yes its another is my beer ruined question!

Hi,
I'm a real noob here and am real concerned about my first brew.
It is a cascade pale ale, I started it over a week ago now and it was all looking good the reading was getting lower I had bubbles in my airlock. Then it all stopped.
No bubbles, no changes to the reading (currently on 1028) for about 3 days.
Tried to sir it this did not do much.

Should I add more yeast? If stop how much? And does normal cooking yeast work our do I need to go out and get special yeast?



Please help Asap.

If it was me I would leave it alone for a week then take a gravity reading. Did u areate well? Also don't add bread yeast to ur brew ever. Chopps

Hi chopps,
Thanks for your reply!
I gave it a light sir, does this count as aeration?
I tint would be the re the yeast but just thought I would check.

A light stir is not desirable airation. Next brew day before u pitch ur yeast u want to stir the holy **** out of it. Do some research for other methods of airation. For ur current batch just forget about for a week ur getting ur self workers up for nothing just relax and check it in a.week

Ok thanks so much.

No prob and happy brewing Chopps

Hi,
i have checked the brew again today and still no change to the reading.
What should i do next?

Did u taste ur sample? Was it sweet?

Try gently swirling your fermenter for 60 seconds and raising the temperature to re-activate your yeast if it still tastes sweet.

How are you getting your SG reading? Refractometer or hydrometer?

Hi guys,
Thanks for all your support!
When i get home later i will taste it and report back.
I gave it a good stir a few days ago and cranked up the temp a bit which made no difference.
I am using a hydrometer to test it.
If it is sweet will i have to add more yeast?

Thanks again guys.

I was hoping that you were using a refractometer and didn't adjust for the alcohol. You'd probably be done if so. Stirring or adding oxygen at this point, I'd advise against it. The aeration questions earlier were (I think) intended for your next batch. Aerate the crap out of it next time. Swirling it to resuspend the yeast is OK, but it never does anything for me. Repitching doesn't really work for me either. If it tastes sweet, you'll want to bring the gravity down somehow. An actively fermenting starter may be your best bet.

I use a whisk to aerate. And I wisk the hell out of it for a few minutes. If your arm hurts a bit afterwards you did ok

Ok, so i had a taste of it and it does not taste very sweet.
It tastes ok from what i can tell!
What are your next thougts? Do i try to stir up the yeast or add this 'actively fermenting starter' or something else

falz1982 said:

Hi,
I'm a real noob here and am real concerned about my first brew.
It is a cascade pale ale, I started it over a week ago now and it was all looking good the reading was getting lower I had bubbles in my airlock. Then it all stopped. No bubbles, no changes to the reading (currently on 1028) for about 3 days. Tried to sir it this did not do much.

Should I add more yeast? If stop how much? And does normal cooking yeast work our do I need to go out and get special yeast?

Click to expand...

Adding oxygen to beer that has fermented for a week and then stopped?

A Cascade Pale should be done.

Did you calibrate your hydrometer?

I might add a little priming sugar (1/3 cup?) and see if it causes ant airlock activity. I will also give you another carbon dioxide blanket to keep other bugs out.

For aeration I use a 28" plastic mash paddle connected to my drill and I run it for about 2 minutes while adjusting the depth. Be careful because the force will try and drag the paddle around and there is some potential for splashing if you get the vortex "just right".

I can't scientifically tell you how efficient this is but it's easier than shaking your carboy and it produces a nice thick foam on top...should that even matter or prove anything.

falz1982 said:

Ok, so i had a taste of it and it does not taste very sweet.
It tastes ok from what i can tell!
What are your next thougts? Do i try to stir up the yeast or add this 'actively fermenting starter' or something else

Click to expand...

Yay! you made beer!


How long has it been? 2 weeks? You could bottle now, or give it a few more days undisturbed first. Rack to your bottling bucket, add your sugar and make sure you stir the hell outta it then for even carbonation. But just stir!

NEXT batch, cover the hole in your fermenter, and shake the snots outta it for like 5 mins, or until the swmbo is dialing 911 cuz you have had a corornary on the floor from shaking too much, then pitch your yeast. That is aeration.

falz1982 said:

Ok, so i had a taste of it and it does not taste very sweet.
It tastes ok from what i can tell!
What are your next thougts? Do i try to stir up the yeast or add this 'actively fermenting starter' or something else

Click to expand...

Do a search for 1.020 curse. It seems that a few people get stuck at 1.020 with extract batches. If your reading is stable bottle it and brew something new, but this time as others have said "shake the snot out of it"

falz1982 said:

Ok, so i had a taste of it and it does not taste very sweet.
It tastes ok from what i can tell!
What are your next thougts? Do i try to stir up the yeast or add this 'actively fermenting starter' or something else

Click to expand...

Have you drank it all yet?