]

Excellent. I spoke with a chap yesterday who couldn't get his blackberry wine to ferment next to his Aga but it started when he moved it to a cooler spot.

[MidlandBrewer]

I cant wait to get stuck into these, I hope they turn out better than the last ones!

[Barry C]

Just got home from the office to find a letter from Cesars Malting (who make these kits) apologising for the beer kit not fermenting.
To apologise they sent me 3 new beer kits! 2 Yorkshire bitters and a Mild!
What lovely people

Good customer service 

They may have had a bad batch of yeast, it happened a year or two ago with packs of 'Nottingham' yeast, all sort of problems.
Good luck with your next brews