Fermentation Advice

[elmo]

hi all i have searched but need a litlle specific help i have a dark ale i began wednesday week ago (25th march) :-

a morgans dark ale
with 1kg morgans chocolate liquid dark malt
with a packet of fuggles steeped and added

the wort was cooled to 18 - 20 degrees and a packet of muntons premium gold yeast was added, the wort has been kept between 18 - 20 degrees

the original gravity was 1041 the fermenter has been bubbling away, but the gravity for the last 3 days has been steady at 1020. i have given it a few stirs by lifting the fermenter and swirling but no changes. there are stil bubbles on top of the wort now

so should i bottle or add another yeast ? i have a safale us04, morgans dark ale and unknown generic coopers yeast.

happy easter

 

[flattop]

I don't know the brew but i would've expected it to go lower but after 2 weeks it probably won't. No harm in waiting a week more.

 

[Fourstar]

Hmmmm thats only 48% apparent attenuation when you should be expecting aroud 70%~ or a FG anywhere around 1.012-15~

No extra yeast will help i'd say. if u have swirled, the next sugestion is to up the temperature to aroud 24~. as you are quite the way into fermentation any hot temeratures at this stage will be hardly noticable. Some people say all extract beers are notorious for stalling at 1.020 and dont drop any further.

See how the warmer temps go. next time i'd suggest aerating your wort as much as you can and rehydrating your yeast in 100ml of boiled (cooled water) for around 1/2 hours before pitching.

Cheers!

 

[elmo]

Hmmmm thats only 48% apparent attenuation when you should be expecting aroud 70%~ or a FG anywhere around 1.012-15~

No extra yeast will help i'd say. if u have swirled, the next sugestion is to up the temperature to aroud 24~. as you are quite the way into fermentation any hot temeratures at this stage will be hardly noticable. Some people say all extract beers are notorious for stalling at 1.020 and dont drop any further.

See how the warmer temps go. next time i'd suggest aerating your wort as much as you can and rehydrating your yeast in 100ml of boiled (cooled water) for around 1/2 hours before pitching.

Cheers!

forstar what does rehydrating the yeast add or benefit the brew? also 2 rehydrate would i add sugar/malt/dextrose? and how much? cheers

 

[Fourstar]

forstar what does rehydrating the yeast add or benefit the brew? also 2 rehydrate would i add sugar/malt/dextrose? and how much? cheers

When yeast are in their dried form, anything can pass through them and be absorbed by them, (can mutate them). basically it reduces your active cell count by not rehydrating and can cause them to stall fermentation by becoming lazy. Basically by rehydrating in just water, it allows them to essentially become 'liquid yeast' (in the simplest way of putting it).

Think by doing this, they are getting all dressed up in their wetsuits, protected and prepared for your wort in their best environment you tip them in and away the go at reproducing and easting your fermentables.
If you were to get the yeast and tip them in dry, when they tried putting their wetsuit on in your wort, they would end up with wort inside their wetsuit and that woudl be bad beacuse it would slow them down, reduce the amount they reproduce and will become tired as they are heavy from all the wot in your wetsuit. basically drop out of solution and 'give up'

(not being a smartass, just trying to give you an easy way to understand the reason why you do it.)


Cheers!

 

[flattop]

Fourstar is right, dried yeasts don't tend to perform as well straight out of the fridge. The cold makes them slow down.
Think of it like a night out on the town.....
Warming them up and giving them a drink helps them reproduce (ahem).

The same goes for your stalled brew, warming it up will excite the yeast, BUT a warmer brew can induce the wrong kinds of alcohol with the wrong flavors.
Try to keep the temp under 24* if you do warm it up...

 

[Steve]

What does the top of the wort look like? Can you see wort or is there still krausen?

 

[loikar]

I've just had my brewcraft Cerveza stall at 1018 with Muntons Gold yeast.
Been there for 4 days.
I pitched a small amount of the Coopers yeast that came with a Canadian blonde can that I bought (had nothing else but bread yeast) 2 days ago after mixing it into some Corona, but apart from a little bit of foam on top it's not done much.
Going to give it a stir and rack it today, see if I can get it down to 1012 at least.

Will post back with results.

Fingers

 

[loikar]

ok, so at about 7:00pm last night the beer was clearing and not foaming and gravity hadn't budged.

So, I re-hydrated the rest of the Coopers yeast and chucked it in.
Today im down to 1012....... :huh:

Looks like i might be fining and CCing tomorrow night!

still tastes ok, see how it goes....