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stompnground

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hi everyone i have been getting into extract brewing but have been coming up with consistently the same issue..
Any help would be greatly appreciated as it is driving me mad! Every brew has finished short of the mark! I have read everything i can find on this issue and believe i have tried pretty much everything.
Plenty of oxygen, swirling when stalled ect...

The last few brews have been made using BrewSmith. Here is a quick overview:
I have used s-05 which all stalled so i changed to Wyeast liquid yeast.

1. Pale Ale
light liquid and dry malt extract with SG of 1.057 finished up at 1.016
used Wyeast American Ale yeast II used ice bath and pitched @ 20 deg

2. Stout
Liquid and dry malt extract with 350g of specialty grains with SG of 1.060 finished at 1.021
used Wyeast Irish Ale Yeast used ice bath and pitched @ 20 deg

THIS NEXT ONE I TRIED ADDING 700g OF DME after 3 DAYS IN PRIMARY
numbers 1 and 2 are pretty high gravity so i thought that by making a lower gravity beer and adding the 700g of DME to the fermenter after the yeast was at its peak that this would surely fix it but it wasn't the case...

3. English Bitter
DME +LME with SG of 1.048 and finished at 1.020 after 2 weeks ( tried swirling ect)
used Wyeast London Ale Yeast used ice bath and pitched @ 20 deg

MY EQUIPMENT

For controlling fermenting temps I have a large water tub that i put the fermenter in. The level of the water in the tub is almost at the same height as the water in the fermenter, just enough so that the fermenter does not float. The tub has an aquarium heater with a thermostat set to 18 degrees. There is also a small pump to keep the water flowing to prevent warm patches. I used a digital thermometer to check water temps regularly and found it ranged from 18 -19.5 degrees.

I shook the fermentor for 4 solid minutes to aerate each time before pitching. I guess my next step will be making a starter... This is my 5th brew in a row where this has happened... Is there something wrong with putting the fermentor in the water bath? affecting gravity??
I am determined to get past this issue and drink some bloody beer!
Cheers and thanks again,
Richie
 
Have you ever measured the temp of the fermenting wort? Just because is it in a water bath at x degrees does not mean that the wort temp is also x. As fermentation winds down and the temp of the wort decreases, it may be sucking heat out of your water bath quicker than your heater can cope.
 
swap some malt out with dextrose. my all extract brews used to under-attenuate a bit too.
FYI - your apparent attenuation:
1 - pale ale - 72% - seems fine (considering the above)
2 - stout - 65% - probably not unexpected, wy1084, spec grains etc.
3 - bitter - 58% - this may have actually stalled.
 
How old is the yeast? I'd be tempted to try a starter to see if that helps. Have a read of this - lots of good info along with:

Yeast Quantity: Use a Starter, better, use a yeast cake. Per George Fix for an ale, you want to pitch around 0.75 million cells of viable yeast, for every milliliter of wort, for every degree Plato, lagers double that. Under pitching can result in “tired” yeast that is unable to finish the job. It is difficult to over-pitch a Big Beer.
Looking at the MrMalty yeast calculator, he suggests using 2.3 packs of Wyeast without a starter for a 1.057 ale, or 1 pack with a 1L starter. And that's with 97% viability.
 
All the suggestions above are good practice but my experience of all extract beers is that they tend to finish higher than ag or kk. Stout too (whether extract or ag) tends towards higher fg.
Yours actually sound about what I'd expect.
Sub a portion of extract for dex and use high quality brewing extract like briess or weyermann in addition to aeration, sufficient healthy yeast, etc.
 
Assuming you are using a hydrometer for FG tests. Just for note: dont use a refractometer for FG tests. Otherwise starters are always good practice especially if your making quite high OG beers. Yeast calculations are good practice. Over pitching is better than under pitching. I found Extract brews never finish as low as the label suggests but 1.008 to 1.012 is more like what I used to get. Then some finished at 1.020 and that sucked. This is one reason when people graduate to all grain they never look back. You have total control and choice how fermentable the brew will be. Just do something proven like a Coopers Pale ale with 1kg dextrose. You should get FG = 1.008. Damb good drinking beer too. Their gold sachet yeast is good too but best to learn how to date the yeast (on their website) to work out its viability. Or skip that complication and just take care in making a starter literally to observe the yeast prove itself as active and alive. I used to give a little (woohoo!) to see the skyrockets happening in the starter but now I have a stir plate and its more about seeing froth forming on top..
Have fun. In the meantime you can always drink Coopers longnecks, and other sourts to collect good bottles.
 
Dear Romper Stomper, I am an AWARD WINNING BREWER!!! And I have never measured a single thing. The closest I ever got to measuring was my hoppy-ish ESB in 2011 which my mates nick-named "Fistful of Hops" because that's how I roll. I measure hops by the handful, temp by how much I'm sweating and gravity by how pissed I get after a session. (As you have probably guessed, I am in the middle of a session right now). It annoys the shit out of my tradesmen mates because they measure everything. Does your beer taste good? Does it give you a buzz? If so, you're an accomplished brewer.

Anyway, this is obviously something you want to nail so good luck.

The real reason for this post is:

I'm only 90 minutes from Stanthorpe and I need a source for apple juice (unpasteurised etc) in bulk - 100 litres+ at a time. The internet suggests Suffolks. Heard of them? If you can help a bloke out I'm willing to drive up, bring my own containers, pay cash and shout you a cleansing ale at the pub of your choice.

Best of luck with your numbers.
 
I had some brews finish short, checked my hydrometer in plain water and it was out by 1.004! Problem solved.

Check your hydrometer.
 
I have only done a few extracts but have found they have all started higher and finshed higher than the expected

I'm cold crashing a abbey ale extract recepie now that was supposed to be accoring to ESB

OG 1069
FG1010

but actually was

OG1078
FG1016

and that was with an extra litre that the hops were steeped in I forgot to figure in my water top up

but I figure as long as the attentuation is in the same ball park, its done and I have beer then all is good

the 8 or 10 fresh wort kits I did before all finished at expected or lower bar 1.so maybe just nature of the extract beast ?
 
Have you checked and calibrated your hydrometer I had one that was out by 5 points
 

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