Stuck Fermentation

[watertrade]

Hi Guys,
it seems for the first time I have a stuck fermentation. THe beer is
an american Pale ale OG .063 with 300gms Crystal malt in 27 litres. all extract (morgans extra light) .
I had to use a 'windsor ale' yeast as I couldn't get anything else.
It fermented great for the first three/four days and has settled at .023

The whole time the fermentation has been at 18 Deg C.

to try and fix this problem I have...
1. raised the tempriture to 19/20 C
2. given the fermenter a good rousing the last few mornings

the next thing might be racking off the yeast and repitching another yeast...

Failing that I will blend it with a lower FG beer...

any ideas?

Cheers
Jim

 

[goatherder]

How long has it been fermenting Jim?

It sounds like you are on the right track with your attempts - rousing then racking and repitching are good things to try.

I'm not sure about the attenuation characteristics on Windsor yeast, I'm guessing it will be around the 70-75 mark. If this is the case then you haven't got far to go, maybe around the 1.016 mark should be enough. Maybe someone who has some experience with Windsor can help?

 

[watertrade]

it has been fermenting for... almost 2 weeks this weekend.
I would be happy with a .016 finish if I can finaly get there. !

I'm wondering if the Morgans extra pale isn't as fermentable as I thought.

This is my first beer after about a year not brewing - I thought an extract beer would be an easy return after years of AG Brewing with dodgy gear. ! I'm collecting gear for the worlds best brewing system!

Jim

 

[mika]

There has been some talk of Co2 saturation in the past, basically where the brew becomes saturated with Co2 that stalls the yeast. If you've tried shaking cr8p out of it, I'd progress to racking it off to a second container, wait a couple of days and take another hydro reading. If it still hasn't moved, pitch another yeast then.
Nothing wrong with throwing additional yeast in straight away, but the brew may well take off again once everything's been shaken up by a rack.

I'm at a similar stage at the mo, 1020 which seems to be the most infamous number, I've shaken cr8p out of it and am waiting to see what happens from there.
Good luck !

 

[Kai]

Raise it a little higher than 20, most of the ferment is done so higher temps won't be so critical in my experience. Don't be afraid to push it to 25 and keep rousing. Stuck ferments are the pits.

 

[deebee]

How have you rowsed it? Do you have a long spoon you can sanitise so you can really get down and get the yeast back into suspension?

 

[newguy]

If you have some yeast nutrient, try adding maybe 3 teaspoons' worth. It should be sanitized (boiled) before adding it to the beer. What I do is put the nutrient into a measuring cup with 100 - 150 ml of water, and then microwave it until it boils. You have to watch it because it has a tendency to boil over. Once it does boil, add the still hot mixture to your fermenter. It won't cause any ill effects by being hot. Then give the fermenter a gentle swirl. The yeast should get going again within a few hours.

Hope this helps.

 

[watertrade]

Thanks guys, I will give all suggestions a shot... new yeast, rack and nutrient!

 

[mika]

I Picked the temp up to 25deg. The Hydro might have shifted a little, but I still think it's way too high, and there still seems to be a lot of yeast in suspension.
Racking it off today to another tub and see what happens from there.

 

[mika]

Racked the beer, afterwards I pulled the lid off and could see the yeast bubbling away in the bottom, that confirms that the yeast was alive and that there was enough sugar in there to keep it going for a little while longer.
Meanwhile haven't seen any action in the beer that was racked off.
Seems that the yeast must have completely dropped out and formed a thick sludge on the bottom, it was a lot chunkier than I've seen before.
And all of this from US-56 which I've used several times before without a drama...weird :huh:

Looks like I'm going to have to pitch another yeast into the racked beer to get it to go again though.