Stalled Or Ready To Bottle?

[Gormand]

So my mate put a mountmellick dublin stout, 500g dex, 500g dark dme, 200g lactose.
OG 42
Went to 20 in 2 days and stopped.
He racked 3 days later and 24 hours later no change.

Decided to bulk prime and bottle but as soon as the 170g of dextrose was stirred in it started going nuts. Frothed a lot so we put the lid back on and the air locks going nuts every 4-34 seconds.
Is that normal for primed or should he leave it for a couple of days before bottling?

 

[kelbygreen]

1020 is very high I wouldnt bottle and from the sign of fermentation starting so fast id say the yeast are still doing there job and that it wasnt finished. leave it for another week and test again. not sure what fermentability of lactose is but sure that make it finish higher not sure how much though doubt it be 10points higher

 

[mwd]

170g sounds a lot for a 23l batch of stout if that what it is. I would be going something like 140g (without calculating) and I like lively beer.
I would think not knowing what yeast he used that the ferment would not be done and dusted in 2 days.

Never had a beer go ballistic or foam when bulk priming maybe describe how you are doing it. Quite a number of my brews finish up at around 1.020.

Even Dogfish Head brewery gets stuck ferments once in a while B) (episode 5 )for Discovery Channel viewers.

 

[Gormand]

170g sounds a lot for a 23l batch of stout if that what it is. I would be going something like 140g (without calculating) and I like lively beer.
I would think not knowing what yeast he used that the ferment would not be done and dusted in 2 days.

Never had a beer go ballistic or foam when bulk priming maybe describe how you are doing it. Quite a number of my brews finish up at around 1.020.

Even Dogfish Head brewery gets stuck ferments once in a while B) (episode 5 )for Discovery Channel viewers.

I didnt know there was different priming amounts for different beers So will need to look into that.
He used the yeast that came with the kit, he was going to buy some other yeast but the guy at the brew shop said that mountmellick comes with good yeast so not to bother.

Should prob have said as well that it has been sitting at 22-24 (Mostly 24) for the whole week as well.

As for how we did it, steralized a cup, measured the dex into it directly, poured it slowly into the tank stirred it gently and thats when the foaming happened. Put the lid on to watch the airlock and off it went, then we came to post here. We figured we would leave it for another week as likley not going to get a chance to bottle before Christmas. I put my stout(Different tin and yeast full malt) on at the same time as he did (6 days ago now) My OG was 1.040 and only hit 1.019 today and is still going, so another week to wait for me as well.

But yeah any reason why it would stop? Should the yeast now move back onto the other sugars as well and get the gravity down a bit?

 

[mwd]

Sounds like the stirring roused the yeast and it will carry on fermenting including your priming sugars so may come good.

Normally for bulk priming I dissolve the sugar in about 200ml of water bring up to the boil for 10mins allow to cool add to the priming bucket then using a 2m length of tube from the tap of primary fermenter perched up on the bench allow the beer to flow in a whirlpool to my priming bucket trying not to transfer too much gunk into the bucket. A second empty fermenter makes a good priming bucket as you can then use the tap for bottling your brew.

As for priming sugar amounts a quick search on here for bulk priming should turn up a number of different sugar calculators for you to use. Must say personally I don't worry too much the temperature part of the calc. I usually work on rule of thumb.

 

[Gormand]

Sounds like the stirring roused the yeast and it will carry on fermenting including your priming sugars so may come good.

Normally for bulk priming I dissolve the sugar in about 200ml of water bring up to the boil for 10mins allow to cool add to the priming bucket then using a 2m length of tube from the tap of primary fermenter perched up on the bench allow the beer to flow in a whirlpool to my priming bucket trying not to transfer too much gunk into the bucket. A second empty fermenter makes a good priming bucket as you can then use the tap for bottling your brew.

As for priming sugar amounts a quick search on here for bulk priming should turn up a number of different sugar calculators for you to use. Must say personally I don't worry too much the temperature part of the calc. I usually work on rule of thumb.

Ok it stopped going again, still at 1.020 and stable. So what dod we do? Just bottle the dam thing? My stout which feremented for a full 5-6 days before also settling on 1.020. Im beginning to think that maybes thats where they are going to end up. Hell I even checked my hydrometer to make sure.

Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated. When we bottle Im planning to put in the smaller amount of carbonation in the range to decrease chances of bombs

 

[earle]

If you put the dex in dry it could be that the particles provided nucleation sites for the dissolved CO2 to come out of solution whcih created the frothing you describe. If you dissolve the dex in water first you avoid this.

 

[Gormand]

If you put the dex in dry it could be that the particles provided nucleation sites for the dissolved CO2 to come out of solution whcih created the frothing you describe. If you dissolve the dex in water first you avoid this.

We did put it in dry, so will aim to disolve it first next time round.

Should we be worried about the FG being at 1.020 though? Both our stouts have settled here (His much faster then mine)

According to the spreadsheet on the site my FG should be 1.010 but I wasnt able to take lactose into account. But even still 200g of lactose shouldnt affect the FG by .01 should it? particularly as the OG was spot on despite this.
(My brew http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=50481)

 

[earle]

Just going by the brewcraft calculator 200g lactose would add about 3 points to your FG. You haven't added a heap of malt but it is dark so there would also be some unfermentables in there. Also being a stout kit it would have plenty of dark malt and maybe?? even some maltodextrin for body. So you've got a few factors that would push up your FG.

You could be at your FG already but given that you gave it a stir you've roused the yeast also.

Re-reading your original post it sounds like it had only been fermenting for 5 days when you decided to bulk prime and bottle. Most of my ales I leave in primary for 3 weeks, then bottle. I would be leaving the stout for another week at least. If you get consistent hydro readings bottle it.

As a side note, 5 days from pitching to racking sounds a bit short. What do you want to achieve with racking a stout?

 

[Gormand]

Just going by the brewcraft calculator 200g lactose would add about 3 points to your FG. You haven't added a heap of malt but it is dark so there would also be some unfermentables in there. Also being a stout kit it would have plenty of dark malt and maybe?? even some maltodextrin for body. So you've got a few factors that would push up your FG.

You could be at your FG already but given that you gave it a stir you've roused the yeast also.

Re-reading your original post it sounds like it had only been fermenting for 5 days when you decided to bulk prime and bottle. Most of my ales I leave in primary for 3 weeks, then bottle. I would be leaving the stout for another week at least. If you get consistent hydro readings bottle it.

As a side note, 5 days from pitching to racking sounds a bit short. What do you want to achieve with racking a stout?

Sorry 2 different brews here Ill break them down.
Brew #1 mountmellick dublin stout, 500g dex, 500g dark dme, 200g lactose.
OG 1.042
1.020 in 2 days and stopped.
3 days later (So 5 days total) racked
24 hours later Still 1.020
Put in 170g of dry dex(As bulk prime) and stirred, foamed a lot, airlock going crazy when we put the lid back on (When I started this thread) and we decided not to bottle it.
After 2 days the airlock is quiet again but brew still at 1.020.

Brew #2 (Mine) Morgons Dockside Stout, 1kg Dry Dark Malt, 200g lactose.
OG 1.040
1.020 after 6 Days when airlock had slowed right down.
1.020 after 7 days
Will check again tonight but suspect the same.


Both brews were 23L in size.

 

[Mitcho89]

I'd say she's run her course mate. 1020 for that sort of beer doesn't sound unreasonable at all. All my extract brews that use liquid dark malt finish at about 1020 or slightly under. As said, being a stout kit there would be a lot of unfermentables present. Won't be overly high in alcohol but should be a nice drop none the less!

Cheers and more beers,

Mitch.

 

[earle]

One website I just looked at suggested that 1kg of dry dark extract can increase your FG by 7-10 points. I suspect between the Fg contributions of the stout kit, the DDME and the lactose that your brew has finished fermenting. While your mate has a different amount of DDME, his kit is also different and different yeasts have different attenution so his could also be complete. Unless your super-keen a bit longer in the fermenter won't hurt as long as you can keep the temps down, then bottle.

 

[Gormand]

I'd say she's run her course mate. 1020 for that sort of beer doesn't sound unreasonable at all. All my extract brews that use liquid dark malt finish at about 1020 or slightly under. As said, being a stout kit there would be a lot of unfermentables present. Won't be overly high in alcohol but should be a nice drop none the less!

Cheers and more beers,

Mitch.

Thanks for that, guess we bottle them, put them somewhere safe and hope for the best

Edit: same -> safe

 

[iankaplan]

had a similar question about a stout about two months ago. The hydrometer was parked at 1020 after about 5 days, and wasn't going anyway. I left the brew in the fermenter for another two weeks (SG still 1020), then bottled with some very gentle priming. I started to drink the stuff about two weeks ago, and I am absolutely happy with the result. A strong, smooth, lightly carb'd stout. There is no sign at all of overactivity in the bottles, so it seems we should be safe.