slow or stuck fermentation?

9 days ago I sent 5 gallons of pecan brown ale to the ferementor. It went in at 1.066 and with Safbrew S-33 it was supposed to finish at 1.017 for an abv of around 6.5% It has been fermenting at about 70F. I have been busy/lazy and just took a reading today. It is right at 1.030. Obviously, this is too far off the mark to bottle.

Is it possible that the ferementation is just going really slowly? Its hard to gauge b/c i dont have other readings to compare it to. And if it is stuck what should I do? I've heard swirling the ferementor to agitate the yeast can work, but perhaps I should repitch.

Any thoughts?

Take another reading 3-7 days later and see if there is any change in gravity.

ok, I swirled it. Has anyone here actually had luck with that?

You take another ready yet? Doesn't have to show signs in airlock to be fermented. I usually leave fermenter for 2-3 weeks to to fully ferment in primary then transfer to secondary for a couple week to finish any fermenting or dry hop. This will also help make beer more clear

My beer recently got stuck. Started at 1.052, stopped at 1.030. Air lock still bubbling because of the CO2 coming out of the liquid. I swirled, did nothing. I stirred today and pitched the yeast that came with my coopers real ale. That should finish it off. The yeast i 1st pitched was a US-05. Such a shame it got stuck.

amcclai7 said:

ok, I swirled it. Has anyone here actually had luck with that?

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What is the temperature where your fermenter is? Temperature may have gone to low and put yeast into dormancy.

xpandnz said:

My beer recently got stuck. Started at 1.052, stopped at 1.030. Air lock still bubbling because of the CO2 coming out of the liquid. I swirled, did nothing. I stirred today and pitched the yeast that came with my coopers real ale. That should finish it off. The yeast i 1st pitched was a US-05. Such a shame it got stuck.

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Oh man, you don't want to stir it up. Using I rock the fermenter side to side (gently). Do it just enough to get some yeast back into suspension. Airlock showed sings of CO2 being released is a sign that it was still fermenting. Also the airlock doesn't have to be bubbling to be still fermenting. It can still slowly ferment with out visible airlock signs.

Just an update: I waited about 5 days and took another reading...nothing. I went down and got some of the exact same yeast I used initially. I rehydrated it and pitched. I've been really busy and I finally went to bottle today. 3 weeks later and the final gravity was dead on. Smell and taste are also very very pleasant.