First batch gone dead.

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ScottT

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My first batch of Scottish Export has gone dead just like some others posting recently. The fermentation really slowed down at 3 days and was dead when I racked it to the secondary last night. This morning, still nothing bubbling.

I had used a yeast nutrient, Servomyces and got an incredible amount of yeast development in the primary to the tune of about 2 inches.

After I racked off, I filled a 1000 ml flask with yeast and still dumped twice that down the drain.

When I was siphoning, It over to the secondary, I inadvertently picked up a little of the bottom yeast and it went to the bottom of the secondary so I know that there's still live yeast in there.

My suspicion is that because of the incredible amount of yeast I had in the primary, all the fermentable sugar is consumed.

I'm considering boiling up a gallon of wort this afternoon and adding it to the secondary to get it going again. Then maybe rack off again before bottling. My Alcohol is at 4.4% ABV right now and though that's good enough for this style of beer, but it really doesn't have the body or bitterness I'm looking for. I think I can fix that with the addition of a gallon of high gravity hopped wort.

Any other thoughts?
 
Have you taken a gravity measurement? My guess is that you just fermented real fast... let er sit and settle for a week or two in secondary.
 
Thanks for the reply. I agree that it just fermented fast. I'm about a gallon short in the secondary due to what I left in the primary (with all the yeast) and what boiled off at brew time.

I'm going to add 1 gallon of wort, add some yeast back in from what I saved and let it work for another week.

I'll transfer again then let it settle out before bottling.
 
No need to add extra yeast. It's done. If you just racked, there's plenty of yeast in there if you're going to add extra wort - although I would advise against messing around with beer that has already started to condition. Next time, just boil a larger volume to account for evaporation and racking.
 
Well, I changed my mind again. Thanks for the advice. I ended up putting some more thought into it and decided it best not to mess with what's already in the secondary at this time.

What I did instead was boil up a 1.5 gallon batch of wort at 1.050 with some speciality grains steeped at 140 to 158 degrees.
Cara pils 5 oz
Roasted Barley 1 oz
Peated Malt 1 oz
Golden Promise 8 oz

1.5 pounds of Laaglander light DME
1/2 oz of East Kent Goldings.

This gives me the residual sweetness of the laaglander, more dextrin from the carapils and golden promise, more bitterness from the roasted barley and a touch of smoke.

I chilled this down added O2 and pitched 1 cup of yeast cake from the origional batch. I'm putting this micro batch through it's own primary fermentation then I'll rack it into the secondary with the other in a few days.

This should add the bitterness and body I want and still prevent oxidation in my secondary.

At least that's the plan.

I'm still learning, Next full batch will go better.
 
ScottT said:
Well, I changed my mind again. Thanks for the advice. I ended up putting some more thought into it and decided it best not to mess with what's already in the secondary at this time.

What I did instead was boil up a 1.5 gallon batch of wort at 1.050 with some speciality grains steeped at 140 to 158 degrees.
Cara pils 5 oz
Roasted Barley 1 oz
Peated Malt 1 oz
Golden Promise 8 oz

1.5 pounds of Laaglander light DME
1/2 oz of East Kent Goldings.

This gives me the residual sweetness of the laaglander, more dextrin from the carapils and golden promise, more bitterness from the roasted barley and a touch of smoke.

I chilled this down added O2 and pitched 1 cup of yeast cake from the origional batch. I'm putting this micro batch through it's own primary fermentation then I'll rack it into the secondary with the other in a few days.

This should add the bitterness and body I want and still prevent oxidation in my secondary.

At least that's the plan.

I'm still learning, Next full batch will go better.


Odd solution. I would have just racked it over to secondary and chalked it up as experience. To each his own. Hope it turns out!
 
ORRELSE said:
Odd solution. I would have just racked it over to secondary and chalked it up as experience. To each his own. Hope it turns out!

Racked what? The new wort?

The first batch is already in the secondary and just conditioning right now, not fermenting at all. The flavor, while good is not as full as I had wanted and I'm short a gallon in my secondary.

My first thought was to restart fermentation by adding wort but then I remembered blending beers to get different flavor profiles. Very common in England and at my local Pub. (Should you ever find both on tap at a pub, try 2/3 pint MacEwans with 1/3 pint Abbot Ale) Additionally, I didn't want to add fresh oxygenated wort to my already conditioning ale in the secondary. By putting this chocolate colored, 32 IBU wort through it's own fermentation then racking over to the secondary, I'm essentially blending beers to achieve a different flavor profile. This new wort tastes fantastic. We'll see how she turns out after fermentation. Then again after blending and conditioning in the secondary.

Hey, it's an experiment.
 
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