Help! Sg Not Getting Any Lower

[krayzie]

one pack the one that came with the Coopers Mexican Cerveza

 

[brendo]

ok guys i have come home and its still at 1018 even after shaking the fermenter up abit last night.. the air lock isnt bubbling at all..
what to do?

this is the 3rd day? is my temp too low?

I recently had some stuck fermentations on two of my brews.

Like BoilerBoy sugggests, I found that sanitising a spoon, opening the fermenter and giving it a good stir up, making sure to get into the yeast cake worked a treat. I did this twice in the space of a week, with a bit of agitation in between. I also maintained a temperature of aroun 20-22 for about 4 days and it really got the yeast going again.

I then let it sit for another week, allowing the temp to come down a bit and the yeast floc before I bottled. Tasted quite good prior to bottling - I found that the extra time didn't hurt the taste at all - if anything it improved it.

Brendo

 

[paul_h]

one pack the one that came with the Coopers Mexican Cerveza

Well if agitating doesn't work, or warming it up doesn't work, pitch another pack of yeast.
Everyone here has probably had to do that before. In your case with uncontrolled ferementation temps and the fact that the can probably comes with ale yeast, any old kind of brewing yeast will do to finish the job. If you have the time and inclination, get an ale or lager yeast from a home brew shop that works well at your temperatures, ie lager yeast that doesn't mind up to 20C, ale yeast that doesn't mind down to 16C
edit:also with BE#2 your'e probably only aiming at 1010-1014 FG, not 1006, the malt and corn syrup in BE#2 means it stay slightly more dense than a brew with just sugar would be.

 

[Screwtop]

How come nobody has asked what krayzies OG was. Firstly many tins of extract are low in fermentables, some as low as 60% do some searching on this, plenty to read about the fermentability of extracts and how this can vary. Add some other complex sugars to it (BE) and 1.018 might just be around the expected finishing gravity. What is the expected Apparent Attenuation % of the yeast you used, lets say 70% with a starting gravity of 1.048 thats a finishing gravity of 1.014 in good fermentable wort, maybe it will only achieve low 60% in your wort. ie: (OG - FG)/OG in your case (48-18)/48 = AA% of 62%

I'd say your temps are ok, the yeast has nothing more that it can work with and it's done what it can, adding more won't do anything. If you want it to work more and finish lower add some Alpha Enzyme to break down the complex sugars left in your wort, then the yeast will have more simple sugars to feed on and will ferment it down further. Alpha Enzyme (Dry Enzyme in HB shop) will work if you don't mind adding crap to your beer.

 

[Pennywise]

I agree that dry enzyme is pretty ordinary :icon_vomit: , I found the one time I used it I vowed never to again. Gave my beer a funny taste and the hydrometer dropped from 1046 to under the 1000 mark. Although it did get ya blotto pretty quick

 

[paul_h]

How come nobody has asked what krayzies OG was. Firstly many tins of extract are low in fermentables, some as low as 60% do some searching on this, plenty to read about the fermentability of extracts and how this can vary. Add some other complex sugars to it (BE) and 1.018 might just be around the expected finishing gravity. What is the expected Apparent Attenuation % of the yeast you used, lets say 70% with a starting gravity of 1.048 thats a finishing gravity of 1.014 in good fermentable wort, maybe it will only achieve low 60% in your wort. ie: (OG - FG)/OG in your case (48-18)/48 = AA% of 62%

I am only an amateur but i've brewed plently with coopers cans and BEs, so I knew what the OG would be around. 1018 is pretty high for a can brew, and very high for a cerveza style. I'm just replying because I've been there, brews stuck around 1020, which I've managed to get lower with warmth and agitating it. I also have added more yeast to such a stuck brew and it dropped to 1013 withing two days after extra pitching of fresh yeast, so it can help.

 

[krayzie]

noobie mistake... i didnt take a reading

i opened the fermenter and stirred it up and now its at approx 1012 after 1 day. go figure.. should i wait a few more days and see if it will go down any further?

 

[Pennywise]

Give it another 24 hours and if you get the same reading then will be OK to bottle. You could leave it for a few more days if you feel the need for it to clear a bit but I reckon I wont get much lower than that.

 

[paul_h]

noobie mistake... i didnt take a reading

i opened the fermenter and stirred it up and now its at approx 1012 after 1 day. go figure.. should i wait a few more days and see if it will go down any further?

It won't go down much further with BE#2. If it's 1012 the next day, bottle it.