Coopers "Brew A" Stalled

[zindello]

Hi All,

So I'm relatively new to brewing and I'm on my 6th brew thus far. For this one I had my first try at steeping and dry hopping. The recipe I've used is the Coopers "Brew A" kit, as supplied by Coopers. It consists of the following:

2 * Tins Coopers Australian Pale Ale
1 * Tin Coopers Light Malt Extract

25g EKG Hops Steeped in just boiled water for 30 minutes added at the start
25g EKG Hops Dry hopped on day 3

Safale S-33 Yeast sprinked over the top of the wort

Fermented at 20 degrees

OG: 1.069
FG: 1.011 1.016 (According to Coopers)

The problem I've got, is that fermentation went really well for the first few days, I opened it up to dry hop and it still had a nice Krausen, no off smells or flavours and then after about 7 days the SG stalled at 1.025. It's been 1.025 for a few days now, and given the recommendation is 1.011 it can't be finished.

I've not seen any action in the airlock for a few days, so tonight, I've done the following:

- Opened it up and gently stirred up the yeast cake with a sanitised brew mixing spoon to try to bring the yeast back into suspension from the bottom of the fermenter (No, I did not splash it around, just gave it a gentle swirl)
- Raising the temp from 20 degrees to ambient (About 22-23 degrees in the house)

I had a lager stall on my second brew, and this is how I got it going again, my question is if after another couple of days the SG still isn't falling, should I be looking at pitching some more yeast? I have some US-05 (Was planned for another brew so I'd rather not use that) and some Coopers "Kit Yeast" sitting here so I can throw in some extra if needbe (Would it hurt to do that anyway?)

It doesn't appear to be infected, it tastes like a green, slightly unfermented beer. No off growths ontop, just the SG isn't moving anymore.

Edit: Got the Recipe FG wrong in the first post

Cheers,
Josh

 

[Adamt]

Give it another week, it's a big beer! 2 weeks in primary fermentation is certainly not uncommon.

S-33 doesn't attenuate as much as other yeasts will, but it should go down a bit further than that, probably around 1.016ish. It should do fine without stirring.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Is that in 23 litres?

Each of those cans is 1.7 kg, so a total of 5.2 kg of liquid malt extract.

It's probably done. Leave it for another few days at least and check the gravity etc.

You're looking at a 6 - 6.5% Alc/vol beer there, by my calcs. More if it keeps going down.

Do you like getting pissed on a few beers?

 

[zindello]

Yep, 23 litre brew.

I'm just a little puzzled the recipe called for an FG of 1.016 (got it wrong in the original post) and it's stalled at 1.025

I'll give it a few more days and see what happens.

 

[carniebrew]

It's actually 4.9kg of LME, 'coz the unhopped can is only 1.5kg. Regardless, it shouldn't be finished at 1025...if S-33 attentuates around 70% that's at least 1020...closer to 1016 if you get 75% out of it.

Where did Coopers say the expected FG would be 1011? Very, very hard for any yeast to get 5kg of LME down to 1011.

EDIT: Ok, just saw your latest post, 1016 is much more realistic, that would be a 75% attenuation (which S-33 may struggle to achieve). No way is it done at 1025, I agree now that you've stirred it up you should leave it a few days, it'll likely kick off again. If it doesn't, pitching more yeast would be a fair approach, and given it's already fermented down 40 points, kit yeast may not be a bad choice.

You can try a forced ferment test if you're still stuck at 1025 on say Friday.

 

[zindello]

It's actually 4.9kg of LME, 'coz the unhopped can is only 1.5kg. Regardless, it shouldn't be finished at 1025...if S-33 attentuates around 70% that's at least 1020...closer to 1016 if you get 75% out of it.

Where did Coopers say the expected FG would be 1011? Very, very hard for any yeast to get 5kg of LME down to 1011.

I got it wrong actually, the recipe stated 1.016.

 

[carniebrew]

Have edited my earlier post based on your FG correction...see above...


In case anyone's wondering what "Brew A" is, it's a limited edition kit brew Coopers is offering, supposed to represent the first brew Thomas Cooper ever made. They were asking $60 for it, delivered, but currently have it on sale for 20% off (which is probably about the price you'd pay for all the ingredients from a HBS anyway):
https://store.coopers.com.au/shop/product/thomas-coopers-brew-a/

 

[Bridges]

My last batch stalled. Gentle swirling and time are your best friends mine stopped at 1020, I added more yeast but I'm not sure that's what got it going again. Bottled at 1016 all good. By the way it stayed in the fermenter for 27 days and came out great.

 

[zindello]

So I gave this one a pitch of some extra kit yeast, checked the SG yesterday and it was still at 1.025, checked again tonight and it's 1.022 so it's moving a little bit more.

One thing I did observe tonight that I'm a little concerned about, the very top of the wort has what I can only describe as a spiderwebby pattern on the very top of the wort, white in color. I tasted the same and it didn't appear to have any funky tastes to it, perhaps slightly fruity, could that just be the EKG hops starting to come out a bit more?

I'm hoping it's not infected, suggestions on what it might be?

 

[Black Devil Dog]

This might help.


http://www.thestoutpalace.com/?page_id=1662

 

[zindello]

Hey,

There are no offensive tastes or smells (yet). Here's an image of what I've got on the top of the wort, this has only appeared in the last 24 hours.

 

[carniebrew]

It's always fun to play "match that infection"!
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=955&q=homebrew+infection

 

[zindello]

It's always fun to play "match that infection"!
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=955&q=homebrew+infection

Heh,

Oh well, what can you do. I did some reading and the thoughts were that if the taste wasn't off majorly it might be able to be saved by taking it out of the tap slowly and chilling straight away. I've knocked off 18L of the batch into a Keg so we'll see how it goes. If it turns out alright it turns out alright, if not then I guess I'll just have to chalk it up to experience.

Any ideas as to what it might be?

 

[slash22000]

It's an infection, which is universally "Bad" unless it's an intentional infection (sour beer, yadda yadda, that'll come later in your career). Hopefully it turns out okay!

I will, however, take a moment to piss and moan about the fact that, after a quick Google on S-33, I've learned yanks buy Safale packets for $1.99 but we're charged almost $5 a packet. No wonder American podcasts etc talk about it being "cheap to use dry yeast". For ****'s sake.

 

[bum]

Any ideas as to what it might be?

Visually, it appears very much like the time I copped an acetobacter infection (twss). That's not a diagnosis, of course - tonnes of infections might look the same for all I know.

[EDIT: added quote]

 

[bum]

It's an infection, which is universally "Bad" unless it's an intentional infection (sour beer, yadda yadda, that'll come later in your career). Hopefully it turns out okay!

I will, however, take a moment to piss and moan about the fact that, after a quick Google on S-33, I've learned yanks buy Safale packets for $1.99 but we're charged almost $5 a packet. No wonder American podcasts etc talk about it being "cheap to use dry yeast". For ****'s sake.

Still well under half the cost of Wyeast. How isn't it cheap?

 

[zindello]

I guess we'll see how it goes then.

On another note, I took the 18L for the keg, and dumped the rest. The FV has been cleaned top to bottom inside and out, and is currently sitting soaking in bleach in the laundry.

Now it's time for bed.

 

[slash22000]

I'm not an expert in these matters, but I'm lead to believe that if you've had an infection in a plastic container, it's done for. Time to get a new one. Not worth the risk.

Again, to be clear, not an infection expert.

Still well under half the cost of Wyeast. How isn't it cheap?

"Cheap compared to" isn't the same as "cheap" is it?

 

[bum]

I'm not an expert in these matters, but I'm lead to believe that if you've had an infection in a plastic container, it's done for. Time to get a new one. Not worth the risk.

It isn't a certainty that it is "done for" but I really like the idea of treating it as such. If $15 for a new fermenter won't break the bank then I see no good reason not to grab one.

"Cheap compared to" isn't the same as "cheap" is it?

Well, that is certainly a sound semantic point - I can't argue with that as a point of fact. I would ask what might be a cheaper alternative though. Baker's yeast?

 

[slash22000]

I would ask what might be a cheaper alternative though.

Could dry yeast survive an international voyage? Never really thought about it before. I didn't realise yank yeast is 1/3 the price.