Needing Advice on a Slow Fermentation

Hey Guys,

I need a bit of advice here - have searched the forum's posting, but I'm not finding anything that seems to answer my problem here.

I did my first all-grain brew five days ago. I used brew-pal on the iphone believe it or not, all the information about the recipe below is from that app.

I clearly made a couple of mistakes along the way - first and foremost I completely forgot to take a gravity reading, and I only pitched one packet of dry yeast (that had be re-hydrated for 45 mins). It's the first brew I have ever done that the airlock wasn't going crazy after 48 hours, so I rehydrated another packet of the same yeast and pitched that (I live in a country right now where it is hard to get supplies, so thought I would be a little stingy and I'd be ok).

Now I'm getting one small bubble every 30 seconds. I took a gravity reading last night at 1.012 - which doesn't seem like it could possibly be right to me. There is only a very thin Krausen layer, and the feremntor is at a good 75.2 degrees (I considered that it was just a bit cold, but that seems right on the money).

Anyone have any idea what may be going on, or what I can do to get this thing through to the next stage?

I Appreciate the advice.....


Batch size 5 gallons
Boil size 6.1 gallons
Boil time 60 minutes
Grain weight 12.75 pounds

Original gravity 1.072 (SHOULD BE - DON'T KNOW WHAT IT ACTUALLY WAS)
Alcohol (by volume) 7.3%
Bitterness (IBU) 37
Color (SRM) 5.9°L
Yeast
26 dry grams
Dry
Fermentis Safale US-05

Grains/Extracts/Sugars
12.75 pounds
Wheat
38ppg, 2°L 7.75 pounds
60.8%
2 Row Base
37ppg, 1.5°L 4.25 pounds
33.3%
CaraVienne
35ppg, 20°L 0.75 pounds
5.9%

Hops
4 ounces
Amarillo hops
8.4%, Pellet 4 ounces

Additions
0.75 ounces
Irish moss
Fining 0.75 ounces


Mash
60 minutes, 8.3 gallons
Strike
Target 153°F 4.8 gallons (ACTUALLY HIT MORE LIKE 155)
164°F
60 minutes (+0)
Sparge
Target 170°F 3.5 gallons
181°F
Amarillo hops
8.4%, Pellet 0.75 ounces

Boil
60 minutes, 6.1 gallons
Irish moss
Fining 0.75 ounces
45 minutes (+15)
Amarillo hops
8.4%, Pellet 0.75 ounces
30 minutes (+30)
Amarillo hops
8.4%, Pellet 0.75 ounces
15 minutes (+45)
Wort chiller 15 minutes (+45)
Amarillo hops
8.4%, Pellet 0.75 ounces
5 minutes (+55)

Ferment
14 days @ 59-75°F
Amarillo hops
8.4%, Pellet 1 ounce
10 days (+4)

is the air temp 75 or the beer? if the air in the room is 75 then it is a bit warm because the beer will ferment closer to 80. Even at 75-80 US-05 will eat the sugars down to that level fairly quickly-5 days seems about right. Ive evenb had some finish in 3. Let it sit for another few weeks and then bottle. Bubbles are no indication of ongoing fermentation because CO2 will continually leave the solution and make the airlock bubble long after fermentation ceases. Krauzen on the other hand will be there for a short while longer and should dissipate back into the beer. Check the gravity again in a few days and if it hasnt changed, the beer is finished fermening. Leaving it in primary for another few weeks will help the beer clear without the need of a secondary

barbosa said:

Hey Guys,

I need a bit of advice here - have searched the forum's posting, but I'm not finding anything that seems to answer my problem here.

I did my first all-grain brew five days ago. I used brew-pal on the iphone believe it or not, all the information about the recipe below is from that app.

I clearly made a couple of mistakes along the way - first and foremost I completely forgot to take a gravity reading, and I only pitched one packet of dry yeast (that had be re-hydrated for 45 mins). It's the first brew I have ever done that the airlock wasn't going crazy after 48 hours, so I rehydrated another packet of the same yeast and pitched that (I live in a country right now where it is hard to get supplies, so thought I would be a little stingy and I'd be ok).

Now I'm getting one small bubble every 30 seconds. I took a gravity reading last night at 1.012 - which doesn't seem like it could possibly be right to me. There is only a very thin Krausen layer, and the feremntor is at a good 75.2 degrees (I considered that it was just a bit cold, but that seems right on the money).

Anyone have any idea what may be going on, or what I can do to get this thing through to the next stage?

I Appreciate the advice.....

Click to expand...

It is really hard to say without a OG reading but a really low Efficiancy seems on par that is quite a bit of wheat in the grain bill tpo.

couple things
Who crushed your grains wheat is a little bit smaller than 2 row and needs a smaller gap to crush in my experience

your temps seem a little warm for us-05, should be around 64-68 for a cleaner flavor.

your gravity reading at 1.012 seems okay as does your guess at starting OG, which is possible with a @75% eff. the presence of a krausen doesn't indicate fermentation strength, a thin krausen could as in your case just have been a nice steady lope rather than a quick sprint.

Hey guys, thanks for the quick replies.

The temp is 24 C inside (I have one of those stick-on thermometers on the fermentor) - but it does seem cold around here/my place seems colder than usual.

Unfortunately, guy at the brew store - in a neighboring country crushed my grains. I really need to get a mill next time I go back to the US....

how do you delete replys? I was too slow on the draw.

I've had some brews seem to not ferment as rapidly as others and in one case I had inadvertently pushed the gromlet for the airlock part way into the bucket. So some gases were escaping around my airlock rather than through it.

Wow, all right, this is very encouraging. Was just a bit panicked, because normally I can hear that airlock bubbling away in the next room. This is my third time brewing with wheat, and the other two went horribly wrong, so maybe I'm just a bit nervous.

So I'll stay the course, and then move on to another first this batch - kegging....

Thanks for the advice guys - will follow up with results...

if there isnt a good seal sometimes it wont build up enough pressure to bubble up the airlock but it will still be producing gas....