High FG with second batch

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MriswitH

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Greetings again, fellow brewsmiths!

I started a Honey Brown style beer awhile back and as we're approaching the second week in the secondary, hydrometer readings seem to be rather high.

Here is the recipe:

3lbs Extra Light DME
3lbs Amber DME
3lbs Honey 2min

1oz Tettnanger 60min
1oz Saaz 15min
White Labs American Ale
OG: 1.070 (!)

After a week in the primary, I took a hydrometer reading at 1.036. I proceeded to wait an extra few days and then siphoned it off into a secondary and let it sit for about a week. (Believe I did this way too early, but I read on howtobrew's site that it was ok with anything under 6/minute on the airlock) I checked the gravity during the first week that it was in the secondary and it never went below 1.32. I repitched some new yeast on the top assuming that I had stuck fermentation and as of last gravity reading it was about 1.30 with activity being 1 bubble in the airlock per 75 seconds.

My question is this: Does it appear that things are primarily done here, or because of the honey content, should I repitch another (see: third) pack of yeast to see if anything happens? I took a sample and it tastes quite fine, but you can still see quite a bit of hop particles still in suspension.

Thanks again, gurus!
 
Anything with a lot of honey will ferment slowly. The yeast you're using should tolerate the ABV, but slowly. When you make a braggot, you should ferment the ale, then add the honey and a high gravity yeast. You might want to pitch a mead yeast to finish it and plan on a couple more months in the secondary.

Do not bottle this until the gravity is unchanged for at least two weeks. I've seen meads blowup bottles after a year in the fermenter.
 
I made a beer with 2.5lbs of honey in it. Fermentation has been vigorous for 3 days now. How long should I wait until transferring to secondary? Or should I base it on gravity readings?
 
Update:

Took a hydrometer reading on Sunday (10/22/06) with again, no movement; however, I found out after researching that the type of DME I used (Laaglander) seems to be utter rubbish. It only ferments out at about 50% or so, which would mean that my FG seems to be right in line with what is to be expected given the type of DME I used.

The question I have now is what should I do as of this point? The beer smells and tastes great, but will bottling this create potential bottle bombs? Will the fermentation pick back up for whatever reason or the taste in bottle aging turn sour? I had read that people with similar issues had added amalyze enzyme to the bucket and it will spur fermentation, but is it necessary given the aforementioned?

Thanks again!
 
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