First Batch - Should be fermented, Gravity way off

Well all signs of fermentation seem to have stopped. As some of you may be aware, fermentation was so intense the day after brewing that it blew my air lock across the room. Fermentation started for sure, I'm just not sure that it has finished.

Yesterday I took a gravity reading, and again today. They showed about the same gravity which begins to tell me that fermentation has stopped or is slowing. Below is a picture of the hydrometer. I want to make sure I am not reading it wrong. FYI, this is an American Wheat

The scale is 1 point whatever you see in the picture (Looks like 1.21 to me)

The beginning gravity wasn't even supposed to be this high, so I'm confused.



Sorry it's hard to read.

This is what my bucket looked like.






Since I am new to this, I am not sure what this process is supposed to look like.

The temperature inside the bucket is 63.

I think we need more info: What is the intended brew? Recipe? OG? How long has it been fermenting? With more info, someone here should be able to help.

It's 1.021.

RLewis15 said:

The beginning gravity wasn't even supposed to be this high, so I'm confused.

Click to expand...

1.021, you missed a decimal place. ;-)

What was the grain bill and what yeast was used? Do you know the OG?
I wouldn't fret just yet. (Rhyme time)

I didn't take an OG reading, however it is supposed to be between 1.049 - 1.051

Final Gravity is supposed to be 1.012 - 1.014

I did a 1 1/2 gallon boil for 30 minutes. I used two cans of unhopped wheat ME, hop pellets (1 oz), and an ale yeast. Hops at beginning of boil.

After boil, filled fermentation bucket up to 5 gallons with cold water.

I pitched 5 days ago. Not even 24 hours after pitching, the airlock blew off. Fermentation was much slower after that.

When I had the lid off, I could see a few very small bubbles coming from the wart every once in a while.

Maybe I'll give it another day or two and see if I can get the FG where it needs to be.

Yeah, it's still a little high. Do you happen to recall what yeast you pitched? Either way, I would suggest giving the bucket a shake and see if fermentation doesn't pick back up.

This was the kit I used.

It looks like you have some time to wait still. Five days in Primary is where things start to slow down to a crawl. If after 21 days in Primary you're at 1.020, I'd worry, but it'll take another week at least to get down those last few points and stay there. I normally will bottle after 21 days, but never before.

From what I hear, a lot of extract kits finish or get stuck at 1.020. Just let it sit in your primary for 3-4 weeks total and then bottle

Thanks guys.

At this point, I almost wish I wouldn't have done a full extract. My next brew is gonna have some grains.

A 1.5 gallon boil is extremely concentrated. I bet you got a ton of caramelization that created unfermentable sugars. Was there any scorched extract on the bottom of your pot when you were done? I'm going to guess you will end up with a sweet, weaker beer. The good news is it will still be beer.

I highly recommend getting a pot you can boil at least 4 gallons in so you end up with about 3 gallons of concentrated wort at the end of the boil. Ideally you should get a pot you can do a full 7 gallon boil in (30qt+).

If Angler is right, then theres nothing you can do. He is definitely right about going bigger on the boil. At least to 3+g boils (2.5g yield), if for no other reason, but to make the math easier. Yes, you will be doing math in the future.

For the present, giving the bucket a good shake will do 2 things; it will help put any flocculant yeast back in to suspension and may introduce some oxygen back into the beer for the yeast to munch on. Then add some patience (I'm always short on that ingredient it seems) and just watch the air lock for a few days. I bet you will see if move. After it calms down take another SG reading and let us know what you found.

Good luck!

In addition to stirring it up, also warm it up some.

For the forum, assuming OP has a ton of unfermentable sugars, would adding some amylase enzyme help break them down? I tried using it once with a stuck barleywine with limited success, but never on a wheat.

I just followed the directions that came with the kit
There was nothing on the bottom of the pot when I was done.

I have a large pot, big enough that I could at least do 3-4 gallons. Ill have to do that next time.

I gave it a good shake. I'll keep everyone updated.

After I do a few batches, I am going to invest in a huge brew pot and a burner for outside. My stove, although gas, doesn't have burners that produce a lot of heat. It took quiet a while to even boil the concentrated wort.

Just based on this I'm planning on buying a 40qt pot, 10 gallons, as my first pot. It sounds like I'll be able to use it alot more and in the end will be glad that I bought it. Good luck getting things going again, I'm going to pick up everything else I'll need to do my first brew this weekend and plan on brewing next week.

NorCalAngler said:

A 1.5 gallon boil is extremely concentrated. I bet you got a ton of caramelization that created unfermentable sugars. Was there any scorched extract on the bottom of your pot when you were done? I'm going to guess you will end up with a sweet, weaker beer. The good news is it will still be beer.

I highly recommend getting a pot you can boil at least 4 gallons in so you end up with about 3 gallons of concentrated wort at the end of the boil. Ideally you should get a pot you can do a full 7 gallon boil in (30qt+).

Click to expand...

I think you can get away with 1.5g boil if you do a late addition for a 5g batch, as I made a hefe using a 2g boil (I left my 10g pot at a friends house after a crab boil) w/ 1# of caramel malts and still got the FG down to 1.010. I didn't do a late addition either, 5# of wheat DME in after steeping, boiled for 60 mins. Fastest brew I ever did cause the water boiled and cooled super fast (even with my 10g pot I usually only do 4g boils, shortens the time needed to boil and cool down). You will run into problems with hop utilization though.