Stuck Brews !

[BennyBrewster]

Hey Guys,

I have brewed 2 TCB American Pale Ale Wetpaks over the last few weeks and I havent managed to get the final gravity to drop below 1019-1020.

Both brews sat in the primary for a week and a half and then were transfered to a corny keg to further condition before being either bottled or served from the keg.

These brews were made up exactly as the intructions state and were very well airated before the yeast was pitched at 20c. Both their sgs were 1048. One of the brews averaged 20-23c during fermentation and the other was 18-20c. After a week I took readings 2 days in a row and had 1020 so I roused up the fermenter a little and left for a further 2 days and still 1020.

What am I doing wrong ?

Ben

 

[tangent]

what was your yeast?

 

[BennyBrewster]

TCB Yeast that comes with the kit both times. It doesnt have any information on the satchel

 

[tangent]

did you make a starter with it, tip it in dry, big packet or little packet?

 

[Aaron]

I have had this problem in the past and have been able to fix it by pitching another yeast. I have had success with US56 dry yeast. You can rehydrate or pitch it dry whatever you prefer. I have alo heard that Nottingham yeast is good for this but I have not used it myself.

It can be very frustrating. One thing I do not reccomend is using dry enzyme. It will take your beer down to 1.000 and it will probably taste crap. I used it once and would never use it again.

 

[BennyBrewster]

I didnt make a starter or rehydrate I just tiped it in. Not sure how big the packet was same size as the ones the come with the coopers tins.

And yes it is really frustrating, however Im drinking the first batch now and it tastes really good for a high gravity light beer

 

[WillM]

I made one of these and if my records are correct it got down to 1.013. The yeast that came with mine was Safale S04, but that was last year and they may have changed things.

I'd follow what others have suggested, get a new yeast, get it started and pitch it.

Good luck with it - Will

 

[Screwtop]

I would leave it another 5 days then take SG. Lately I have had a number of kits stick high and look as though they are finished, after racking I put them back in the ferm fridge and wait a week sometimes, most times they have come down further. One recently took 4 weeks OG 1060 stuck at 1020 at 7 - 10 days then over a further 2 weeks came down to 1010. Daily readings provided little apparent diff in SG.

 

[Doogiechap]

I've done a couple of Coopers Pale Ale Kits with a SG of 1048 and 1050 (with a TWOC grain bag) and one I got to 1018 and one to 1016. I've done another 5 or 6 but with Deliverence Concentrate and FG has always been 1020. They have all tasted great , no over carb problems in the 450 odd stubbies I have capped. Roy at TWOC advised that 1020 was about the lowest FG I would expect from his kits. It seems that there is no big worry about taking fermentation time to 2 weeks although if the brew was stuck I guess that would make no difference.

 

[mika]

Cool, that's all I needed... it's going in the keg tomorrow :-D