Fermentation fast then slow

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Shwagger

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I am sure this has been answered 10465 times, and if you can link me to it that would be great

The last few brews I made I have been using liquid yeast, both Wyeast and WL. I have used starters and no starters, and everything seemd like it was working fine.

After pitching the liquid yeasts, the fermentation starts within hours, slows within 24 hours, and by 36 hours its slowed to a crawl or stopped.

With the dry yeasts, nottingham and safale, the fermentation is crazy for 2-7 days.

Right now i Have a red going, used 1048 Wyeast, no starter this time, and the bubbling died out after 48 hours.

The last brew I used a WL with a starter, that did the same thing, and it was waaaaay too sweet to drink. Hops werent on the low side either.

I am sure it is fine, but just want reaffimration
 
How big are your starters? You might not be increasing the cell count by that much so you get slow/stuck fermentations. 11g dry yeast packs have the proper cell count.
 
temps right now are 70. strain is 1048 Irish Ale right now, in the past its been english ales and wheats

Most starters are 1 L at least. Maybe a 2L or larger next time?
 
I brewed this sunday, and now its not bubbling at all (tuesday)

should I let it ride or run and get pack of nottingham and pitch half of it?
 
I brewed this sunday, and now its not bubbling at all (tuesday)

should I let it ride or run and get pack of nottingham and pitch half of it?

What is the gravity? If the gravity is low then the beer is done.

When you said the temp is 70, is that the air temp or the temp of the fermenting liquid?
 
I have been homebrewing off and on for about 15 years now and have gotten fairly good over time but I still get these same problems and lately nearly every one of my beers has not finished at the expected FG although hitting the OG's spot on. I used a pack (11 g.) Safale S-04 dry yeast for my latest ESB which came in at OG of 1.050 and starting bubbling away within 12 hours...after about 3 day it subsided for the most part. Last night (day 6) I took at reading of 1.029....I am guessing most of the stuck ferments are oxygen related, but I usually can at least get down near 1.020...not the best attenuation but at least in the 65 - 70% range. I finally broke down today and bought a 0.5 micron diffusion stone and will start using the pure O2 approach from now on.
Steve
 
Three questions:

What kind of water are you using?

Are you shaking your starter, using a stir plate, or just letting it sit?

Are you holding your fermentation temp constant, or does it fluctuate?
 
Three questions:

What kind of water are you using?
We have very good drinking water system here in town, so mainly out of tap filtered, but for this one I actually used store bought filtered water and added a tea. of burton salts.

Are you shaking your starter, using a stir plate, or just letting it sit?
Dry yeast on this so no starter, just pitched.

Are you holding your fermentation temp constant, or does it fluctuate
The temperature is usually fairly constant, I have stick on strip on the bucket and the temp has generally been in the 64 - 68 range...think the yeast packet said 58 - 72 as favorable range for the S-04.
 
I havent checked the gravity, I can do that tonight. The OG wasnt perfect, but it wasnt far off the printed OG.

The temp fluctuates at night, but isnt colder than 60 or warmer than 70. Its pretty stable. During the summer months with the AC on, the temp didnt flux at all, and the same problems arise. But its always with liquid yeasts.

As far as the starters, I dont have a stir plate. I just swirl it up every few hours for a couple of days, then crash it.

My aeration is just stirring it till i cant anymore, and like i said, dry yeast ferments for days. its just liquid yeast.

I am thinking its my starters, they arent big enough or something.
 
Rip Beer. You say store bought filtered...but do you mean distilled? I'm not sure exactly what's in the burton salts b/c I haven't used them, but if your using distilled and brewing all-grain, you need the proper levels of calcium and magnesium for yeast health. 64-68 isn't too bad, but even a sudden 4 or 5 degree drop in temp can slow yeast activity.




The temp fluctuates at night, but isnt colder than 60 or warmer than 70. Its pretty stable. During the summer months with the AC on, the temp didnt flux at all, and the same problems arise. But its always with liquid yeasts.

Schag- a 10 degree temp swing is pretty big. Going from 70 to 60 would definately put your yeast to sleep. Try wrapping your fermenter in blankets overnight if the temp swing is that severe. I would suspect that that is your problem.

I've made plenty of beers with liquid yeast and no starter, (even though its always better to do one) with no attenuation problems. but I always keep the temp steady. If I had 5-10 degree swings in my ferment temp, I would take care of that before you worry about building bigger starters. A 1 Liter starter with intermittent shaking should double your cell count I think.
 
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Schag- a 10 degree temp swing is pretty big. Going from 70 to 60 would definately put your yeast to sleep. Try wrapping your fermenter in blankets overnight if the temp swing is that severe. I would suspect that that is your problem.

.

During the summer when my AC is going, the temp doesnt change at all. Still does the same thing.
 
Filtered water, not distilled. The Burton-Trent salts add a bit of Ca, K, and Mg to the water. I also use a yeast nutrient as well. Not a sudden drop of temp, just guessing, but generally would say it is pretty steady near the 68 deg. range. I always wrap my bucket in a blanket as well. I always get very good start to fermentation within 12 hours and usually goes very vigorously...but lately these FG's are just high...targets are typically around 1.012 - 1.015 but generally have been ending near the 1.020 mark. I use BeerTools, and ProMash for recipes so have a pretty solid backup for the FG's so not issue with unfermentables. I will try the diffusion stone on the next one and see what I get with that pure O2 method.
Steve
 

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