MetuchenBrewerNJ

Recipes 

Hello everyone,
I have a question to help with a problem I've run into. I know this has been posted before, but I haven't been able to understand any answers so as to be any help.Ok, so I'm on my 4th homebrew, and my first stout. It's a dry stout:

6.6 Amber Liquid Extract
.5 lb black malt
.5 lb 40-L
.25 Roasted Barely
2 ounce fuggel (60 min)
1 ounce Willamette (10 min)
Liquid Irish Ale Yeast

I know what I'm doing for the most part, but I've run into a problem. We brewed on Sunday, Monday had bubbles (I know not to judge fermentation by bubbles, but still..), and today (Tuesday) nothing. I know sometimes a beer can just ferment quickly, but I don't think this is the case..our bubbling on Monday was only a bubble every minute or so, not enough to make me think it finished in a day. It's hardly bubbling now..we need to push the lid to make it bubble, otherwise it only bubbles maybe once every 10 minutes or so (or even longer!)
Our OG was 1.053 (a bit high for the style, I know). Should we have pitched more than one standard vial of liquid yeast? Should we add more now? I have no idea what to do. From what I've read, I believe we should just wait the week out as planned and not judge a beer by its bubbles, but I want to see what everyone thought. We are (or were planning) on doing a primary for 7-10 days (until peak fermentation was over) and than secondary for 10-14 days. Should we go along with the plan or add more yeast or do something else? I should add that our primary bucket does not have a spigot, so in order to do a hydrometer reading we'd have to take the lid off, so we are wary of that.
Any help is GREATLY appreciated! This is the first big problem we've encountered. Thanks so much,
Chris

hamiltont

Recipes 

Couple of questions. What is the gravity and beer temp right now? Cheers!!!

__________________
If Homebrew & BBQ aren't the answer, then you're askin' the wrong questions... Cheers!!!

Homercidal

Recipes 

There is no reason to fear opening the bucket. If you are sanitary, you should be able to get a sample right from the fermenter with no problems.

Then again, you KNNOW that fermentation started. And you say that it is still going on. So IMO there is no reason to open the bucket anyway. You can transfer to secondary after 14 days, but I'd recommend checking the gravity first, to make sure the fermentation is done.

Or, you could simply leave the beer in the primary for 3-4 weeks and let it clear up in there, then carefully rack into bottling bucket after that. The secondary is mostly to help clear a beer, and there isn't a good reason to worry about that for a stout, right?

Unless you think the temperature suddenly dropped below the yeast's working temps, it's doing fine. Or if it has, all you need to do is warm it up a bit. If it was fermenting above the optimum temp, then it's probably pretty much done it's job.

michur

Recipes 

Still a noob and have similar problem right now.

Can you just stir gently with a sanitized spoon being careful not to mix in too much air, but just rouse the yeasties? I've got a big fat yeast cake sitting there taking a nap.

__________________
"What is it with this chick? She have beer flavored nipples?"

Hex

Recipes 

I've roused once, it worked. (I stunned the yeast with too much camden in the pomegranate juice.)
I've re-pitched once, it worked. (First pitch in a store bought 'no preservatives' cider did not reproduce, only minimal fermentation, second pitch took off.)
I've 'DWHAHB' once, it worked.

RM-MN

Recipes 

I'd recommend against stirring. Your fermenter is full of carbon dioxide preventing anything from attacking your beer. If you open the fermenter to stir, you'll be disturbing that CO2 layer whereas just swirling gently doesn't require you to open the fermeter at all.

MetuchenBrewerNJ

Recipes 

Gravity is 1.053, temp is 75 right now.




ANd as I said, it's going now, but extremely slowly (1 bubble every 10 minutes). As of now I'm just going to wait the week to 10 days as planned, perhaps longer (true, stouts don't need time to clear in the secondary..but our glass carboy is new and we're excited to use it)

Yooper

Recipes 

Sunday was 1.053, and it's still 1.053 today?

__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

MetuchenBrewerNJ

Recipes 

Oh sorry, no, that was the OG. I don't want to take a reading today because I don't have a spigot on my primary, so I'd have to take the lid off, which from reading around everywhere else looks like something I shouldn't do, as it is most likely just slow fermenting now and I should just be patient.

Yooper

Recipes 

Well, without a hydrometer reading you just don't know. I don't have a spigot on my primaries either. You can certainly take the lid off, and take a sample with a sanitized turkey baster or wine thief.

If you don't want to, that's fine. But then it's silly to ask about trying to help a stopped fermentation when really you don't even want to bother to check! It actually sounds like it's about done, and just finishing up. But there isn't any way to tell without a hydrometer reading. If you're patient and want to wait a week or two, that's fine. But you'll have to open it then, you know!

__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006