Slow Fermentation

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vortex

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I've recently picked up a brewing kit from Brewcraft, and picked the Coopers Pale Ale Style kit for the beer that comes with it - which is the usual kit and kilo extract kit.
Kit was Black Rock East India Pale Ale, and the kilo was number 15, I think? DME + Dextrose I assume.
Yeast was Safale S04.
Made up the wort as per the directions, and ended up with 21 litres in the fermenter. Pitched the yeast on Saturday 29th Oct at night when the wort was at 22c, didn't hydrate or make a starter. Starting gravity was 1039, I took the reading on Sunday morning but there was no signs of fermentation at that point so it was probably about right.
Sunday afternoon (2pm-ish? fermentation was bubbling along quickly, but it died down a lot by Monday. Temp was still around 20c on Monday. Took a gravity reading on Tuesday, which was 1021, Wednesday 1020 and the temp had dropped to 16c which I understand is borderline for the S04. There isn't very much croyzen(sp?) and I haven't taken the lid off so not sure if it's very scungy on top of the wort or not.
I read up the article about stalled fermentation on this site which suggested a few things to try. I gave the fermenter a stir and put a heat-belt on, in a couple of hours temps were back up to 20c where they have stayed to today (switched off the heat belt when it got to 20c), and airlock activity had increased. Fermenter is in a fridge which is off so temps are nice and stable.
Aparently, according to the guy at Brewcraft (who laughed when I told him about fermentation going down to 16c.. rude!) FG should be 1008 - 1010, but last night it was at 1017. Tastes OK, still quite sweet so there is definately work to go. It's still bubbling away, slowly (one bubble through airlock every 2 mins), but should it be done by now?
At this rate it won't be ready for bottling this weekend. I guess it's not entirely the same but i have done a lot of reading recently and see people whos ferments finish in 4 or 5 days. Also some of the Brewing TV videos I have seen have very vigourous fermentation, and mine is nothing like that. I guess it depends on the beer, yeast pitching rate etc, but how long should stock kit & kilo take? Or should I just be patient? Usually I am pretty patient, but I want to drink my beer and make another one! :)

Cheers
 
Sounds like it's going along OK. I tend to run most of my worts at 22-23C, even if that's frowned upon by some, as it means that my kit'n'kilo brews will finish by the next weekend. They never really taste much better by brewing them more slowly. For my higher OG brews I might start at a lower temp.

My solution (to be implemented shortly), 2 fermenters (plus a 25l racking container from Bunnings). That way, if I really need to start another brew - I can!
 
My solution (to be implemented shortly), 2 fermenters (plus a 25l racking container from Bunnings). That way, if I really need to start another brew - I can!
Yep going to do that on payday I think :) Just need somewhere to keep a second fermenter!
 
I've recently picked up a brewing kit from Brewcraft, and picked the Coopers Pale Ale Style kit for the beer that comes with it - which is the usual kit and kilo extract kit.
Kit was Black Rock East India Pale Ale, and the kilo was number 15, I think? DME + Dextrose I assume.
Yeast was Safale S04.
Made up the wort as per the directions, and ended up with 21 litres in the fermenter. Pitched the yeast on Saturday 29th Oct at night when the wort was at 22c, didn't hydrate or make a starter. Starting gravity was 1039, I took the reading on Sunday morning but there was no signs of fermentation at that point so it was probably about right.
Sunday afternoon (2pm-ish? fermentation was bubbling along quickly, but it died down a lot by Monday. Temp was still around 20c on Monday. Took a gravity reading on Tuesday, which was 1021, Wednesday 1020 and the temp had dropped to 16c which I understand is borderline for the S04. There isn't very much croyzen(sp?) and I haven't taken the lid off so not sure if it's very scungy on top of the wort or not.
I read up the article about stalled fermentation on this site which suggested a few things to try. I gave the fermenter a stir and put a heat-belt on, in a couple of hours temps were back up to 20c where they have stayed to today (switched off the heat belt when it got to 20c), and airlock activity had increased. Fermenter is in a fridge which is off so temps are nice and stable.
Aparently, according to the guy at Brewcraft (who laughed when I told him about fermentation going down to 16c.. rude!) FG should be 1008 - 1010, but last night it was at 1017. Tastes OK, still quite sweet so there is definately work to go. It's still bubbling away, slowly (one bubble through airlock every 2 mins), but should it be done by now?
At this rate it won't be ready for bottling this weekend. I guess it's not entirely the same but i have done a lot of reading recently and see people whos ferments finish in 4 or 5 days. Also some of the Brewing TV videos I have seen have very vigourous fermentation, and mine is nothing like that. I guess it depends on the beer, yeast pitching rate etc, but how long should stock kit & kilo take? Or should I just be patient? Usually I am pretty patient, but I want to drink my beer and make another one! :)

Cheers

be patient mate... I effing hate S04... Ive had trouble with that one in the past (only brew Ive ditched) and I pretty much wont use it. Kepping the temps stable is a key thing and you seem to be onto that now... Its quite rare (IME) for a dry yeast to finish in 4-5 days and some can take up to 2 weeks to finish... Harvested and repitched yeast goes off like the tzar bomb and Ive had complete ferments in 3-4-5 days that way but pretty much never with a first pitch... I hate restarting the cycle... <_<

Bubbles mean very little in the great scheme of things and cant be counted on to give a true indication of fermenting activity. I'll suggest that for your next one you ditch the lid and airlock and cover the top with gladwrap and you can use elastic or the rubber ring from the lid to keep it in place, this way you will be able to look in and see the activity for yourself, I pretty much only use the lids for cleaning now and they spend the majority of the time in the brew cupboard.

You can never plan to bottle before your beer is ready for it... one of the most frustrating things in this game is learning the patience, dont go overboard with taking a sample every day, you will waste alot of beer over a 2 week cycle like that and will end up with half a fermenter :D if it were mine I would be keeping a close eye on the temps and check in 3 days, if still moving, another 3 days... so on and so forth..

Yob
 
I've recently picked up a brewing kit from Brewcraft, and picked the Coopers Pale Ale Style kit for the beer that comes with it - which is the usual kit and kilo extract kit.
Kit was Black Rock East India Pale Ale, and the kilo was number 15, I think? DME + Dextrose I assume.
Yeast was Safale S04.
Made up the wort as per the directions, and ended up with 21 litres in the fermenter. Pitched the yeast on Saturday 29th Oct at night when the wort was at 22c, didn't hydrate or make a starter. Starting gravity was 1039, I took the reading on Sunday morning but there was no signs of fermentation at that point so it was probably about right.
Sunday afternoon (2pm-ish? fermentation was bubbling along quickly, but it died down a lot by Monday. Temp was still around 20c on Monday. Took a gravity reading on Tuesday, which was 1021, Wednesday 1020 and the temp had dropped to 16c which I understand is borderline for the S04. There isn't very much croyzen(sp?) and I haven't taken the lid off so not sure if it's very scungy on top of the wort or not.
I read up the article about stalled fermentation on this site which suggested a few things to try. I gave the fermenter a stir and put a heat-belt on, in a couple of hours temps were back up to 20c where they have stayed to today (switched off the heat belt when it got to 20c), and airlock activity had increased. Fermenter is in a fridge which is off so temps are nice and stable.
Aparently, according to the guy at Brewcraft (who laughed when I told him about fermentation going down to 16c.. rude!) FG should be 1008 - 1010, but last night it was at 1017. Tastes OK, still quite sweet so there is definately work to go. It's still bubbling away, slowly (one bubble through airlock every 2 mins), but should it be done by now?
At this rate it won't be ready for bottling this weekend. I guess it's not entirely the same but i have done a lot of reading recently and see people whos ferments finish in 4 or 5 days. Also some of the Brewing TV videos I have seen have very vigourous fermentation, and mine is nothing like that. I guess it depends on the beer, yeast pitching rate etc, but how long should stock kit & kilo take? Or should I just be patient? Usually I am pretty patient, but I want to drink my beer and make another one! :)

Cheers

Your beer is fine, it's doing it's thing. be patient.

Forget Brewcraft, see the BrewAdelaide link in my sig below, sign up and have a chat to Nige and the rest of the Adelaide Lads (and Lass), we'll help you out with recipes, Ideas and help.

Forget your Airlock, it's not an instrument of measurement, it's only purpose is to make glooping noises.
You should see that your Krausen has all but dissapeared from the top of the beer and your gravity readings are consistent.

As a General rule of thumb, nearly all ales will take 10-14 days to completely ferment out. Some shorter, some longer, but generally 10-14 days is normal.
use your hydrometer and after 3 consistent measurements over 3 consistent days you're good to go... AS LONG as you're around your expected final gravity.

You can only brew to your capacity, so if you want to brew more, increase your capacity to do so, but don't rush the beer, you'll only regret it.

Touch yourself, think of me

BF
 
Your beer is fine, it's doing it's thing. be patient.

Forget Brewcraft, see the BrewAdelaide link in my sig below, sign up and have a chat to Nige and the rest of the Adelaide Lads (and Lass), we'll help you out with recipes, Ideas and help.

Thanks mate, have been lurking over there but have not posted yet. I'm keen to get involved in the case swaps and brewing competitions at some point!
At first I thought it might have just been my local brewcraft store that was useless, but the second visit I went to another store and it was just as bad...

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, it's pretty much the conclusions I had come to by researching, but needed to hear it from other people :)
 
hey guys sorry to hijack your thread but im facing the opposite problem. i pitcuhed my yeast on the 6th at 24 deg. and noticed my fermenter slowed down bubblirg today (it kick started really quick but like in 8 hours) so i took a reading at it was at 1010 should i be worried. ill take another reading 2moro as well. but that is really quick!
 

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