Amber Ale FIRST TIME question

So I finally did my first homebrew (!) and did an Extract Amber Ale. Received the kit, and it slipped my mind to put the yeast in the refrigerator after receiving it. It sat on my kitchen table for about a week, before I used it in the brew.

My brew did not start to ferment for about 36 hours or more, and then fermented for 3 days or so and then I did not see any more noticeable signs of fermentation. I am worried I have bad yeast, by my fault, and my beer is done.

Took a reading a week into it and FG is at 1.022 or so.

Thoughts?

PS--I am not obsessed with brewing and it is taking over my life.

That is all!

Thanks

I'm in a similar boat with my first batch, also an amber ale, but with some differences. I used dry yeast and it was going well just 12 hours after the pitch, but it pooped out in something less than five days (was gone on a work trip and no activity in airlock when I got back). It's been two weeks and a day and it's sitting at 1.018 for at least three days now. Today on lunch break I swirled the primary pretty good to see if it will take off again. That said, based on some reading, it seems not unheard of for extract kits to stop at 1.020, give or take.

From what I know at present, about all you can do is give it more time and see if it comes down. Could give it a little swirl and see what happens opver the next few days if you're itching to mess with it....

I think this is typical noob stuff. I am afraid to keep testing the FG due to the oxygen/contaminants I might gather up. I need to figure out how resilient fermenting beer is I suppose. I will give it a little swirl tonight. Going to leave it in for another 4 or 5 days at least.

Thanks for the input. Good luck with your first batch!

Correction on first post: I am NOW obsessed with brewing and it is taking over my life.

Haha.

Were you using a dry yeast packet or a liquid yeast culture? The dry yeast packets seem to be a little more resilient, so a week on the counter may not be a deal-breaker.

Also, what was your OG reading? 1.022 is a bit high of an FG for an amber, but then again, you're only a week in. Just because it isn't actively bubbling doesn't mean that the yeast isn't still at work. Keep it sealed up for another week or so and try taking another reading.

Don't worry and good luck!

Dry yeast can be stored at room temp with no problem. My HBS keeps all their dry yeast on the shelf in the store. If you left liquid yeast out for a week, then I would say that is your problem and you might want to repitch more yeast. I usually leave my fermenter alone for at least 3 weeks regardless of the beer I'm making. Extract has a notoriously high level of unfermentable sugars so you may end up with a little higher FG than you anticipated. It'll probably drop a few more gravity points depending on what your OG was though. Whenever I use extract I usually replace around 10% or so of the extract with corn sugar depending on how low I want my FG to be. Good luck!

If you did not aireate or oxygenate your wort before pitching the yeast it is common for the beer to stall at around 1.018-1.022. Yeast need oxygen in the lag phase to build their sterols (i.e. get ready to grow). So... that could be part of this if you didn't do a sufficient job of shaking the carboy or using oxygen. Second... if this was a dry yeast, leaving it on the counter won't matter - it'll have little impact. If it was a liquid yeast culture, it wouldn't have been exposed to anything, so its unlikely any serious damage was done to the yeast unless you exposed it to extremely high temps. My guess is your stalled fermentation is due more to a lack of oxygen. You could make a small starter (1 liter) and even use dry yeast - get the yeast fermenting and once its fermenting strong and there is krausen, dump that in the beer and it will drop the gravity further.

Everything sounds normal. Your gravity may or may not drop further - as already mentioned above, extract batches have a tendency to finish higher than expected. The so-called "curse of 1.020" (do a search for it and you'll find plenty of threads). Proper aeration and pitching the correct amount of healthy yeast can help, but don't be surprised (or dismayed) if your beer finishes high.

Thank you for all the responses. Tomorrow or Sunday I will be bottling, so lets hope everything goes well. Whatever day I don't bottle, will be the day that I brew again. This forum has been EXTREMELY helpful in answering some of the questions I have for my new found obsession.

I was using dry yeast, so it sounds like I was ok on that point. I shook it furiously when I added it to the carboy, but it may not have been enough. I am hoping I can at least produce something that remotely tastes like beer for my first time, so I have a good baseline to work off of to make my beer better!

Thanks again, and I look forward to more conversations.

chasefarais said:

Thank you for all the responses. Tomorrow or Sunday I will be bottling, so lets hope everything goes well. Whatever day I don't bottle, will be the day that I brew again. This forum has been EXTREMELY helpful in answering some of the questions I have for my new found obsession.

I was using dry yeast, so it sounds like I was ok on that point. I shook it furiously when I added it to the carboy, but it may not have been enough. I am hoping I can at least produce something that remotely tastes like beer for my first time, so I have a good baseline to work off of to make my beer better!

Thanks again, and I look forward to more conversations.

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How long has the first beer been in the fermenter? Don't rush things - it is usually best to let it sit for at least 2 weeks before bottling (others will say 3 weeks...either way, the point is to be patient)

Just FYI, you don't need to aerate with dry yeast. I still do for good practice, but it isn't necessary and wouldn't be the reason for your high fg.

BigGoat said:

Just FYI, you don't need to aerate with dry yeast. I still do for good practice, but it isn't necessary and wouldn't be the reason for your high fg.

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I don't know for certain, but I don't think that is accurate. All yeast, liquid and dried varieties, have oxygen requirements at the start of your fermentation.

BigGoat said:

Just FYI, you don't need to aerate with dry yeast. I still do for good practice, but it isn't necessary and wouldn't be the reason for your high fg.

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Actually I have heard this too. Safale (or maybe it's Danstar) claims that their dry yeast already have enough sterols, so you don't need to aerate the wort. They also say you don't need to rehydrate it. That being said, I still aerate and rehydrate every time, but I would agree that that probably isn't the reason for the high FG.

BigGoat said:

Just FYI, you don't need to aerate with dry yeast. I still do for good practice, but it isn't necessary and wouldn't be the reason for your high fg.

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I've never heard that before. Even so, I think I'd continue to aerate with dry yeast. Why take a chance?

I agree with always aerating because it creates a routine that will work with both liquid and dry yeast. My point was that the lack of aeration probably wasn't the culprit. I also don't rehydrate dry yeast and have had my beers finish between 1.009 and 1.014. RDWHAHB I just bottled my American Amber about 12 days ago. Had one a little early and it was pretty nice! Congrats on your new hobby/obsession.

Thanks again for all the advice. This is a cool community to be involved in!

Today, when I get home from work I am taking a hydrometer reading to check FG on my Amber Ale that has been fermenting for two weeks. If it is at where it should be, I am bottling tomorrow, if not, I will leave it another week. Today, I am brewing an Irish Ale that I hope that I am not longer a "Homebrew Virgin" will ease my mind and go a lot smoother.

Thanks again!

There are brewers who will bottle or keg as soon as final gravity is reached, usually about 10 days. There are others who say a month or more to let the yeast clean up things. I opt to split the difference and ferment for an average 3 weeks.

I have looked at some of my beers that were cloudy at 2 weeks and very clear at 3.

When you do bottle them don't get impatient. It will take 2 weeks minimum at room temperature for the beer to carbonate and may take longer. I try one beer at 2 weeks and have had some carbonated but ALL of them have tasted better after 3 weeks.

Yeah, 2 weeks is about the minimum for bottle-conditioning. Higher-gravity beers and brews with additives (spices, oak-aging, etc.) may need longer to carbonate and/or mellow out. Homebrewing is not an impatient person's hobby

UPDATE:

Bottled the Amber Ale--all seemed to go fine. FG was a little higher than it was supposed to be, but I figured it would get a tiny bit better in the bottle. (?) I brewed a Irish Red Ale, and it went much smoother than my first brew. It is a really pretty beer to watch ferment (nerd, sorry). Now that I am no longer a HBV (HomeBrew Virgin) It seems like all of my knowledge is falling into place. I have a great ferment going on this one, granted, I used a liquid yeast, but I hope this is a good sign of things to come!

My beer was pretty cloudy while bottling, but I think that is normal....please correct me otherwise.

some of the trub at the bottom of the fermenter was probably stirred up when you moved the beer to transfer it to the bottling bucket, which would explain why the beer was cloudy during bottling. it should clear up by the time it is ready to drink. when it is, be careful when pouring the beer, so the sediment will stay at the bottom of the bottle, and leave the last little bit of beer with the sediment in the bottle.

chasefarais said:

My beer was pretty cloudy while bottling, but I think that is normal....please correct me otherwise.

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The MWS Autumn Amber I bottled a couple days ago was a little cloudy (3 weeks in primary) but not too much so.