endorphines
Active Member
Hi Everyone... I've been reading HBT for a while now, and i love the amount of information that is here! it's amazing! but now i have my first question to ask directly.
I've done a lot of reading on how to set up a good fermentation, and i thought i had this batch nailed, but it seems to have stalled.
I made a beer with an OG of 1.111, which is way higher than I expected. I had much better efficiency than i'm used to. i figured it would be ok though, but now it seems not to be. Here's what i did:
I chilled my wort with a counterflow wort chiller, and then aerated by siphoning from one pail to another, with a large free fall. It agitated it enough that there was about 3 or 4 inches of foam on top by the time it was done. i then siphoned it back again, and then siphoned it into the pail that contained my yeast cake. so it got 3 rounds of it. I've done this with remarkable results before with only 2 rounds.
It all seemed peachy, it was producing pressure in the pail in half an hour, and in 3 hours there were 4 to 5 inches of krausen. The pail has a stick on thermometer that was indicating the wort was 80F (hotter than i want) in my basement which is at 65F. So this was a good energetic fermentation.
I went to bed, and came back in the morning, and there was still pressure in the pail, but the krausen had fallen completely and it was 70F. by the end of the day yesterday, so 24 hours in, it was off the low end of the thermometer which i think ends at 67F. I still smell that batch in the air when i go in that end of the basement, so it might be producing co2 still and venting, but there is zero krausen. I haven't taken any gravity samples yet, but i plan to this evening.
is this something to worry about? or should i just keep an eye on the readings and not worry if they're still dropping?
If the readings are constant, and this is a stalled fermentation, then how would i start it again? this would take a heck of a lot of yeast to finish, and adding a starter at this point would trow the flavors off entirely.
Any help would be much appreciated.
If information on what the beer is would help, my post about it is currently the last one in this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/founders-breakfast-stout-clone-139078/index13.html
I've done a lot of reading on how to set up a good fermentation, and i thought i had this batch nailed, but it seems to have stalled.
I made a beer with an OG of 1.111, which is way higher than I expected. I had much better efficiency than i'm used to. i figured it would be ok though, but now it seems not to be. Here's what i did:
I chilled my wort with a counterflow wort chiller, and then aerated by siphoning from one pail to another, with a large free fall. It agitated it enough that there was about 3 or 4 inches of foam on top by the time it was done. i then siphoned it back again, and then siphoned it into the pail that contained my yeast cake. so it got 3 rounds of it. I've done this with remarkable results before with only 2 rounds.
It all seemed peachy, it was producing pressure in the pail in half an hour, and in 3 hours there were 4 to 5 inches of krausen. The pail has a stick on thermometer that was indicating the wort was 80F (hotter than i want) in my basement which is at 65F. So this was a good energetic fermentation.
I went to bed, and came back in the morning, and there was still pressure in the pail, but the krausen had fallen completely and it was 70F. by the end of the day yesterday, so 24 hours in, it was off the low end of the thermometer which i think ends at 67F. I still smell that batch in the air when i go in that end of the basement, so it might be producing co2 still and venting, but there is zero krausen. I haven't taken any gravity samples yet, but i plan to this evening.
is this something to worry about? or should i just keep an eye on the readings and not worry if they're still dropping?
If the readings are constant, and this is a stalled fermentation, then how would i start it again? this would take a heck of a lot of yeast to finish, and adding a starter at this point would trow the flavors off entirely.
Any help would be much appreciated.
If information on what the beer is would help, my post about it is currently the last one in this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/founders-breakfast-stout-clone-139078/index13.html
