Kits Not Reaching Sg?

[dazz1975]

I use to do home brewing a couple of years ago and never had a problem with reaching the specific gravity. Now that I have started again I have only had 1 of the 2 fermented reaching the correct specific gravity and the third one I am currently making has been fermenting on 22 degrees and seems to have been on 1014 for the last few days with next to no bubbling or next to none that is. It is a Black Rock Colonial Lager.

Yes I know you are going to say that lagers are meant to be brewed between 5-15 degrees celcius preferrably 12 degrees but this is just the standard yeast that comes with the Black Rock Colonial Lager.

I have just thrown a spare yeast in there. Will that affect my beer and do you think it will work out or is it going to taste like off fruity wine.

I got no idea what i am doing wrong. I am following the same hygiene princaples and if anything I have been keeping the temperature pretty much at 22 degrees celcius.

By the way all three kits have either had gemdex or just dextrose in them

Cheers
Darren

 

[citizensnips]

your better of fermenting at 18 degrees rather than 22.
Cheers

 

[dazz1975]

your better of fermenting at 18 degrees rather than 22.
Cheers

Yes I know. I just went out and bought a fridge the other day and a refco thermastat so I can set it at that temperature. Still the yeast should work at 22 degree's celcius.

I was thinking it could be the water with the chlorine content in it but I thought if that was the case the yeast would die even before it started working.

Cheers
Darren

 

[Kingy]

Temperature wouldnt matter with the standard kit yeast

a few things maybe

Not enough yeast at the start of ferment,id throw in 2 packs of the kit yeast from the beginning or better still get a good "saf" yeast from the LHBS.

Didnt airate the wort enough.

is the fermenter still on 22degrees? where i am its still sitting on 12 degrees in the shed at ambient and therefore need to adjust the hydrometer readings as per correction scale. wich would bring it down about 2 points.

Even still 1.014 is low enough for a kit beer. Id wait afew more days before bottling if you just pitched another yeast.


cheers kingy

 

[dazz1975]

Temperature wouldnt matter with the standard kit yeast

a few things maybe

Not enough yeast at the start of ferment,id throw in 2 packs of the kit yeast from the beginning or better still get a good "saf" yeast from the LHBS.

Didnt airate the wort enough.

is the fermenter still on 22degrees? where i am its still sitting on 12 degrees in the shed at ambient and therefore need to adjust the hydrometer readings as per correction scale. wich would bring it down about 2 points.

Even still 1.014 is low enough for a kit beer. Id wait afew more days before bottling if you just pitched another yeast.
cheers kingy

Thanks for the info kingy. I don't remember having so many probs with kit and kilo beer before. Maybe I have lost the touch ) Fermenter is still on 22 degrees which is roughly what the current temp is in my house.

When I pitched the yeast 45 minutes ago the wort really fizzed up for a minute or so and then settled then 10 minutes later the wort seems to be bubbling along really well again.

I will do what you said and leave it a couple of days since I just pitched the yeast. When I began the kit I used a yeast starter and seemed fine for a week then slowed right down. When i added the last bit of yeast around 45 minutes ago it was a dry pitch and seems to be alot more active already. Seems a little wiered to me but thats the way it goes.

Cheers
Darren

 

[Enerjex]

most kit yeasts don't give you enough yeast so you underpitch to start with, and the yeast may be of a pour grade compared to a kit you brewed previously. what else did you add with the kit and what was your OG?

 

[blackbock]

I use to do home brewing a couple of years ago and never had a problem with reaching the specific gravity. Now that I have started again I have only had 1 of the 2 fermented reaching the correct specific gravity

[snip]

By the way all three kits have either had gemdex or just dextrose in them

Dazz

There is never really a 'correct' number for Final Gravity. If your kits are stopping at 1.014 using only dextrose then that is the correct Final Gravity! If you're using Gemdex, it contains maltodextrin which is less fermentable and would raise the expected final gravity a little compared with straight dextrose.

I don't think the quantity of yeast pitched has anything to do with your final reading in this case - that is normally only an issue when fermenting at lager temperatures.

If you're not happy with the result you're getting consistently, I would try switching kits, watering it down more or just learn to like what you've made.

 

[Screwtop]

Dazz

There is never really a 'correct' number for Final Gravity. If your kits are stopping at 1.014 using only dextrose then that is the correct Final Gravity! If you're using Gemdex, it contains maltodextrin which is less fermentable and would raise the expected final gravity a little compared with straight dextrose.

I don't think the quantity of yeast pitched has anything to do with your final reading in this case - that is normally only an issue when fermenting at lager temperatures.

If you're not happy with the result you're getting consistently, I would try switching kits, watering it down more or just learn to like what you've made.

What he said

FG depends mostly upon the amount of fermentables contained in the wort, some extracts contain up to 60% unfermentables. Do some searches or reading on wort composition, sugars have varying degrees of fermentability (using brewing yeast). Some such as dex are added to increase sweetness and are largely unfermentable. If all of your wort was fermentable (large amount of cane sugar) you would reach 1.000 and the beer would be very dry, so the wort fermentability is adjusted using non fermentables to reach a balance between sweet and dry.

Screwy

 

[brettprevans]

As SKingy said, wort not airated enough. May be an issue. my FG have dropped significantly since I started aerating the wort better. Its not always the issue but it helps.

also as stated unfermentables keep FG higher. I tend to use this as a rough guide rather than just a more basic calculation based on OG and volume.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

As SKingy said, wort not airated enough. May be an issue. my FG have dropped significantly since I started aerating the wort better. Its not always the issue but it helps.

also as stated unfermentables keep FG higher. I tend to use this as a rough guide rather than just a more basic calculation based on OG and volume.

This time of year its easier to keep temps down and more consistantly down. My last 8 or so ale brews I've kept at or below 22 degrees but kept them in the fermenter for at least two weeks anyway to make sure they were fully fermented. Not one of the them have made the magic 1008 reading anyway. I think its an urban myth that anyone beer has fermented down to that level !!

 

[brettprevans]

This time of year its easier to keep temps down and more consistantly down. My last 8 or so ale brews I've kept at or below 22 degrees but kept them in the fermenter for at least two weeks anyway to make sure they were fully fermented. Not one of the them have made the magic 1008 reading anyway. I think its an urban myth that anyone beer has fermented down to that level !!

1008. hell ive only even down to 1015 (and I think I was cheating) i just gave up trying to get my beer down that low. when the SG is stable for 3 days I bottle. All my brews have at least 2 weeks in a fermentor (lagers get at least 4wks)

 

[macccc]

I have experienced similiar Sg levels. and the person who talks about the right amount of correct fermentables is correct, I also make wine and one way we usually get around this we use a nutrient.

But with beers we need a balance to abtain a balance beer,when I come down to 1.010 or some times when the sugars are a bit out I have experienced 1.015
I wait a few days when the Sg has not changed and then bottled.The secound fermentation usually corrects any errors and the beer seems to come up with a good Sg
I dont know if this theory will work every time but we should talk about what is going on hear?
Markus

 

[Rod]

Over the last lot of brews I have been doing I am finding I am getting lower finishing gravity

Major change has been to use a paint stirrer , similar to a potato masher

You can really go to town and get a lot of froth and bubble

used to use the big spoon

maybe the difference

 

[LovesToBrew]

It is very hard to control final gravity of a kit as you'll never know exactly under what conditions the extract is made. Just like how I went to the fish market and they cleaned the fish for me and when I got home i spent 5 mins removing all the scales they missed

 

[dazz1975]

After all the input my wort has completely stopped bubbling. After I added another yeast it stopped bubbling after an hour so I decided to put it into a cube and leve it for a few days and then keg it. Hopefully she will turn out fine.

Anyway I am off to my LHBS tommorrow and get some more ideas. I thank alot of people with there suggestions to my post. I will aggitate it more often from now on and when I use Kit yeasts I will double the dose of yeast. Hopefully that will work.

In saying that I purchased some Saflager 23 to see how the next one goes. If that goes all well then I think I will give kit yeast a miss.

Cheers
Darren