Sudden Gravity Drop

[bowie in space]

Hi all, just took a gravity reading of my cider and it has dropped to 1.004 from 1.010 in 24 hours after being stuck on 1.010 for 4 days. I have no temp control so the fermenter has been sitting inside my house at a temp of between 30-36C for the last 4 days. Gravity had not dropped since i racked to secondary 5 days ago.

The only thing i can think of is that the heatwave in Melbourne suspended fermentation and now that the ambient temp is below 30C the yeast has picked up again. I thought the yeast could have/would have perished in this heat. What happened to my brew?

Bowie

 

[muckey]

racking is one way to help kick over a stuck ferment too

 

[ford-ute]

it seems odd to me that the SG has not sinced you racked it and now that the heat has dropped its now going again if any it should be the oposite but maybe the when you racked it off the yeast it needed time to regenerate the yeast levels and then she kicked over again

but just a theory

 

[bowie in space]

Possibly ford-ute, because i did use the kit yeast so probably not the best yeast going around.
I guess like you say it needed time to regenerate and kick over again.
It was my first time racking to secondary while the gravity was still dropping and i don't usually use kit yeast.
Good experiment to learn from though.

 

[MarkBastard]

Are you measuring the gravity at 35 degrees as well?

The exact same liquid at 20 degrees will measure differently at 35 degrees I believe.

 

[bowie in space]

so perhaps gravity has been dropping steadily all this time, but because i measured at a high ambient temperature it read as a higher gravity reading...
interesting thought, cheers mark.

 

[Ross]

Hi all, just took a gravity reading of my cider and it has dropped to 1.004 from 1.010 in 24 hours after being stuck on 1.010 for 4 days. I have no temp control so the fermenter has been sitting inside my house at a temp of between 30-36C for the last 4 days. Gravity had not dropped since i racked to secondary 5 days ago.

The only thing i can think of is that the heatwave in Melbourne suspended fermentation and now that the ambient temp is below 30C the yeast has picked up again. I thought the yeast could have/would have perished in this heat. What happened to my brew?

Bowie

Yeast love being up in the mid 30's, so it won't have been the heat. Has a fresh krausen developed? Hopefully it's the brewing yeast & not an infection taking hold.

cheers ross

 

[Ross]

so perhaps gravity has been dropping steadily all this time, but because i measured at a high ambient temperature it read as a higher gravity reading...
interesting thought, cheers mark.

Higher temp will indicate a lower FG, so unfortunately no.

cheers Ross

 

[bowie in space]

Hi Ross, since being in the secondary vessel, there has been no krausen build up at all. There was in the primary, but the heatwave occured the day after racking. Should i be worried that it is an infection?

Just tasted it and it is ok, slight funky taste, but i'd expect that through all of this heat (you sell tempmates right? If so, i'll be ordering one from you soon). Smells ok, tastes a little thin too. Hopefully it isn't stuffed.