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fishard

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G'day fellas,

I have just had my second brew fail.....when i bottled it it went in flat and it did not carbonate and has come out flat into the glass.

I have another brew in the fermenter now and my ? is when you do a sg reading and there is no gas in the tube is this cause for worry? The brew is a morgans aussie draught the yeast used is safale s 04. It has been brewing for 3 days on 20c and now on day 4 has slowed sg 1017 with what I put in it should get down to at least 1010. It is showing signs of my failed brew :(

Thanks Russ
 
How did you carbonate the finished brew, how long did you leave it and at what temp? Most of my brews go into the bottle flat, and after a few weeks to a month start to carbonate. It could be winter that is slowing the carbonation.
 
final SG between 1.012 and 1.016 is normal for kit brews especially if your adding malt instead of sugar. Flat beer going into the bottles is normal to and nothing to worry about, it sounds like you are having a problem with the conditioning. How do you prime your bottles? do you bulk prime or are you adding a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle? how long are you leaving the bottles to condition and are they in a warm (not hot) place.

Andrew
 
Aeration, Aeration and more Aeration is the key! ;) I found that out when I made my first couple of brews, make sure you vigorously stir and shake the wort, to get as much oxygen into it as possible before you add the yeast!

Yeast needs oxygen and malts to feed on :p

A final SG using a Standard kit with Brew sugar and yeast that came with the can, should come down to about 1004-1010.

If you really worried :eek: about the brew, open it up give it a gentle stir to reactivate the yeast and to add a little oxygen, and this might kickstart it along again!

Other Board Members may have some other tricks up there sleeve B)

Good Luck.
 
The beer cordial was primed in the bottles with the drops they give you (2 for each long neck) then was kept at around 21c for 7 days and its now 21days since bottled?
Since then I have done another and bulk primed it, all went great for that brew and I hold out high hopes for it!

The one I have going at the moment is still going but very slow I just didn't like the fact that it looked flat (like the beer cordial one) when I took an sg reading.

Thanks for the help fellas

Russ
 
Beer Cordial!---I like that.
but on a serious note, you must store those bottles for at least a couple of weeks at 20C+ or the yeast left in the bottle will not get a chance to work and then let them condition for another couple of weeks before you start drinking. Even then, it will be another month before they start to taste really good.
If they are out in the back shed with night temps of 4 or 5 degrees before the bottle ferment happens, they haven't a chance.
 
Tony I put them in an insulated box with a light in it so I can keep the temp at 21c.

I have stuck them back in and given them a good shake and will keep them there for another week.......I don't need the bottles for a while so I am going to keep trying!

cheers
 
Using a light is not the ideal solution as you risk the light affecting your beer. paint the bulb black, or use foil or somethign to keep the light away from your bottles.
Obviously not such a drama with brown bottles, but allegedly it still can affect your beer.


dreamboat
 
FISHARD,
Congrats on getting into the homebrewing. But IMO the worst thing ever invented was those supid carb. drops. My advise is to feed them to the next doors dog and get into bulk priming. I bulk prime and just keep all the bottles in the garage in milk creates, and never had a bum lot. Dont stress too much, it sounds like u are getting close to cracking it. Just keep bulk priming with Dextose if possible, and mix in well before bottling and u wont have any probs. Also wait at least 4 weeks before drinking any new brew. All the best


stephen
 
Dreamboat, I hear what your saying about the light....I have installed a light reflecting shield so the the light is not directly on the beer! (a peice of carboard) :D

Stephen, with all the reading and advice I have gotten here I think your right I won't be too far away from cracking it! I bulked primed my last brew and the bottles were clear like they had been sitting there for a couple of weeks compared with my others.

The brew I was concerned about has started to pick up the pace again :huh: I think being new to this I worry too much hahahaha!

Russ
 
Bulk prime and you will have no worries, eventually they will carbonate. Some of my dodgy homebrew uni mates (they only recently heard of sanitiser) left a beer in primary for 3 months and then bottled (bulk priming) and they carbonated fine. It takes a lot for a beer not to prime.
In the words of Charlie "cant spell his last name"
"relax and have a homebrew"
 

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