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Iron Wolf Brewery
- Joined
- 9/12/02
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I have never had a stuck ferment before, but I'm pretty sure I've got one now. Here's the history of the brew and what I've tried so far.
I have a weizen brewing away and it's going fine. Anyway, the next day I put on a partial mash pale ale. Here's the recipe:
Grain:
1Kg Munich
250g CaraMunich III
80g Crystal (80)
Exract:
1.8Kg Light DME
Hops:
18g Northern Brewer 60 mins
12g Tettnanger 10 mins
12g Czech Saaz 5 mins
Etc:
1/2 tsp Whitelabs Yeast Nutrient 5 mins
S-05 SafAle yeast.
OG was 1.046. Lousy efficiency because of my small mash tun and even smaller boil pot. I did check that the mash was complete with the iodine test and it was fine.
Anyway, I rehydrated the yeast and it was frothing and multiplying happily when I pitched. After 2 days I noticed the airlock had stopped bubbling. Not wanting to use the bubbling as a scientific instrument, I took another gravity reading. It was 1.020. Fine, there was fermentation. 24 hours later (yesterday) it still read 1.020, so I checked it again today and yep 1.020.
So I thought, rather than pitch another whole pack of SafAle (my last one ) I thought I'd try and give it a kick with the K-97 SafWheat that was bubbling in the Wiezen. So I took a (sterile) glassful of the fermenting wiezen and pitched that into the pale ale. When the top was off the pale's pail, I noticed some brownish stuff floating in the froth on the top of the beer. I wasn't too preturbed by this at the time, but now I wonder if it's an infection. The brew smells fine, tastes like partially fermented beer (I always taste my hydrometer samples) but the gravity is still not moving! AArrrgghh. Funny thing is that there is some carbonation in the samples. If it agitate the fermenter, I get airlock activity but it dies after a few mins. I assume swirling it just releases some of the dissolved CO2.
What to do? Give it a few more days and recheck the gravity? Give it a hearty "rousing" with the brew spoon? Shake rattle and roll? Bottle? (/jk)
EDIT: Don't know if it's relevant, but it might be the key - when I was putting the brew on, I noticed that the gravity was low. Initially I had only 1.5kg in the boil but when I saw a 1.040 beer at 22 litres, I got another 300g of DME and just dissolved it in boiling water then added to the fermenter.
I have a weizen brewing away and it's going fine. Anyway, the next day I put on a partial mash pale ale. Here's the recipe:
Grain:
1Kg Munich
250g CaraMunich III
80g Crystal (80)
Exract:
1.8Kg Light DME
Hops:
18g Northern Brewer 60 mins
12g Tettnanger 10 mins
12g Czech Saaz 5 mins
Etc:
1/2 tsp Whitelabs Yeast Nutrient 5 mins
S-05 SafAle yeast.
OG was 1.046. Lousy efficiency because of my small mash tun and even smaller boil pot. I did check that the mash was complete with the iodine test and it was fine.
Anyway, I rehydrated the yeast and it was frothing and multiplying happily when I pitched. After 2 days I noticed the airlock had stopped bubbling. Not wanting to use the bubbling as a scientific instrument, I took another gravity reading. It was 1.020. Fine, there was fermentation. 24 hours later (yesterday) it still read 1.020, so I checked it again today and yep 1.020.
So I thought, rather than pitch another whole pack of SafAle (my last one ) I thought I'd try and give it a kick with the K-97 SafWheat that was bubbling in the Wiezen. So I took a (sterile) glassful of the fermenting wiezen and pitched that into the pale ale. When the top was off the pale's pail, I noticed some brownish stuff floating in the froth on the top of the beer. I wasn't too preturbed by this at the time, but now I wonder if it's an infection. The brew smells fine, tastes like partially fermented beer (I always taste my hydrometer samples) but the gravity is still not moving! AArrrgghh. Funny thing is that there is some carbonation in the samples. If it agitate the fermenter, I get airlock activity but it dies after a few mins. I assume swirling it just releases some of the dissolved CO2.
What to do? Give it a few more days and recheck the gravity? Give it a hearty "rousing" with the brew spoon? Shake rattle and roll? Bottle? (/jk)
EDIT: Don't know if it's relevant, but it might be the key - when I was putting the brew on, I noticed that the gravity was low. Initially I had only 1.5kg in the boil but when I saw a 1.040 beer at 22 litres, I got another 300g of DME and just dissolved it in boiling water then added to the fermenter.