Does This Sound Right?

[peterkinden]

Hi all,

I a newbie and need some advice. I currently have a morgans golden saaz pilsner kit fermenting. I added 1kg blend of 25% glu, corn, light malt, dark malt and the yeast that came with the kit. Started with a SG of approx 1042 and has been on the go now for 6 days. sitting currently around the 1017 mark at present. On the 2nd day the temp dropped to around 16 degrees and it stopped fermenting. I read somewhere that if a pilsner is fermented under 16 degree it's much better. What did i do wrong? Am i supposed to be using a different yeast to be fermenting at that temperature? is this close to being finished fermenting?

cheers

Peter

 

[Stuster]

You haven't done anything wrong. Yep, it's the yeast that's the issue, Peter. Pilsners are fermented much cooler, more like 10C, but the yeast included with those kits is almost certainly an ale yeast. For most ale yeasts, 16 is getting cool, and some will stop working at that temperature (or work very slowly). Fermenting lagers can be a slow process though, and you'd better look up what you need to do for that before you get started on one.

For this beer, I'd say you'll probably have a few more points to go. It won't hurt it to leave it another week. In fact, it'll leave you with clearer, cleaner beer. Just take a couple of gravity readings on different days to check it's finished.

 

[microbe]

I did almost that exact brew not too long ago. For me (using the kit yeast) it finished at 1.007 so I'd expect it to ferment further. The kit yeast (at 16C) is probably at about it's lower limit and it will stop or at least slow to a crawl. Give it another week and it'll likely be done.

Cheers,

microbe

Edit - beaten to the punch!

 

[peterkinden]

thanks for the advice guys. I'll leave it go another week and see how she progresses.

cheers gents.