The 1.020 Curse

AK47, I had this problem with a couple brews as well. You may want to try slightly higher fermentation temps (depending on what you're brewing and what yeast strain you're using) but 63-68 would be a good level. Also, leave in the primary for longer than a week (IMHO) as when you transfer to a secondary you are losing a good amount of the yeast/nutrients the yeast needs to ferment. Secondary is for clearing/conditioning, not fermenting.

Hope this helps.

yeah i've been getting a lot of good info from the noob forum on my trials and tribulations with my first brew. For my next batch i'll definitely keep the fermenter upstairs where it stays between 68-70 and also keep it in the primary longer before transferring over for conditioning.

I just wanted to say I made an oatmeal stout using dry Safale S-04 sprinkled right into the wort, it finished at 1.020 as well, this fermentation happened so quick I actually thought it never took off but 10 days later there it is at 1.020...I'm actually happy because I like sweet stouts, hopefully it'll turn out good in the bottle.

I'm having this problem too. Gas stove, liquid yeast I shake the fermenter to aerate. I'm going to try starters and see if that helps.

I joined the club today as well.

I don't usually check my gravity between pitching and bottling. On my first two batches, I just let it rip for 3+ weeks and bottled. Both of those batches finished about 1.12 and 1.11, if I recall correctly.

Those first two batches used different yeasts - liquid yeats on the first batch, pitched directly, and the second was dry yeast rehydrated and pitched.

This problem batch is a Belgian Wit, an extract recipe from my LHBS. I think the dry yeast was Nottingham, but I have no record of that. My SG was on the higher end of the range, and I filled the fermenter to 5.5 gallons instead of 5 gallons. I added the DME early, and LME wheat late. I also noted that my temp strip on my ale pail showed the beer to be at 59 deg, so I moved the pail to a small bathroom where I will keep the door closed and the heat should keep the ale a bit warmer.

It's been 22 days, and perhaps too late for moving to a warmer location? Is it worth it to pitch a new packet of yeast? I shook up the pail a bit during and after moving it.

I'm inclined to give it a couple more days at a warmer temp, although I'm consdiering pitching another packet.

When I brewed extract I never finished far below 1.020. The lowest was 1.018, but most were dead on 1.020. I think it is the temperature that my DME was mashed at, as soon as I went to AG I had much more control over attenuation. Just putting it out there, that it might be beyond the brewers control in this case.

OK, I had some quick, good luck with moving the ale pail to the downstairs bathroom. I had the door closed all night and a halogen paint light in there for heat. I walked in this morning, keeping inn mind that the furnace had just kicked about 30 minutes prior to bring the house back up to 68 degrees, and the bathroom was TOASTY warm.

I checked the beer temp and it was 76 deg F, up from 59 when I moved it. I noticed no bubbles in the airlock, and gave it another shake. I returned about 15 minutes later and noticed the temp had risen to 77 deg so I opened the door to let that room cool down a bit. I gave the pail another shake, and noticed bubbles coming out of the airlock. I watched as the moving beer stopped shaking and saw that I was still getting a bubble every 10 seconds. I came back in 5 minutes later to make sure the movement had fully subsided and it was still bubbling - slowly, but regularly.

I'll keep it warmer (but maybe not so warm - I'll shoot for 70-72) for a few days and hopefully it will finish up!

Now if I had only written down which dry yeast came in this kit, I'd note that it is more tempermental about temperatures.

At any rate, looks like I won't need to pitch more yeast, but rather just wake up the ones that are already there!

I had all of my first beers end at 1.020 but the last few I changed things up a bit.

1st I aerated it a lot more before pitching now. Before I would dump it back and forth about 3-4 times now I do it until I have so much foam I cant anymore. Probably 10-12 times. A air stone will be next!

2nd my fermenting temp before was 72 constant with 7-10 days in primary then secondary. Now I start it off at 68 for 10-14 days then raise it to 71-72 for another 7-10 days.

After doing this my last three beers were all 1.012 - 1.016. And also note I like BIG Belgians! Most were 1.070+ to start so for me the lower temp really helped. More alcohol and less of a sweet taste in the final beer.

I still secondary the really big ones for a week or two just to clear them but others I just primary for 3 weeks or so then keg/bottle.

OK, this seems crazy. After finding I was stuck at 1.020 on the day I planne don bottling, I got it going again by moving it to a warmer location. Now it's been a bit more than 6 days and it's still bubbling every 20 seconds. Is there a point where I should worry about what's going on and check on it? I generally don't open iot up until bottling day. I've not heard of bubbling be a sign of anything but fermentation though, so I'm guessing patience is in order and that it will drop off soon.

I keep getting fermentation stuck at 1.020, with extract/liquid yeast. ..Recently. Odd. I have been brewing since 1979.This never happened before recently. I went back to using Lee Beadle meathod of boiling water, adding ingredients and boil for 10 mintues. I get FG of 4-12 , with SG of 38-58 I don't know why, but recently I get stuck at 1.020 most of the time with liquid yeasts. . I am going back to the old Beadlebrau method, it works all the time and tastes great.

doctorfishbrain said:

I keep getting fermentation stuck at 1.020, with extract/liquid yeast. ..Recently. Odd. I have been brewing since 1979.This never happened before recently. I went back to using Lee Beadle meathod of boiling water, adding ingredients and boil for 10 mintues. I get FG of 4-12 , with SG of 38-58 I don't know why, but recently I get stuck at 1.020 most of the time with liquid yeasts. . I am going back to the old Beadlebrau method, it works all the time and tastes great.

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I have never had luck getting as low a FG as I want when using extract. This was the main driving force behind me trying all grain. I wish you luck, but i dont know the beadlebrau method is.

I also have no idea on what the beadlebrau method is. I googled and only came up with this post. Could someone enlighten me?

I was getting the 10.20 curse A TON. People in various threads contributed it to me using extract and too much unfermentable sugars getting in. I have now switched to all grain and have 2 brews in the fermenters one 6 days old the other 2. In a few days I'll check on the older ones gravity. Ferm temps are no reason for me to not get past 1.020 I am in tempe AZ and work mighty hard to get my fermenters to 70 degrees.

are you rehydrating your yeast? i have found that since i started doing this i have not had this problem (crosses fingers).

GIusedtoBe said:

I'm still doing extract brews but I only use DME and I have only used liquid yeast as well. On 9/10th's of my brews, I use Briess DME and Wyeast 1056 Amer Ale (washed and reused) and I have yet to have one any higher FG than 1.014. They are very consistently finishing at 1.012.

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Just to note, I just finished using a cooper dry yeast, and the OG was 1.042, it ended at 1.012.

Things I do:
I revive my dry yeast in water, I give my yeast a little LME to munch on, when it is bubbling, I then pitch.

I also aerate my wort by shaking it like this:

I didn't know so many home brewers were suffering the 02 curse.

I just bottled batch of light ale that started at around 06 and seemed pretty much stuck at 02 after 16 days. The beer did taste too sweet at bottling. I bottled this batch in plastic bottles with light priming so as to avoid bombs.

Judging from bottle firmness, this batch is carbing remarkably fast. Don't know if this is good or bad.

The yeast was Muntons Premium. In the future, I will probably stick with my goto yeasts: Safale 05 and 04. And I will darn sure "shake the s--t" out of the fermenter before pitching.

Someone also suggested Go-Ferm nutrient, which is formulated specifically for dry yeast re-hydration as opposed to fortifying the wort. Haven't tried it yet.

You note that your hydrometer reads 1.000 in water, but you don't specify at what temperature. Most hydrometers are configured for water at 60F. If your hydrometer is calibrated to 1.000 in, say, 70F water, then in fact it's off by about .010.

On the other hand, if your wort temperatures were higher or lower than 60F when you took readings, then you'd need to convert. (Higher temperatures mean higher gravity than what you measured, lower temperatures mean lower gravity than what you measured.) You mentioned that one of your beers was a lager, so your wort temperatures SHOULD be dramatically different.

yea my latest brew, a dark cream ale, is stuck at 1.02. is this soemthing i should be worried about? It definitely SHOULD be lower, but if it will still taste good, and not explode then I have no problem.

Pivot said:

yea my latest brew, a dark cream ale, is stuck at 1.02. is this soemthing i should be worried about?

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BTW, what was the OG? If your original wort contained tons of non-fermentables, then 1.02 may not be so bad. But yeah, most beers should finish lower.

I just had a Scottish 80 schilling kit stall at 1.02. I looked it up on the forum and saw a recomendation about adding some calcium carbonate and yeast nutrient. It is possible my water is too soft. Anyway, I did the additions and swirled. Now my airlock activity has been restarted for about 2 days. The yeast was dry Saf-33 and I poured the cooled wort back and forth between buckets 5 times to areate. I've done about 10 batches and about half stall at 1.02

mparmer said:

I I've done about 10 batches and about half stall at 1.02

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That seems like a high "stuck rate". What kind of yeast and wort process are you using?

yeoldebrewer said:

That seems like a high "stuck rate". What kind of yeast and wort process are you using?

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I'm doing partial boil's with extract kits. I've had stuck ferms with Muntons, Wyeast liquid 1098 (did a starter on this one, looked just like the pic's I'd seen online) and Saf-33. My problem may be my temp swings. I'm keeping the ambient room temp within the yeast's range but I am having swings of 5 or 6 degrees within the range. I'm trying to find a good used (cheap) fridge or freezer.

Sorry to bring a thread back from '08 but it's the best discussion I've found on the 1.020 curse. So here's the deal, I'm a new brewer and have a couple of batches down and all have stopped at 1.020!
-All were extract (1 LME, 1 DME & both w/grains).
-I've hit my OG's both times.
-Shook the crap out of them to aerate.
-I tried late addition extract with the latest (LME Porter Kit w/grains)
-I used swamp cooler for the first and kept it about 68F using S-04 and fermentation fridge for the second at 62F using S-05.
-Rousing the yeast didn't do anything either...

I like a nice malty beer but sometimes that first drink can be cloying. So the question is, would adding more hops bittering/aroma or both bring the flavor more in balance?

What kind of yeast? I've noticed sticking at 1.020 if I use liquid yeast without a starter in some of my bigger beers.

I've used the dry pack yeast Safale S-04 and US-05 for my beers. The S-04 I know attenuates higher that's why for the second round I swiched to US-05...Maybe I should try Nottingham? I've read it can really drive down the FG. The more I read about DME/LME I think I'll just plan for it to finish high and plan for more hop.

Unless someone has a fix...

Ah weird I haven't had that issue with dry yeast. Are you sure you calibrated your hydrometer and corrected for temperature?

The hydrometer is good and I was just reading another thread and a guy mentioned the boil size. I do 2.5 gallon boils for 5 gallon batch....hmmm....I wonder if I'm causing caramelization by not heating enough water. I'll try doing a 3.5 gallon boil next time and see what I get. Can't believe I didn't think of this before!!! I'm an idiot! Basic cooking 101 the thicker the sauce the more likely of scorching.

blstr said:

The hydrometer is good and I was just reading another thread and a guy mentioned the boil size. I do 2.5 gallon boils for 5 gallon batch....hmmm....I wonder if I'm causing caramelization by not heating enough water. I'll try doing a 3.5 gallon boil next time and see what I get. Can't believe I didn't think of this before!!! I'm an idiot! Basic cooking 101 the thicker the sauce the more likely of scorching.

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Ah I hadn't considered that...My boil is 4g. Hopefully that helps! Although I would expect that to cause an issue with OG not FG.

I've also not had any "stuck" brews, including 2 extract+grain brews (a bitter with OG=1.035, FG=1.007, and a stout with OG=1.059, FG=1.015) and a few partial mashes with OGs in the 1.05x and FGs between 1.009 and 1.014. I have used only DME, no LME, either Briess or Munton's. Always add the extract late (50% late for the all-extract batches).

Yeasts have been Nottingham, S-04, and US-05. There hasn't been much correlation between yeast and FG. The Nottingham gave the lowest (1.007) but also gave a mid-high result (1.012), though the latter was with a much higher OG.

So, I guess this is a bit more anecdotal evidence that is compatible with the caramelization theory. I am very careful to avoid scorching. I remove the pot from the heat when doing DME additions and stir frequently to keep anything from settling on the bottom. I also use a far-too-fancy thick-bottomed kettle that probably helps avoid hotspots, though I do have an electric stove.

Oh, also my 1.007 FG was on a 2.5 gal boil. Most of the others have been 3.5-4 gallon boils. All are 5-5.5 gallon batches.

Zeg...I think you've probably proven my thought.

-I use a cheap aluminum pot
-Electric stove
-I mix the extract off heat but after the hot break and two teenagers always hovering in the kitchen; I'm not real good about mixing...just kind of let the boil do the work.


I think I'm probably carmelizing!

blstr said:

Zeg...I think you've probably proven my thought.
[...]I think I'm probably carmelizing!

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I might not go so far as to say "proven," but it could well be. Certainly it won't hurt your product to reduce the scorching!