My brew is at 1.023 gravity and stopped.

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lowend

lowend

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I'm kinda new to brewing (this is my 7th batch) and I'm still learning quite a bit. I brewed up an amber about 4 days ago (1.074 OG) and it started bubbling away after about 16 hours or so. I went to check it yesterday (3 days in) and the airlock had completely stopped. I thought that maybe the yeast had crapped out, so I decided to take a hydrometer test and found that my gravity was at 1.023. My concern is that it's not going to ferment anymore and the beer will be too sweet. Any feedback on this matter would be much appreciated.
 
lowend said:
I'm kinda new to brewing (this is my 7th batch) and I'm still learning quite a bit. I brewed up an amber about 4 days ago (1.074 OG) and it started bubbling away after about 16 hours or so. I went to check it yesterday (3 days in) and the airlock had completely stopped. I thought that maybe the yeast had crapped out, so I decided to take a hydrometer test and found that my gravity was at 1.023. My concern is that it's not going to ferment anymore and the beer will be too sweet. Any feedback on this matter would be much appreciated.
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It sounds like much of the fermentation is finished, but it still should continue to drop over the next few days. Three days is way to soon to worry about a fermentation being stuck. Check it again in a week or so- I bet it'll be right where you expect the FG to be.
 
Whew...thanks for the advice. I guess it's true when they say that you shouldn't trust the airlock.

I have another question though. I plan on transferring it to a secondary fermenter and adding more hops (it's supposed to be kind of an IPA styled Amber). Would it be too soon to transfer over to the glass carboy?
 
lowend said:
Whew...thanks for the advice. I guess it's true when they say that you shouldn't trust the airlock.

I have another question though. I plan on transferring it to a secondary fermenter and adding more hops (it's supposed to be kind of an IPA styled Amber). Would it be too soon to transfer over to the glass carboy?
Click to expand...

Yes, definitely. Give the yeast time to finish its job and clean up after itself, then transfer.
 
ArcaneXor said:
Yes, definitely. Give the yeast time to finish its job and clean up after itself, then transfer.
Click to expand...

+1 to this.
The longer you let the beer sit on the yeast cake, the more yeast you have working for you to clean up all of the nasty fermentation byproducts. Up to the point of autolysis, that is. So, up to 4 weeks, you should be good. My point is, let the yeast do the work. RDWHAHB
 
depending on your airlock setup, it might just be very slowly outgassing, or you might have a very small leak around the bung. I would wait for 3 or more SG to be exactly the same, I am planning on taking the SG every other day starting on day 7 after fermentation starts.
 
All good things to know.

I have another batch that I bottled last weekend that had a final gravity of 1.020 (OG of 1.076). I tested it after a little over 3 weeks of fermenting and then five days later. Both gave a reading of 1.020, so I bottled right away. I can't hardly see that one fermenting any further (please correct me if I'm wrong).
 
I think you're done, or very close to done. 1.074 is a pretty high OG, and a FG of 1.023 wouldn't be surprising at all. Look at style OG/FG for Imperial Stout and Strong Scotch Ale ... you're right in there! Hope you hopped it up good!
 
hughmac said:
Hope you hopped it up good!
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I boiled 2 oz. cascade hops for 60 minutes, and 2 oz. willamette hops for 30 minutes. I'm planning on transferring to secondary eventually and adding 2 oz. vanguard hops. Any thoughts?
 
lowend said:
I boiled 2 oz. cascade hops for 60 minutes, and 2 oz. willamette hops for 30 minutes. I'm planning on transferring to secondary eventually and adding 2 oz. vanguard hops. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

No real thoughts, other than I'm in a similar boat. I'm a noobie to brewing and trying to hone in on a good California style hoppy ale. I just siphoned to secondary last night. OG 1.069, FG 1.018. The beer was sweet, and I'm aiming for dry and hoppy. I'm racking over 1oz warrior, 2oz amarillo, 2oz columbus. It was in the primary for two weeks and it was pretty inactive. I may start doing starters and seeing if that gets those low FGs I want.

Saturday I'm making a lagunitas IPA clone, with slight modifications to the hop sschedule.
:mug:
 
I just tested it again today and it's down to about 1.02. I think it'll turn out just fine. :mug:
 
Rack it to secondary, let it sit for 2 weeks, then test it again. Racking sometimes will stir up a bit of fermentation.
 
I would also caution against transferring to the secondary too soon. I did this with a porter, and regretted it. Wait a while, and take another hydrometer reading. You have very little yeast working to clean up the beer in the secondary, so all the fermentables need to be processed in the primary.
 
How long did you end up leaving in primary, and then how long in secondary with dry hops?

I have an IPA that's been at 1.025 for a few days after 14 days in primary. I was expecting better attenuation; OG was 1.077 and I pitched two Wyeast Pacman packs rather than a starter. It tastes fine, but a little too sweet.

I've roused the yeast twice now and raised ferm temp. from ~64 to 70 F over the course of the weekend. I want to get this over to secondary to dry hop, but don't want to cut the primary short.

This is only my second batch, so I have not learned to tame my lack of patience to get the finished product in my glass. But maybe I should start another batch and give this one the time it needs...
 
2bluewagons said:
How long did you end up leaving in primary, and then how long in secondary with dry hops?

I have an IPA that's been at 1.025 for a few days after 14 days in primary. I was expecting better attenuation; OG was 1.077 and I pitched two Wyeast Pacman packs rather than a starter. It tastes fine, but a little too sweet.

I've roused the yeast twice now and raised ferm temp. from ~64 to 70 F over the course of the weekend. I want to get this over to secondary to dry hop, but don't want to cut the primary short.

This is only my second batch, so I have not learned to tame my lack of patience to get the finished product in my glass. But maybe I should start another batch and give this one the time it needs...
Click to expand...

Honestly, I kept it in primary for a week, transferred, and left it in secondary for another week. Obviously, I don't know too much about patience either. It came out really good (It's actually already gone) but I can't help but wonder how much better it could have been if I had let it sit for awhile longer. Well, there's always next time.
 

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