Stopped At 1.020?

[mfdu]

ok. so coopers bitter can, with brew enchancer #1

6/10/08, OG = 1.044

it's been at 1.020 / 1.018 since 11/10/08. so level for four days now.

wait? or bottle?

 

[Adamt]

Do not bottle. I would gently rouse the yeast to acheive more attenuation.... otherwise the yeast will be stirred back into action when you bottle, finish off fermentation in the bottle, and create an almighty dangerous mess of glass and beer.

 

[buttersd70]

Agree with Adam. It's often said that if grav is consistant for 3 days, bottle, and that is true....as long as the grav readings that you have are not ridiculoulsy off the mark. A couple of points here and there, fine. 8-10 points? not fine. These ingredients at 23L should attenuate down to around 1012. If it was 1014, I would say bottle, if it was 1016, I would umm and aaagh. Over 1016 - I don't think it's finished, I think it's stalled.

Rouse the yeast as adam said. If no movement on gravity in 3 days, rack it, but maintain brewing temperature for another 3 days. If, at that stage, it still hasn't moved, go ahead and bottle....but I would reccomend bottling in pet. If not all, at least some. That way, you can keep an eye on it, and if the Pet bottles are getting to solid too quick, you can vent the lot.

 

[GMK]

Rouse the yeast by racking to secondary - Dry hop with EKG& Fuggles - leave at 20C for 2 days then fridge at 2C for 2 weeks.

Will come out clearer and a much better beer.

 

[mika]

Worth a read

 

[buttersd70]

Worth a read

duh....if I'd have thought about checking the articles I could have saved on some typing.

 

[mfdu]

Rouse the yeast by racking to secondary - Dry hop with EKG& Fuggles - leave at 20C for 2 days then fridge at 2C for 2 weeks.

Will come out clearer and a much better beer.

i've got cascade or simcoe hops, but i don't have a secondary to rack to. is it still worth dry-hopping?

 

[mfdu]

so the gravity was still reading 1018 - stuck at the same point for the past five days.

I boiled 200ml of water and put two tablespoons of sugar in along with 20G of Cascade hops. cooled, put into the fermenter and gave it all a good stir (with a sanitised spoon. of course.).

hopefully that'll kick it all back into gear long enough to finish up at around 1014 so i can bottle this weekend.

i promised half of this batch to a mates housewarming, but time is running out for bottle maturation.
i'm getting nervous that i'll have to buy a few longnecks of tooeys blue and soak the labels off, just so i don't turn up empty handed!!!

it's my 2nd ever brew, and i'm shitty it hasn't worked perfectly. if i knew why, then that'd be better.

chris.

 

[raven19]

mdfu - after bottling I store my bottles in the laundary (near the floor drain) or in a big platic tub (when on carpet inside) just incase I have a bottle go on me in the first 4 weeks of maturing. After that they get stacked wherever in the house I have spare space! Not that I have had one go yet... been keeping those bottles clean!
This may help just incase you end up with extra fermentration in the bottle and a few go off... but if undertaking the advice already provided herein you shall be fine I dare say.
Cheers!

 

[buttersd70]

hopefully that'll kick it all back into gear long enough to finish up at around 1014 so i can bottle this weekend.
.....
i promised half of this batch to a mates housewarming, but time is running out for bottle maturation.
i'm getting nervous that i'll have to buy a few longnecks of tooeys blue and soak the labels off, just so i don't turn up empty handed!!!

Sounds like you've done about all you can now, particularly given that you've added a little bit of extra fermentable, so if it still hasn't budged by the weekend, there isn't really anything left other than bottling. You can only push it so far before theres nothing left to do, and bite the bullet and get it into bottles.

If the OG is still high, bottle in pet if at all possible. If you normally bottle in glass, do what you can in pet (even if its just a couple in softdrink bottles). Then, leave the batch at 20C, but put one of the pet bottles somewhere warmer, 25C would be good. Tilt that bottle up twice a day to keep the yeast suspended. That way, this bottle will carbonate out as quickly as possible. Check the bottle daily by squeezing it. Once it goes hard, stop tilting it. Give it another day or 2 then chill it down. When dead cold, open it, pour it, and see if it is carbonated OK, or if it is badly overcarbonated.

By force-fermenting it at the higher temperature, it should carbonate quicker, but it should still only carbonate as far as the priming sugar allows it to. (bear in mind that forcing it to carb at a warmer temp may cause it to not taste quite as good, don't think the flavour will be a full indication of the whole batch) If the carbonation level goes beyond what the priming sugar should give it, then it shows up if there was in fact any residual sugar left in primary, and because it went off faster, it should give you time to vent the other bottles before it becomes a problem.

If the carbonation is right, or if it is undercarbed still, then the rest of the batch will be OK to leave.

 

[WarmBeer]

Hey mate,

1018 means it's still not ready for bottling, don't get impatient, remember what happened last time

These yeasties are funny little critters, sometimes they take a couple of days to come on strong, sometimes they start r**ting and making babies as soon as they get into the wort.

Leave it in the fermenter until the weekend, it'll give it time to clear as well after the stirring.

Cheers,

Me.

Oh yeah, if you need PET's, as buttersd70 said, come see me, I've got some you can borrow

 

[mfdu]

dang - did i just lose all that? poo-biscuits.

i waas trying to say it's frothy on top again now, but the gravity is the same.

i'll wait to bottle, but half the batch will still be going to the halloween party!

and hey - the 20g of cascade hops looks like it'll be a nice addition.


but - when do you need your bench capper back? i'd expeced to return it this sat'day, but that ain't going to happen!