what has happened?

[superstock]

A couple of weeks ago a friend handed me a can of Tooheys Special Draught and asked me to brew a 12 litre batch for him. (don't ask,something about the father in law) When I did his brew I decided to use the leftover in the can to use as base for a Scottish Light Ale, using Ianh's excellent spreadsheet, I used 740gms Tooheys base
225gms dark DME
110gms maltodextrin made up to 10 litres. Pitched the full packet of left over Tooheys yeast @ 18'c.
All seemed to be well, had krausen and bubbling airlock in 24 hrs. Bubbled away for the next 5-6 days and then slowed (so slow I didn't have he time to waste).
Left in FV for 15 days total and this morning bottled. I then realised that I had not done FG. Suprise, suprise the FG was 1028 down from 1034, There was a full thick yeast cake in the FV.
Has it stalled? If so how come so much yeast cake?
Do I now decant the bottles back into a FV and pitch fresh yeast?

 

[manticle]

Great indication of why 'I aim to ferment for x days and then bottle' is not a good idea. Measure garvity and only bottle if it is stable AND where you expect it to be.

Presumably you have primed the bottles? Emptying them may be an option but you will very likely oxidise your beer.

You could do a number of other things. Personally I'd chuck it because bottle bombs are scary and it's half a free can of tooheys draught.

If you can't bring yourself to chuck it you could try

1. Decap, cover each opening with glad wrap and a rubber band and let ferment out properly. Add priming sugar (in solution otherwise it will gush) then recap

OR


2. Wrap each one tightly in several layers of glad wrap and place in a box in the shed. Cover with some old towels. Being extremely cautious (eye goggles and gloves might be smart), open regularly. When at the carb level you want, refrigerate down to very cold and drink quickly. However the beer will likely be very sweet and possibly full of acetaldehyde.

Again, I wouldn't make the effort - I'd just reclaim the bottles.

What about your recipe makes it a light scottish?

 

[carniebrew]

You sure you got bubbling for 5-6 days, and a healthy looking yeast cake, only to find the beer had fermented only 6 points of gravity? Any chance you could have messed up the FG reading?

Manticle's absolutely right, nobody should be bottling before ensuring an expected and stable gravity...but it sounds a bit strange to me that you've had what sounds like quite a normal fermentation, and ended up with a 1028 beer. Certainly not impossible, but strange.

If you're so inclined, maybe fridge all the bottles to stall fermentation (and prevent bombs), and do a forced fermentation test with one of them. Take a gravity reading, then put around 300ml of the beer into a plastic bottle of some sort, keep it somewhere warm, and shake the shit out of it every time you go near it. Loosen the lid of the bottle in between shakings, so any co2 can escape. After a day or so of this, take the gravity again. If it's the same gravity, there's no fermentables left, or your yeast is dead. If the gravity has dropped, it hasn't finished fermenting, and you should chuck the lot as Manticle suggests.

But I'd be surprised if your gravity readings are correct, given the fermentation sounded normal.

 

[Donske]

You didn't take your FG reading with a refractometer did you?

 

[pat86]

Or perhaps your sample had a LOT of yeast/ trub etc (like the first draw from the fermentor tap or the very end when you are getting a lot of particles)?