Store Bought Yeast Not Good???

[vcorey04]

i'm beginning to battle algae, and have yet to get any CO2.

two store bought packages were a full year out of date, and NOW, the newly purchased yeast i mixed up is not producing any CO2...

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?????

i used someone's advice, to warm up the sugar in water on the stove top, just below boiling, then add the yeast with the heat turned off.. let it breath a bit, and then add the baking soda and cap it off..

i've noticed the water from my aquarium gets sucked into the tube.. could this be due to the warmer water in the container??

it acts like a siphon without any CO2 being produced...

this yeast i bought was $6.99, sealed, and well within the Best if Used Buy date.

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG??

before, i would put the sugar, yeast, and baking soda in the bottom , fill with luke warm water, and cap it off right away, and BOOM-within a couple hours i would have my first couple bubbles!!

 

[An t-iasg]

It's been awhile since I mixed up yeast but I'll try to help.

Empty your old mixture and sterilize the container. The boiling water should go into your container by itself - before the yeast is added. I heated up a cup of water in the microwave for 2 and a half minutes - it was just beginning to boil. I poured this water into my Hagen canister to sterilize it. I let the water sit in the container for 10 minutes. Then dump the water and let the container cool for 10 minutes. Set the microwave timer so you're not just sitting there waiting. I used tapwater for this part.

To mix up the yeast solution, I used RO water from a machine at the grocery store. I warmed the water up in the microwave but didn't allow it to get any warmer than 83-84 degrees. I put the sugar and baking soda in the canister and mixed them up a bit. I added the dry yeast on top and then heated the water in a separate cup for about 15 seconds or so - I had a digital thermometer to test the temperature to make sure it wasn't too warm. Add the water to the canister and stir for 5-7 minutes. The agitation gets oxygen into the mixture and will help the yeast begin to bubble. Then cap off. Don't shake - this can create a dangerous explosion. This may seem like a lot of steps but it was how I figured out the best procedure for me.

The CO2 bubbles would appear by the next morning. If they didn't I would just open the canister and add more yeast.

I used wine yeast - it bubbled up sooner than bread yeast and laster longer - about 3 weeks. I learned that storing the yeast in the refrigerator, or adding it to water warmer than the low-mid 80s would kill the yeast.

 

[Purrbox]

Sounds like the water wasn't allowed to cool long enough before adding the yeast. The water should be tepid (neither warm nor cool) when the yeast is added. If it's too warm it will kill the yeast.

 

[neilanh]

I agree, I think your water was too hot, killing the yeast.

I would mix my solution in the bottle, and activate my yeast seperately to make sure I had a good batch. Mix up your sugar water and put it in the bottles, ideally you want this no warmer than 104 degrees.

Then, take a bowl and fill it with some water, again around 100 degrees, add a few pinches of sugar, and add the yeast. Gently mix it (I used a fork), cover with saran wrap and place a towel over the top (to make it dark). Let it set for 10 minutes or so, then remove the towel. You should have some bubbles forming by this point (not a lot, just some to show it's alive). If so, then add to the solution in the bottles and swirl it around a bit, cap, and install. By 12-16 (sometimes 24) hours you should see bubbles getting into your tank.

 

[vcorey04]

here we go again...

 

[fort384]

A lot of folks advocate sterilizing the container by boiling first, but I never did and it worked great. Just use the tepid water, and let the yeast activate. You should see a frothy head on the yeast/sugar/water mix before you add it to your bottle and add the remaining/sugar water/baking soda.

I agree with the folks above, it sounds like you probably killed the yeast by adding it to water that was too hot.