Stuck Fermentation

Hey all... Have a porter in the primary for 2.5 weeks now and haven't seen any activity for quite sometime..I know the initial fermentation is 24-48 hours after u pitch the yeast. My ? Is how do you know if your fermentation has slowed and is there a way to make "help" it out at all if it is stuck? Thx for the feedback. This is my 2nd batch my first being a red ale which turned out great and I'm continuing to enjoy!!

how do you know it's stuck? did you take a gravity reading?

at 2.5 weeks i would not expect to see any airlock activity...

Take a gravity reading with your hydrometer and compare with the OG reading you took before pitching the yeast. Take another in 3-4 days and see if there is any change. That will tell you if FG has been reached or not. Don't toss the samples though, taste them. That will tell you when the batch is actually ready for bottle/keg.

Well that's the thing I don't know if I'm using the terminology correctly. I had a test jar with the beer and have taken hydrometer reading 2 days in a row with same gravity reading. I know I won't see any activity in the airlock so my guess is maybe I need to just wait it out for the 4 weeks. The gravity being the same for two days made me think stuck fermentation....

Definetly did taste the sample and it tastes great... Like flat beerwhich makes me think it's good to go but I always here ferment for 4 weeks or so

"Test jar"??

Pull the sample from the primary and space them at least a few days apart. Testing too close together can give you false readings.

Going another week, or two, won't do any harm to the batch, if you're following proper sanitation practices every time you open it.

Got it! The test jar was a tube of beer I pulled off the fermenter initially to get readings from as I went along so I dint have to open the fermented(got this from one of the instructions I read) but goin right from the fermenter is more accurate so I'll try that...thx

1sttimebrewer said:

Got it! The test jar was a tube of beer I pulled off the fermenter initially to get readings from as I went along so I dint have to open the fermented(got this from one of the instructions I read) but goin right from the fermenter is more accurate so I'll try that...thx

Click to expand...

don't go by anymore of those instructions...

Guess I won't!

Pulling right from primary is the only really accurate way. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to use a tiny sample jar to use for readings. For one thing, the yeast will work differently in the different wort volumes. If you're not doing full batch boils, you cannot be guaranteed that the wort is fully mixed (with the top-off water). Infinitely better to simply pull the sample when you need to take a reading.

Makes sense! Thx for the insight