Cider kit stopped bubbling at 4 days?

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Mukal

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My second brew is a mangrove jacks kit which I added sufficient sugars to achieve 9.5% (brew enhancer 10 and 1kg dextrose), after 4 days of none stop bubbling it slowed to a full stop. I'm sure the temp didn't fall below 20 but the sticker thermometer may be a little inaccurate. After 2 days of no bubbles I took a reading of 1.024 and the brew tastes sweet like it hasn't finished yet. Should I try heating it up to 24/25ish? Any suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated
 
Try raising the temp. Also with the added sugars maybe your yeast needs some more nutrients as well to kick start it. Good luck.
 
If all else fails use Lavlin EC 1118. Its champagne yeast and will restart your stuck fermentation....

Which strain of yeast did you use for the brew in the first place? Enter in the strain on google and you can pull up the yeasts specs on temp ranges, alc tolerance, flocculence etc. I don't think raising the temp will really hurt it, but I'd stop at 23 degrees if you don't know the temp range it can survive in.
 
The yeast I used was contained in the kit, unsure of type though. the kits ingredients also listed yeast nutrient. I've kept te temp up around 22/23 and although I haven't noticed any activity with the airlock, the sg has dropped to 1.020 from 1.024 in the last 4 days. I should just wait until the sg is constant and I should be good to bottle right? Thankyou for replies. Your help was much appreciated
 
Adding more nutrient will likely work.

That being said the slow drop isn't bad, as long as it keeps going its not unusual. This is why everyone tells you not to just rely on bubbling. SG is the best bet to make sure it still drops, even if it's slow.
 
And yes, once it's constant for at least 3 days (I wait a week or more) you're good to bottle.
 
Thanks for your advice/help, 750ml grolsch bottles aren't cheap, didn't want to make bombs :)
 
I'm brewing exactly the same kit and have just reached the end of day 4 today - bubbling had made a noticeable slow down and I took a FG reading - FYI it is 1.008 (1.041 SG)

I've been at 22 degrees the last 3 days but it has wound down to 16 degrees today so have put it in a warmer spot to try maintain the brew for the next few days.

I've also added some apple concentrate to boost the alc%. Will let you know how it goes. Out of interest are you going to keep yours still or carbonated? I'm thinking I'll go 50/50.

re - Grolsch bottles - you can buy brown 750ml bottles with the flip top caps from most local brew shops - I picked up mine for $26 a dozen and thats NZ$ so would guess $18ish in AU$..

Anyhow good luck with your brew mate..
 
Got it sitting on 1.020 sg for 3 days so added flavourings (kit pear, and lorann blue/blackberry oils 1 dram of each) after waiting 3 days for yeast to settle back down I bottled it. Used coppertun carbo drops as I'm going for a fizzy product. Now the waiting game begins :)
 
Got it sitting on 1.020 sg for 3 days so added flavourings (kit pear, and lorann blue/blackberry oils 1 dram of each) after waiting 3 days for yeast to settle back down I bottled it. Used coppertun carbo drops as I'm going for a fizzy product. Now the waiting game begins :)

I think you need to watch your bottles carefully!! 1.020 is a lot of available sugar and you added priming sugar as well. Once you get to your desired carbonation level you'll need to bottle pasteurize. Check out the sticky in the cider forum on how to do that.
 
I forgot to mention that I'm only making 19 litres not 23. My local homebrew shop owner said that could push the sg up a couple of points. He said it should be fine to bottle so I put my faith in him and bottled up. I do have the bottles boxed and the boxes wrapped in a tarp just incase
 
There are lots of people in this forum that like sweet cider so if you actually have caught a strain that leave it that sweet you might want to save it.
 
As soon as its ready it will be sampled, then sampled each 3 months for a year to see how it matures. If it turns out above average I will post the recipe for anyone interested
 
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