I brewed a batch of AHBS steamroller stout a little less than a month ago. You can read my thread titled "how much can you shake the yeast" to get a fuller version of my problem. Long story short is the OG and FG per recipe were 1.074 and 1.013. My OG was 1.090 and I am stuck with a gravity of 1.034. I have tried shaking and that has not worked. I have been told that repitching may or may not work. I would like to repitch if possible and reach a closer gravity to the 1.013. However, if I do not repitch and I prime and bottle, I have been told this would cause a greater chance of bottle bombs with the high sugar count and yeast combination in the bottles? I appreciate all advise, i really want this beer to be drinkable. TIA
Am i at risk for making bottle bombs?
- Thread starter brewhaw
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Realistically and without any recipe details, process, all grain or extract, yeast strain, fermentation temperatures, etc I would expect the beer to finish around 1.027 with that OG so you are not that far off in reality. If the gravity has been stable for several days then it could be done as well.
The short answer to your question is yes, bottle bombs are possible. If you want more possibilities provide more details
The short answer to your question is yes, bottle bombs are possible. If you want more possibilities provide more details
I wonder how well you got the wort & top off water mixed. Not to mention,the accuracy of your hydrometer.
Not all the time. Stalls do happen. My #3 Burton ale staslled at 1.021. Swirled & warmed it down to 1.017 from a 1.065OG.
He's swirled though. He said he's done everything and it's still pegged at same SG. To me, that's done...unless he puts amylase in there.
OP, how long has it been since you've been stalled? Detail your steps and timeline since you first got the 1.034 reading.
Yeah,that might help. Mine took 24 hours to start again after swirl-n-warm.
First off thanks to all who have responded. I brewed a full 5 gallon boil extract on 22 September it boiled down from 6 gallons to about 4 1/2 I topped off the last half-gallon with water stirred very well. I pitched with the wrong yeast however I was supposed to use white labs Irish ale I accidentally used a California ale white labs also. I did notice one day my sticker on my fermentation bucket read 58° I warmed it up there after. about two weeks later I checked gravity and I was at 1.038 I then swirled it and few days later (four to be exact) I rechecked and was at 1.034 I then swirled again, waited 4 days and am still at 1.034. Temperature has been pretty constant from 66 to 69°. I also brewed an arrogant bastard clone and my hydrometer gravity readings were pretty spot on so no reason to doubt hydrometer. by the way the clone ale was the one I accidentally pitched into this stout I do still have two vials of the Irish ale to pitch with if needed if that would be okay. Thank y'all again for the help
beerman0001
Well-Known Member
Was this all grain or extract?
extract. i did a full 5 gallon boil.
brewhaw said:
With your hydrometer, spot on meaning its calibrated or spot on meaning it read the same as the kit said it should? These are not the same thing....also with calibration comes the associated temperature adjustment.
Also, you don't speak of a starter for this really large beer, under pitching is a primary cause of poor attenuation. Couple this with dark extract the beer could very well be done.
Re-pitching can't hurt but it might not move
I never actually calibrated my hydrometer so I guess it might not be a spot on as I thought. one thing I did also forget to mention was that I pitched at a much higher temperature than I thought. my thermometer turned out to be broken it read 74° when I pitched when in reality it was probably in the 80s. I did not use a starter but I did pitch with two vials.
Even though you used two vials you still may have under pitched depending on the freshness and viability of the yeast. You should use a calculator like http://www.yeastcalc.com or http://www.mrmalty.com to calculate proper starter and pitching rate.
One thing to add as an extract batch and using top off water it is almost impossible to miss the OG. Not arriving at the desired OG is usually due to a poor mix of wort and water. In addition, once you calibrate your hydrometer you may find your FG is actually very different.
Even though you used two vials you still may have under pitched depending on the freshness and viability of the yeast. You should use a calculator like http://www.yeastcalc.com or http://www.mrmalty.com to calculate proper starter and pitching rate.
One thing to add as an extract batch and using top off water it is almost impossible to miss the OG. Not arriving at the desired OG is usually due to a poor mix of wort and water. In addition, once you calibrate your hydrometer you may find your FG is actually very different.
Thanks again I just put two different hydrometers into water at 72° maybe a little higher one red 1.002 the other read less than 1.000 I use the one that read 1.002 to calibrate my wort so now I am even more confused because my gravity readings are even higher than expected. correct?
I just recalibrated again at 77° and I'm getting a reading of 1.002 at 77°. My hydrometer was calibrated to be at 1.000 at 60° it says at 77° to add two. so would my reading of 1.002 at 77° actually be 1.004? I got to thinking and i know that my thermometer was 74 when i pitched;however that thermometer turned out to be broken and was reading too low. with that being the case i probly pitched at about 85 making my OG higher than the 1.090 it was reading therefore increasing my attenuation rate with the FG of 1.034. which i am only getting about 55%. Correct?. Then i wonder how could i overshoot my OG so bad?
calibrate it at 60 with distilled water.
brewhaw said:
So for now you can assume +.002 for your readings so go back and take a sample of the beer, adjust for temperature and calibration and see where the beer is at.
You should also then calibrate your thermometer. Take a glass of ice water and then boiling and make sure you get proper readings or note your differences. I would also use a glass of water at 150 and test with that as well so you can evaluate mid range temps too.
thermometer hits 212 at boil and 36 in ice water. I think the ice water is still more water(obviously) so im ok with that. gonna take a read and get back here in a few. Much appreciated.
Whattawort
Well-Known Member
Sounds like it's done to me.
Whattawort
Well-Known Member
Eh? Why wouldn't you prime and bottle if it's done? Or are you saying that he told you not to prime and bottle yet because he thinks it's not done based on what you told him? Based on everything I've read here, I'm inclined to say your beer has gone about as far as it wants to go.
Alright so back to the original issue: your gravity 1.090, recipe was 1.074. You topped off with some water so most likely the real OG was 1.074 since you really can't screw up an extract recipe unless you really miss volumes so I attribute being off to a bad mix of wort and water and you got an off reading.
Now being stuck at 1.034 is a more realistic concern. You pitched 2 vials of the wrong yeast of questionable viability so I'm guessing you severely under pitched causing stress on the yeast and poor fermentation, especially if poorly aerated.
IMO at this point you get another vial and make a 1L starter and pitch it at high krausen since going into wort with alcohol content already. Hopefully it will finish the fermentation for you.
Now being stuck at 1.034 is a more realistic concern. You pitched 2 vials of the wrong yeast of questionable viability so I'm guessing you severely under pitched causing stress on the yeast and poor fermentation, especially if poorly aerated.
IMO at this point you get another vial and make a 1L starter and pitch it at high krausen since going into wort with alcohol content already. Hopefully it will finish the fermentation for you.
yeah. based on FG per recipe and amount of sugars used the FG is too high and when primed with more sugar could be explosive. but i appreciate the input
Try this, if it fails, bottle it.
