Fermentation started... then just stopped

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gratliff

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Russellville, AR
Brewed my first batch last Saturday (all Malt Amber from a kit). I think that i did everything by the book fine.

I stuck the batch in the basement and within 24 hours, the bubbles started. It bubbled away for about a day and a half. Nothing crazy though, just a steady bubbling. Then it just stopped.

I broke my hygrometer on brew day so I dont have a starting reading. The kit says it should have started around 1.042-1.044 (for now, i'll assume that i was close). The day before yesterday, i took a reading with my new hygrometer, and it read 1.02. I left everything alone and checked again today and the reading is the same. The kit said that the final reading should be 1.010-1.012.

There is a lot of krausen around the inside of my fermenter. It clearly fermented pretty good for a while.
The batch is in my basement at a steady 69 degrees.

What do I do now? Add more yeast? Shake it up? Add :mug:some kind of yeast food? Add some kind of yeast afrodisiac? Bottle it and chase pretzels with it?

Help!!!
 
you can try swirling it around a bit to resuspend the yeast and see if they will attenuate more. it's not entirely uncommon for some beers to stall out around 1.020 when starting out... what type of yeast did you use, did you rehydrate/make a starter?
 
Just because it's not bubbling anymore doesn't mean it's not fermenting. Give it some more time. It may drop another couple of points over the next week.
 
Many people use dry yeast without rehydrating. I prefer to rehydrate though. Dried yeast can not control what passes through its cell wall. So toxic materials like hops and high level of sugars that the cell would normally not let through can enter the cell and damage it. By rehydrating, the yeast can reconstitute its cell wall and then can control what passes through it.

Now that being said your beer is probably fine, and not completely done fermenting. Even if it is done 1.020 is not that unheard of for a final gravity and will taste fine.
 
Gratlift, I'm in the same boat as you. I brewed my first batch this Sunday and pitched with Muntons dry (dumped in straight in without re-hydrating). No bubbles Monday AM, but Monday night she was rockin away. Things seemed to slow down quite a bit by Tuesday night and last night she was only perking about 2 bubbles a min.

I haven't taken a gravity reading since putting the batch in the primary. I'm trying to not over think it and also I've been to busy / lazy to Star San my turkey baster and get a sample. Next time I'm going to reserve a small container of the mixed Star San I use on brew night so I don't need to make a new batch to take samples (other posts on the board say you can use a batch for about 1 month).

I will take a reading tonight. If I'm close to my FG I'll rack to the secondary, if not I'll wait and do it this weekend.

This waiting thing is the hardest part...
 
Leave the yeast alone. Its doing its thing. Forget about your brew, don't even look at it for at least 2 weeks.

Waiting is indeed one of the hardest parts, but once you are a few batches in, you get a nice pipeline going so you always have something to drink while you wait.
 
Make sure that your basement isn't having any serious temp swings. If it's dropping under 60 in the night it can cause your yeast to drop out of suspension and go dormant.
 
If you still have krausen, it's still going. The Kruasen will fall away. Airlocks are not fermentation meters, they are air vents for CO2. Nothing more.
 
I broke my hygrometer on brew day

I promise you... your beer is humid. :D

No visible activity doesn't mean anything. Leave it alone, order a new hydrometer (unless you really need to know the humidity of your beer, in which case the hygrometer is ok too), and measure the gravity once it arrives.
 
Brewed my first batch last Saturday (all Malt Amber from a kit). I think that i did everything by the book fine.

I stuck the batch in the basement and within 24 hours, the bubbles started. It bubbled away for about a day and a half. Nothing crazy though, just a steady bubbling. Then it just stopped.

I broke my hygrometer on brew day so I dont have a starting reading. The kit says it should have started around 1.042-1.044 (for now, i'll assume that i was close). The day before yesterday, i took a reading with my new hygrometer, and it read 1.02. I left everything alone and checked again today and the reading is the same. The kit said that the final reading should be 1.010-1.012.

There is a lot of krausen around the inside of my fermenter. It clearly fermented pretty good for a while.
The batch is in my basement at a steady 69 degrees.

What do I do now? Add more yeast? Shake it up? Add :mug:some kind of yeast food? Add some kind of yeast afrodisiac? Bottle it and chase pretzels with it?

Help!!!

Gratlift, I'm in the same boat as you. I brewed my first batch this Sunday and pitched with Muntons dry (dumped in straight in without re-hydrating). No bubbles Monday AM, but Monday night she was rockin away. Things seemed to slow down quite a bit by Tuesday night and last night she was only perking about 2 bubbles a min.

I haven't taken a gravity reading since putting the batch in the primary. I'm trying to not over think it and also I've been to busy / lazy to Star San my turkey baster and get a sample. Next time I'm going to reserve a small container of the mixed Star San I use on brew night so I don't need to make a new batch to take samples (other posts on the board say you can use a batch for about 1 month).

I will take a reading tonight. If I'm close to my FG I'll rack to the secondary, if not I'll wait and do it this weekend.

This waiting thing is the hardest part...

Guys,

airlock bubbling, lack of airlock bubbling, stopped airlock bubbling, fast airlock bubbling, slow airlcok bubbling, heavy metal airlcok bubbling, or disco airlock bubbling really is not an indicator of what is happening to your beer, really isn't important, and it is NOT an accurate gauge of fermentation.

If your airlock was bubbling and stopped---It doesn't mean fermentation has stopped.

If you airlock isn't bubbling, it doesn't mean your fermentation hasn't started....

Your airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it is a VALVE to release excess co2.

Fermentation is not always "dynamic," just because you don't SEE anything happening, doesn't mean that anything's wrong, and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working dilligantly away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years....

I have 9 different fermenters and have been brewing for a few years, and OVER HALF OF MY BEERS NEVER HAVE ANY BUBBLING IN THE AIRLOCK AND THEY ALL TURN OUT FINE!

If you've oxygentated, and pitched plenty of yeast, then you SHOULD reach your yeast attenuation, and get close to the final gravity.....that is all that is important...NOT whether or not you airlock goes "blip" or "Rattattattatta!!!!"

An airlock is a vent for excess co2, nothing more, it's to keep your beer off the ceiling, and is designed to vent and still keep stuff out of your beer....that's really it...

In fact many no longer use airlocks at all, just cover the hole with a piece of tinfoil, or use a piece of plexiglass instead of a lid.

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in.....

If you broke you hydrometer get a new one...or leave your beer alone for 3-4 weeks like most of us do anyway. If your airlock isn't bubling then wait 72 hours; (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-show-visible-signs-43635/

Then take a hydromter reading. that is the only way you will know what is going on!

Unless you bought liguid yeast through the mail in the heat of summer, or added your yeast into boiling wort. your fermentation will happnen.

Yeast just don't not work anymore, that is an idea that came from the bad old days before homebrewing was legalized in 1978 when yeast came in hard cakes that travelled in hot cargo holds of ships and may have sat on a store shelf for god knows how long...But since 1978 yeast science has been ongoing and the yeasts of today, wet OR dry are going to work in 99.9% of the situations we have, if you give them the time to do so.

If you look at ALL these supposed stuck or not started fermentation threads you will see that over 90% of them are REALLY threads were the brewer equated airlock bubbling with fermentation, OR didn't wait long enough.....AND didn't use his hydromter to see what was going on....and over 90% of them, when the brewer took a reading he then was relieved to see that fermentation did indeed happen.

Your hydromter is really the only answer to knowing what is going on, and you will find you will have less worries when you use it, and trust that the yeast know what to do...and are in charge.

:mug:
 
When it stopped bubbling, i checked the batch with my hydrometer and it had not changed in a couple of days. That, combined with all of the other symptoms is the only reason I came here seeking help.
If you read the thread, I broke the hydrometer on brew day (couldn't get out the store during the boil so I had to wait until the next day). I DID GET A NEW ONE RIGHT AWAY.

My fermentation did start and rather nicely at first. I was just aksing if there was a problem if it stopped (and if it did indeed stop because SC stopped dropping at 1.02).
I never thought my yeast didnt work. Just wondering if I had a problem (DID I MENTION I"M NEW AT THIS?)
I would love some good advice, it would help if you understood my problem. Read my post.
 
i'm in the exact same spot as you on my first batch of oatmeal stout (SG 1.045). I also used dry Muntons yeast ( I did however did hydrate it). I'm also stuck at 1.020.

I've read several posts which tell you to swirl your bucket to try to re-suspend the yeast...I have'nt done anything yet, but have had the same FG reading for 3 days...

Also been told just to leave it for 2 weeks and bottle it.
 
Sorry for the typo. And you're right, my beer seems very humid. Thanks for noticing.

Yes, it was my hydrometer that broke (cut a guy some slack). As for the temp in the basement, it has a pretty steady temp over time. Maybe a degree or two from night to day. Also, the weather here has been perfect so there's not a lot of temp swing going on outside anyway.

The only krausen on stuck to the sides (and a couple of chunks floating in the beer). There's nothing to speak of on top anymore. I did give it a little bit of a swirl yesterday. Patients I have, i'm in no hurry. Just want to make sure that if there is something i need to fix, that i do so.

Might be my first batch, but I can still buy a brew or two to hold me over till the magic is complete!
 
i'm in the exact same spot as you on my first batch of oatmeal stout (SG 1.045). I also used dry Muntons yeast ( I did however did hydrate it). I'm also stuck at 1.020.

I've read several posts which tell you to swirl your bucket to try to re-suspend the yeast...I have'nt done anything yet, but have had the same FG reading for 3 days...

Also been told just to leave it for 2 weeks and bottle it.

1.020 doesn't necessarily indicate a stalled fermentation. That is not that high of a gravity. If the gravity hasn't changed for 3 days, I would guess it was done. Now if this was my beer, I would leave it alone for another 2 weeks to let the yeast clean up after themselves then bottle it.
 
Sorry for the typo. And you're right, my beer seems very humid. Thanks for noticing.

Yes, it was my hydrometer that broke (cut a guy some slack). As for the temp in the basement, it has a pretty steady temp over time. Maybe a degree or two from night to day. Also, the weather here has been perfect so there's not a lot of temp swing going on outside anyway.

The only krausen on stuck to the sides (and a couple of chunks floating in the beer). There's nothing to speak of on top anymore. I did give it a little bit of a swirl yesterday. Patients I have, i'm in no hurry. Just want to make sure that if there is something i need to fix, that i do so.

Might be my first batch, but I can still buy a brew or two to hold me over till the magic is complete!

Sounds like the beer is fine and doesn't need fixing.
 
1.020 doesn't necessarily indicate a stalled fermentation. That is not that high of a gravity. If the gravity hasn't changed for 3 days, I would guess it was done. Now if this was my beer, I would leave it alone for another 2 weeks to let the yeast clean up after themselves then bottle it.

+1 to this :mug:

I've bottled a few brews at 1.020. As long as the grav hadn't changed and I have waited my usual month, then I haven't had any trouble with bottling that high.
 
Most of my extract-heavy brews didn't get much below 1.020. I still did everything I could to coax it just in case it was stuck, though. Didn't want any assploding bottles!
 
Good news. The beer turned out just fine. Thanks to all for the advise. I just gave it some time and beer happened. Tastes great! Who needs bubbles anyway.
 
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