not sure what happened??

ok, I did my first extract brew 20 days ago with a kit from WindRiver called Cedar Red Ale, it called for an OG of 1.040, I was close with a 1.038 OG. I cooled the wort to 75 degrees, then pitched the yeast, (Windsor dry yeast). After waiting 10 days I did a gravity reading and it came out to 1.020, so I gave it another couple of days, still 1.020.
A friend said to "rouse the yeast" by gently stirring it, I waited a couple more days and still 1.020. I read on here that you can re-pitch the yeast, so I went to my LHBS and picked up the same Windsor yeast and re-pitched, that was 3 days ago. The gravity reading is still at 1.020.
I was hoping to possibly start bottling soon, but am not sure if I should get a secondary and just "let it ride" for a few more weeks?
I did taste it before I re-pitched, and it tasted ok, just a bit alcoholy, (maybe this is the "twang" ppl on here talk about)

any advice is much appreciated

Supergus said:

ok, I did my first extract brew 20 days ago with a kit from WindRiver called Cedar Red Ale, it called for an OG of 1.040, I was close with a 1.038 OG. I cooled the wort to 75 degrees, then pitched the yeast, (Windsor dry yeast). After waiting 10 days I did a gravity reading and it came out to 1.020, so I gave it another couple of days, still 1.020.
A friend said to "rouse the yeast" by gently stirring it, I waited a couple more days and still 1.020. I read on here that you can re-pitch the yeast, so I went to my LHBS and picked up the same Windsor yeast and re-pitched, that was 3 days ago. The gravity reading is still at 1.020.
I was hoping to possibly start bottling soon, but am not sure if I should get a secondary and just "let it ride" for a few more weeks?
I did taste it before I re-pitched, and it tasted ok, just a bit alcoholy, (maybe this is the "twang" ppl on here talk about)

any advice is much appreciated

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Windsor yeast isnt' very attenuative- which means it probably won't go any lower. Also, often extracts aren't as fermentable as grains, so the gravity doesn't always get below 1.020. With the combination of the Windsor yeast and extract, I'd say the beer is done.

The only disadvantage to this beer if it tastes good is the low alcohol level. It's 2.3% ABV, so call it a "session beer" and bottle it and enjoy it.

You Might be able to repitch a different yeast to finish it up. Sometimes with stuck ferments on BIG beers people will repitch champagne yeast or somethign more hardy to finish up the ferment.

But maybe a cheap pack of notty would do the job here?

Yooper said:

Windsor yeast isnt' very attenuative- which means it probably won't go any lower. Also, often extracts aren't as fermentable as grains, so the gravity doesn't always get below 1.020. With the combination of the Windsor yeast and extract, I'd say the beer is done.

The only disadvantage to this beer if it tastes good is the low alcohol level. It's 2.3% ABV, so call it a "session beer" and bottle it and enjoy it.

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first of all, thanks for the reply!
I am ok with the lower alcohol, but I am just confused as to why the kit says the final ABV will be around 4.1%...
oh well, I will just give it another week to let the sediment settle more, then bottle.
now I just need to figure out what to brew next... any suggestions?

Supergus said:

first of all, thanks for the reply!
I am ok with the lower alcohol, but I am just confused as to why the kit says the final ABV will be around 4.1%...
oh well, I will just give it another week to let the sediment settle more, then bottle.
now I just need to figure out what to brew next... any suggestions?

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Well, you can brew just about any beer style you like! Lots of people brew hefeweizens for summer drinking, or other wheat beers like American wheat. I personally hate wheat beer, but that's what I've heard anyway.

But if you like stouts, make a stout! Anything that sounds good to you will be a good choice. I'd suggest just not doing a lager at this point.

If you need ideas, I love scrolling through AHS's beer kits: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php?cPath=178_452_43&osCsid=276e768d3463e103bb293f166605a5e0 That gives you an idea of what commercial beers they have clones for. Not that you should necessarily do a "clone"- just that it gives me ideas like, "Oh, yeah, I forgot about Mirror Pond! I wanna do a beer like that". I also scrolled through the Northern Brewer catalogue (it's a print catalogue as well as online) and had my husband circle things he thought looked good for ideas, too. Sometimes I buy the kits, sometimes I make my own interpretation of that style, but it's always good for ideas!

Also, you may already know this but we have a recipe database here (up on the tool bar, about halfway) and many are pretty easy beginner recipes. So just think about what might appeal to you and pick one! We can help you with instructions, the recipe, etc, so don't be disuaded if you can't really figure it out at first. Just post a question, and one of the more experienced brewers can give you step-by-step instructions or pointers if you need them!

Supergus said:

first of all, thanks for the reply!
I am ok with the lower alcohol, but I am just confused as to why the kit says the final ABV will be around 4.1%...
oh well, I will just give it another week to let the sediment settle more, then bottle.
now I just need to figure out what to brew next... any suggestions?

Click to expand...

Make ales, ales and more ales. A SNPA clone would be a good brew to take on early in your brewing. First it is a classic american pale ale available everywhere so you could comare the real thing next to your clone side by side, but also it will include using a higher amount of hops and dry hopping which will be a good experience

I have had this same problem a few times with extract brewing. i believe the problem comes from adding the extract with the flame on a little and some of the sugar scorching on the bottom of the pot. that sugar becomes unfermentable and therefore will keep your FG reading high. it is not unusuial to finish extract brews around 1.020.

ok, one last question.... since I re-pitched a few days ago and nothing happened, do I need to worry about extra yeast when bottling? I don't want to end of with 50 bottle bombs!

again, thanks all for the great feedback and knowledge!

I would let it sit for a few more days in a warm room (above the temp it is at now) to see if any yeast comes to life. if not then you are fine. I once pitched 2 packs of yeast into a dunkel and then racked it onto another yeast cake with no change to the FG. I bottled it and no bombs.

the quality of that beer is another story.

did you aerate the wort enough before pitching?
1.020 is a bit high for a FG of a beer that started at 1.038
a good rule of thumb is it should ferment to a gravity around 3/4 what you started with. so a 38 OG should be around a 9 or 10 after fermentation.

learn how to make yeast starters, aerate well and add yeast nutrient.

1ratdog said:

did you aerate the wort enough before pitching?
1.020 is a bit high for a FG of a beer that started at 1.038
a good rule of thumb is it should ferment to a gravity around 3/4 what you started with. so a 38 OG should be around a 9 or 10 after fermentation.

learn how to make yeast starters, aerate well and add yeast nutrient.

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yeah, I pretty much dumped it from the kettle to the bucket, although it was hot wort when I did it. (I read about HSA after the fact, and am still not sure if it is a myth or not)
do you think I foo-barred it by dumping it while hot? I am ok with a low alcohol brew for my first, as long as I don't end up w/ bottle bombs. (the wife may make me take up a new hobby if I blow up a bunch of beer!)

I did think about bringing it to a warmer area to see if the yeast would like that... hmmm

I racked my Red Ale to a secondary this morning, (needed the primary for a Dunkenweizen I'm doing today), and for the heck of it, I check the gravity... it came out @ 1.015.
WooHoo! a little recovery!

those yeasties are amazing aren't they?

I also tasted the Red Ale, and it still had a bit of a "twang" to it, but it is definitely better than the last time I tasted it. I figure another week in the secondary, then a couple in the bottles & it should be just right.

thanks all for your advice!

awesome!!!
now lets talk about the twang.

i dont know how much water u boiled.
a full wort boil will help or boil as much as your pot will allow you. then top off after cooled.
chill your wort before dumping it.

adding you LME later in the boil (last 20 or 15 minutes) instead of at the beginnning if you cant do a full wort boil

make a yeast starter!!!! its more work, you need to do it the day b4.

you will really cut down on the twang.

use a priming calculator( google it) to figure out how much to prime at bottle time instead of using the 5oz corn sugar the kit supplys

1ratdog said:

awesome!!!
now lets talk about the twang.

i dont know how much water u boiled.
a full wort boil will help or boil as much as your pot will allow you. then top off after cooled.
chill your wort before dumping it.

adding you LME later in the boil (last 20 or 15 minutes) instead of at the beginnning if you cant do a full wort boil

make a yeast starter!!!! its more work, you need to do it the day b4.

you will really cut down on the twang.

use a priming calculator( google it) to figure out how much to prime at bottle time instead of using the 5oz corn sugar the kit supplys

Click to expand...

so instead of doing the 2.5 gal. I can do 4-5 gal. for my wort? (I wish I knew that before I started this dunkel!) oh well, thats just an excuse to do another batch in a few weeks!

I will also try a yeast starter next time too! I did do the LME later in the boil this time...

thanks for the advice!

boil as much as your pot will allow. your beer will thank you. you decrease your chance of a boilover and get more efficiency out of your hops. (more aroma and flavor and bitter)

It has been 3 weeks in the bottle now, a little bit of carbonation, it has a nice reddish color but a little hazy, and the taste is better, but still has that 'bite' at the end. I plan on checking weekly to see how it progresses... (FWIW, I took it to a local home brewers meeting, and the group said it was a lot better than some of the beers in the last competition that they judged)

In comparison, my 2nd batch (DunkelWeizen), is only 1 week in the bottle, and it is a nice dark brown, very clear looking, (yay Irish Moss!), and VERY delicious! (needs another week or two for total carbonation)

I plan on trying BIAB in the next week or two, now that I am understanding the process better. I also made myself a wort chiller using 3/8 copper tubing & some fittings, I can now run cold, cold well water thru it and chill that wort pretty quickly. (the well water is so cold that I can't even give my dog a bath in it in the middle of the summer!)

thanks everyone for the tips and 'talking me off the ledge'