Damn Bloody Stupid Yeast! Frustmentation Issues

[lukemarsh]

I have some kind of brewer's curse that only allows all of my beers to ferment down to a gravity of 1.020... 1.015 at best, depending on the style of beer and ingredients. This one has to be by far the most annoying yet.

I put down a Choc Orange porter using Cascade Choc Mahogany Porter kit + 100g choc grain + zest of 2 oranges boiled (poured the boiled zest liquid through strainer into fermenter, discarded zests) + Brewcraft Brewblend #20 and used Muntons Gold yeast.
All was well as it fired up fermenting within a day or two... then it hit about a week and it slowed right down. After a few days it stopped completely and the airlock was level (not leaning), which I figured was a good sign nothing was happening. I checked the gravity and it was only 1.022 (the OG was 1.050) so is only about 3%, has a very long way to go yet.

I am on a tight brewing schedule at the moment as I have about 4 beers to make before I leave for travels around England and Europe in late August, so this beer needs to be finished and bottled soon so I can put on the next one... This beer has been in for about 2 weeks now and is only bloody 3%!

Also, I tried heating it up with my heat pad when it started to slow down and I chucked in about 1/3 cup of sugar and gave it a hefty stir to try and kick things off again, but it appears to have done very little.

Any suggestions?
Cheers!

 

[felten]

All my suggestions would be based on improving your pre-fermentation yeast handling. But if you're desperate and heating/swirling isn't working, you could always pitch more yeast.

Mr. malty suggests 10g of 100% viable dry yeast for a 22L batch of 1050 beer, and a muntons sachet is only 6g right? I'm not sure how you are pitching but sprinkling on top can reduce the viability even further and that might be a cause of stuck ferments, the yeast doesn't have the legs to finish the ferment off.

 

[Wolfy]

My dad always used to say "A poor workman always blames his tools" ... in this case it's probably not the yeast's fault, but the conditions it was subjected to both before and after you used it.
If you pitch the 'industry standard recommended' amount of fresh, healthy, viable yeast and keep it at a nice steady temperature (well within its ideal fermentation range) it should behave as suggested by its manufacturer.

 

[ekul]

Alot of extract brews get stuck at 1020 apparentlly, i;ve had a few atop at the mysterious gravity. Have a search, there's heaps of them, so don't feel bad.

The things that i've been told to get the brew bubbling again are

1) gently tilt the fermenter back and forth to rouse the rest (careful not to splash)
2) Raise the temps to 22C
3) Rack to secondary

4) Or stir the yeast back up with a spoon. THis can cause oxidation if you get a little too rigourous though.

Sometimes the brews don't kick off again.

If you're on a tight scedule why don't you just bottle in plastic bottles (to prevent bottle bombs) and put another brew down? Or you could buy another fermenter (always a good choice ) and let this slow fermenting brew take its time.

Good luck

 

[QldKev]

You mentioned you used a heat pad, but I'm not sure what temp your brew is at. Get it back to 20 to get it going. Then rouse with a sanatised spoon. Out of habit with all my beers, I ferment most out at the required temp and then push an extra 2 degrees into to ensure they finish fully. eg Using US-05 I start at 18 and then finish at 20 for a day or two before crash chilling.

I find the more stable temps you can keep the brew at the better the outcome is, and you are less likely to have stalls.

Also as ekul mentioned if you are on a tight brewing schedule have a look at the Bunnings fermentors, for around $16 they come in very handy.

QldKev

 

[Screwtop]

Seems about right given the ingredients you have used, and cold winter weather...........no big surprise. Low fermentability extract plus a booster pack containing more malt extract (dried), glucose & corn syrup. Fermenting without temperature control, cold night time temps will cause yeast to drop out and give up.

Screwy

 

[glaab]

I dunno what Munts gold yeast is but if it's SO4 then I had the same problem a few times, try Notto in future, mo reliable IMO. I'm in Adelaide too and I can't brew any ale without heat at the moment. Like Kev says, after 5-6 days I crank it up a couple of degrees to prevent this happening. This time of year I wrap the fermentators with el-cheapo camping mats, about 8 bucks e@ at BigW

 

[MitchDudarko]

Maybe buy a couple more fermenters so you can get the other brews underway. You can get them fom bunnings for buger all.

 

[jakub76]

Temperature, there's still probably enough viable yeast to do the job in there but it will take time. Why not stick your fermenter on top of your water heater and forget about it for a while. Get a Bunnings fermenter and busy yourself with another batch. I like the suggestion on Nottingham if you're using dried yeast, apparently it finishes quite dry so it should chew through all those extracts.

 

[lukemarsh]

Cheers guys! My cellar (which I was fortunate enough to have been able to claim ownership from my parents ) sits at about 16 - 18deg in winter and 20 - 22deg in summer... so the brew has been getting down to around 16 at night and almost 18 during the day. I put it on heatpad when it appeared to start slowing down, so it would keep kickin.

I will look into these fabled Bunnings fermenters, cos a friend of mine and I were looking around for cheap fermenters at places like Menzel plastics (where Brewcraft get their fermenters from) but they were still around $30 smackers each. We thought of making one from a 50L plastic storage container, but they aren't food-grade!

I will head down to my local Brew Genie and see what he can whip up for me... I'll ask about using another sachet of yeast...
Actually, I did ask him about using two sachets of Muntons Gold and he said there was no need with Muntons Gold cos it's made to be very reliable and ferment hardcore (they use it in the higher alcohol beer kits there). I've told him many times of my curse and he hasn't been able to cure me with an answer yet.

 

[Shed101]

I had a similar issue with an extract brew recently. 1020 made it 4.0%. I tried bloody everything, including other yeasts, and it made bugger all difference.

Screwy will be glad to know that i did just prime it and bottled it in glass and it's turned out ok

A friend and I drank a carton of it on Saturday night and neither of us had the slightest hangover... so we had another one on Sunday night.

I may be barking up the wrong tree ... or I could even be in the wrong forest ... but it seemed a bit on the cloudy side even after crash chilling. I think i may have ended up with too much flour from the 500g of grains I steeped in the brew having been milled too finely (coffee grinder).

 

[Nick JD]

I had a similar issue with an extract brew recently. 1020 made it 4.0%. I tried bloody everything, including other yeasts, and it made bugger all difference.

Screwy will be glad to know that i did just prime it and bottled it in glass and it's turned out ok

A friend and I drank a carton of it on Saturday night and neither of us had the slightest hangover... so we had another one on Sunday night.

I may be barking up the wrong tree ... or I could even be in the wrong forest ... but it seemed a bit on the cloudy side even after crash chilling. I think i may have ended up with too much flour from the 500g of grains I steeped in the brew having been milled too finely (coffee grinder).

Did you use a large quantity of LDME? And not too much (or no sugaz)? I'm not completely sure of the reasons, but I think there's a massive whack of unfermentables in LDMEs (especially the "food grade" ones it seems) and something that leaves the beer cloudy and thick like paint ... and delicious. But lotsa body.

I used to do 2kg LDME and 1kg Dextrose because the LDME I was getting made for a mighty thick beer.

 

[thanme]

Yeah most of my extract brews have up to 3kg of DME + spec grains, and they don't get below 1.015. Have only just recently started using dextrose to help that.
I've also had problems with S-04 stalling. Once was a Porter that stopped at 1.020, so I swirled, upped the temp and it dropped a little bit more.

 

[Shed101]

Did you use a large quantity of LDME? And not too much (or no sugaz)? I'm not completely sure of the reasons, but I think there's a massive whack of unfermentables in LDMEs (especially the "food grade" ones it seems) and something that leaves the beer cloudy and thick like paint ... and delicious. But lotsa body.

I used to do 2kg LDME and 1kg Dextrose because the LDME I was getting made for a mighty thick beer.

Bingo!

Cooper's Light Malt
Morgans Caramalt
500g Crystal

 

[Screwtop]

Yeah most of my extract brews have up to 3kg of DME + spec grains, and they don't get below 1.015. Have only just recently started using dextrose to help that.
I've also had problems with S-04 stalling. Once was a Porter that stopped at 1.020, so I swirled, upped the temp and it dropped a little bit more.

Nothing surprising, lots of malt extracts are only 65% fermentable, thats why sugar was included to increase overall fermentability and balance up the lower fermentability of the extract. This seems to have been lost in all of the "sugar is evil it makes cidery beer bullshit", bad brewing practice, unsuitable fermentation temp and unsuitable yeast makes cidery beer. Now kit brewers are all using more malt and enhanser kits to add more "body, mouthfeel and head retention" without a bloody clue, they are adding unfermentable or less fermentable adjuncts to their beer! No wonder your beers are finishing high. The addition of sucrose in whatever form sugar/dextrose etc will aid fermentability of extract and assist you to produce drier more quaffable beer.

Rant over, can't get through, brewers curse, bullshit.....wasting my time mumble grumble.

Screwy

 

[thanme]

@Screwy: Yeah, I pretty much originally steered away from dextrose for that exact reason. I guess Coopers call it "Brew Enhancer" for a reason right? If anyone asks me now, I definitely recommend the use of dextrose in extract brews. Not that the beer without it was bad, it's just better now