Reached ending of fermentation?

It started at a 1.052 and now for 3 days straight it read a 1.020. I know that seems a bit on the high side. Tomorrow I'll try reading from the carboy again. For the past 3 readings I have been doing a satellite fermentation check on it. I guess I'll see how accurate it is by tomorrow. But if it's 1.020 by tomorrow is it safe to rack to secondary?

It's a simple amber ale with 6lbs of amber LME and a package of cascade hops with a pack of munton's yeast.

Sorry, I should also mention that today is day 6 of fermentation.

Whats your fermentation temp. Unless the yeast is shot you should get some more work out of that yeast. Your FG should be around 1.004 if your attenuation is good at 72%

Arneba28 said:

Whats your fermentation temp. Unless the yeast is shot you should get some more work out of that yeast. Your FG should be around 1.004 if your attenuation is good at 72%

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Do you mean 1.014?

temp is at 66 degrees

yes thankyou. I need to read what I write.

With the Temp at 66 you should of had good fermentation. Try leaving it for a few more days. YOu could also try bringing it up 3-4 degrees and see if that helps. It should of kept going but if it doesnt in a few days you can pitch some dry yeast and see what happens.

Munton's yeast and stuck ferments at 1.020 I see all to many times. I would not move it and try to warm it up a bit.

I haven't had any luck with Muntons getting below 1.020. I would just repitch some safale-05 or nottingham and it will finish up just fine.

What am I shooting for here? would 1.017 and below be good enough?

I would think higher then that. BeerTools puts it at 1.004 but it will not go that far. I would look for 1.014 or so. But if it stops at 1.018 and doesnt move for a few days then just rack to secondary your done.

This was weird, so I was going to add some more yeast to the brew to get the fermentation active again. (This was after I took some beer out to take a actual hydrometer reading and it still read 1.020) I sanitized all the equipment needed to get a cup of beer out so I could add some more yeast and yeast energizer. 5 min later I got everything in line to extract beer when I noticed that my airlock, filled with starsan, had a soap-like film on the top like someone stirred the starsan. Then I noticed a bubble come out of the airlock at a rate of about 1 bubble every 10 seconds.

Any explanation to my biblical story yeast of once was dead but now alive?

might be good to leave it in primary 14 days just to be sure and to let more sediment drop. It's not going to hurt it.

It is now day ten and I still got bubbles coming out at a rate of about 1 every 20-25 seconds.... I'm getting a little antsy and I want to rack it but does anyone else's simple ale take this long to ferment? I did a simple ale so I could drink it fairly soon but at this rate I don't know if it will be ready by my birthday, (08/08). Please someone tell me to calm down and just ride it out. Its this normal?

have you taken any hydro-readings?

You don't want to bottle too early...bottle bombs you know.

You have over a month to your birthday...leave it for another 10 days, then bottle...it will be perfect for your birthday.

BrosBrew said:

It is now day ten and I still got bubbles coming out at a rate of about 1 every 20-25 seconds.... I'm getting a little antsy and I want to rack it but does anyone else's simple ale take this long to ferment? I did a simple ale so I could drink it fairly soon but at this rate I don't know if it will be ready by my birthday, (08/08). Please someone tell me to calm down and just ride it out. Its this normal?

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I've had 'em take up to three weeks. It's kind of rare but it happens. I doubt this is the case here, though. It should finish in another day or two then start taking your hydrometer readings again to make sure fermentation is complete.

I just took a hydrometer reading and contrary to what it should do, it rose .001 points instead of dropped. It is now 1.021 and it has been 1.020 since friday. mmmm.....

should I just rack to a secondary?

i still say pitch some nottingham or safale 05 and wait a week. you have plenty of time to still make your deadline. if you want a fast turnaround then use safale 04.

BrosBrew said:

I just took a hydrometer reading and contrary to what it should do, it rose .001 points instead of dropped. It is now 1.021 and it has been 1.020 since friday. mmmm.....

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Did you adjust this [or any other] hydro readings based on temperature of the wort? This can explain the rise in the reading.

The corrected FG was 1.022 so regardless it did not go down. mmm...

Munton's sucks. I have never gotten below 1.020 with it. I have read many posts with people not getting below 1.020 with muntons. Warming it will not likely give you any better results. Repitch with Nottingham or S-04. Give it a few days and you should be okay to rack to secondary. I would bottle no later than July 18th. You could actually wait to rack to secondary until July 4th if you wanted to allow the yeast to clean up after itself. Probably should do it around the 30th of June though. You have plenty of time so relax.

Your other option is to not add anymore yeast at all. Even after adding the priming sugar, Munton's is doubtfully going to go any lower and create bottle bombs. That's a risk I suppose, but in my opinion a very low one. Your beer will be lower in alcohol and a little sweeter than you probably intended though.

One other note - You can leave it in primary for 2 to 3 weeks even if fermentation is done. This extra time allows for the yeast to clean up after itself. It gets rid of some stuff that other's more qualified could name. This is just a general rule of thumb.

Well, bubbles were coming out of the airlock for 4 continuous days and still the 1.021 remained even after 4 days of adding additional Coopers yeast. I racked to the secondary and so far there seems to be no indication of fermentation. I'll probably leave it in there for a week then go to the bottles.