Yep.... I broke my Beer.

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BSEC

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Ack... My first post is an "I broke my beer" post.:(

So… I had water in the basement a few months back and while cleaning the mess came across my copy of The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing (first edition). This prompted a run to the brew and grow store and restarted my interest in home brewing. I grabbed some equipment to complete my previous collection and 2 Brewers Best kits to start with.

The first kit I started with was a German Altbier Style. I followed the directions to the “T” and pitched the yeast into a starting gravity of 1.046 around 9:00 P.M. The following morning I had a gurgle a second into my blow off container and an inch of krausen in the carboy. Life is good!

4 Days later all activity had stopped and I took a reading of 1.022. Two days after that I took another reading of 1.022. Ok… I figured things had slowed a touch and I’d rack to a secondary to see if a little agitation would wake up the yeasties. 3 days later and I’m still at 1.022. The recipe says my target is 1.008 – 1.014

My beer is broken…

I’ve been reading the forum for the last 2 weeks and I have a few ideas of what caused my problem. I’m guessing I didn’t aerate well enough. I had a 2-gallon boil and poured through a strainer into 3 gallons of bottled water. I didn’t do anything other than that to aerate. I followed the directions to start the dry yeast (Don’t recall the type) and pitched it into a temperature around 70. I aerated the snot out of my second batch (an IPA) in the same conditions as the previous beer and it was blowing off a 6.5-gallon carboy filling the headspace with krausen.

So, What to do???

Pitch new dry yeast hoping the oxy reserves in the yeast will be enough?
Beano?
Wait until my IPA is done and dump the stalled Altbier on the yeast cake?

What would you folks recommend?

Brad
 
a 1.046 beer is not an ipa first.

if the racking did not rouse, i say bottle it, and carb it.
move on to the next batch.

i had a extract recipe stall @ 1.019 before, and the beer was GOOD.
low abv, but i had quite a bit higher OG than you did.

sure your OG sample was mixed up well? i have never heard of ANY IPA og being less than 1.062 or better....

if your OG was wrong, your final might just be correct. you have the recipe for it for people to help decipher?
 
I brewed the German Alt kit from Brewer's Best and finished with a FG of 1.021. It actually came out pretty good (minus the bottle infection I picked up).

If you really want it to drop more I would pitch more yeast. Perhaps this? or maybe just some US-05 (which would be cheaper!).

But like I said, I think you would be okay bottling at this point.
 
How could see all that stuff saying that your beer is broken and miss the other 95% that says your beer is fine? :)

DO not put beano into it. Do not put pitch new yeast. Do not re-aerate.

What temp did you ferment at? If it got too cold it could slow the process down enough that you might want to rock the fermenter and roil the yeast a little. Nothing more than that though. Do this with the airlock or top on it though. You do not want to introduce oxygen at this point or you just might break it.

Then leave it alone for another week.

People have so little faith in yeast. :)

Your beer is fine.
 
Fermentation environment is 68°F. At the peak of fermentation the carboy temp hit 74° for half a day but for the most part has stayed between 68° and 72°.

On a side note... It tastes and smells great! :)
 
nosmatt...

The IPA is cooking along well. The batch I'm having an issue with is the German Altbier.

3.3lbs Plain Light Malt Extract
3.3lbs Plain Amber Malt Extract
12oz. Crushed Crystal Malt 60L
1oz Crushed Black Patent
1oz Cluster Hops
1/2oz Vangaurd Hops

Thanks!

Brad
 
I put money on the sample not being mixed enough- been there done that. Always way to high. Bottle it. Let it sit, it should be fine.
Side note- another north metroer huh. Nice to meet you, might have to get together for a home brew.
 
I did an Alt Bier for my first batch too. I thought it stuck at 1.022 also, after 4 day's. I got a brew belt and shook it up just enought to stir the yeasties at the bottom (created a little cloud 1-2 inches off the bottom), it didn't take much rocking the Primary.

I warmed mine up to 70 deg F. and let sit for 4 more day's it dropped to 1.015

I racked to 2ndary for an additional 6 days, I think. Then to Keg.

It's now 8 weeks old and the beer gets better every day! Last night I had another pull off the tap and was just amazed how good it's getting!

So Not to worry, you didn't break your beer. Trust in the beer gods and proper sanitation and all beer is good.

Cheers :mug:
 
+1 for yeast nutrient. Pop in the recommended amount and give it a good shake (without the airlock, but with a sanitized cap!) and then leave it for another week.

I have had luck with this in the past with under-active yeasties. In the future, a starter or a better (fresher) yeast source will likely prevent this issue. If you used the dry yeast that comes with the kits, that is probably your issue. If you don't feel like messing with it, then don't. Bottle it, wait 2-3 weeks, and drink it. Mmmm. At 3.12% ABV it will make a nice, slightly malty, session beer.

<2 cents>
Nothing wrong with using dry yeast, but some of those kits have been sitting awhile. You will get mixed opinions regarding dry yeast on the boards. Most of the opinions are left over from peoples extract kit days. I just pitched 3 packs of fresh dry yeast into 12 gallons of a Sierra Nevada clone and it went NUTS within 6 hours. Perfect fermentation. OG of 1.052, currently sitting in the 69 degree closet at 1.010. Brewed this past Saturday, finished fermentation last night (4 days). Yeast came from Midwest.
</2 cents>
 
Geez, I read my first post, I was not clear, wait for a while, then bottle, don't bottle right now. I am more of a wait and see guy, can you tell.
 
I put money on the sample not being mixed enough- been there done that. Always way to high. Bottle it. Let it sit, it should be fine.
Side note- another north metroer huh. Nice to meet you, might have to get together for a home brew.

If you're in the middle of fermentation, your sample will be consistent throughout the fermenter. It isn't like before fermentation when you don't add water correctly.
 
If you're in the middle of fermentation, your sample will be consistent throughout the fermenter. It isn't like before fermentation when you don't add water correctly.

Yup, sorry, totally misunderstood what was going on. Don't listen to me in the morning, I need at least a 6 pack in me to start making sense.
 
Alrighty... I pitched in some yeast nutrients. I’ll wait and see if the yeast takes the bait.

I aerated the snot out of the California Pale Ale. That filled up the headspace in a 6.5 carboy, blew over, and 4 days later is still going at it.

I didn’t manage to get out of Midwest without another carboy and a Hanks Hefeweizen kit. We’ll see what happens with that this weekend.
 
Nice... New Carboy and a kit to brew to fill it!

My Heff, was very active. I didn't have a blow off tube and what a mess to clean up.

So just a word of warning.

Cheers and happy brewing.
 
Well… The nutrients did nothing to rouse the yeast. Four days later I was still at 1.022. One of the folks at Midwest suggested pitching champagne yeast so I thought I’d give that a try. Six days later I’m still at 1.022. I’m guessing that’s where it’ll stay.

The California Pale Ale that was gassing off like mad quieted down after a week and a half. The original gravity was 1.060 with a target of 1.008-1.016. The gravity on this has been sitting at 1.030 for the last few days and is starting to look like it’s not going to budge.

I checked the hydrometer on 60° water and it’s sitting at 0 so that’s not the issue. I’m not sure what’s up.

The next brew will be a Heff from Midwest. I upgraded the yeast to a liquid and I’ll try this one with a full boil. Maybe then the yeast god will shine on me.
 
I had a Porter where the OG was 1.070 and the FG was 1.025, I was worried, but everyone that has had it loved it and the last 12 beers I have squirled away for my own use.
 
Yeah, a good way to get it to attenuate is ,first- time. Then get that temp. up and maybe rouse the yeasties and it should finish for you. Don't freak out and think all is lost. Yeast are a living organism and every once in a while, like to cop an attitude. Your beer will directly reflect the relationship you foster with your yeast! Dr. Phil?..... for ferm.?:rolleyes:
 
I kegged the Altbier at 1.022. It’s not bad. Slight soap aftertaste and doesn’t have a ton of mouthfeel. However it was a partial boil beer and I made it so I still enjoy drinking it.

The California Pale Ale is still behaving oddly. I racked it to a secondary after two weeks in the primary where it’s been sitting at 70° for 5 weeks. I took a gravity reading last night and the stuff is still heavily carbonated. Gravity is down to 1.024 which is better than the 1.03 it seemed stuck at but I’m confused about the carbonation. That tells me it’s still fermenting correct?

The Hanks Heffeweizen finished right on target and already tastes great. I will be kegging that tonight but I’m still puzzled about the pale ale.
 
There should be no carbonation during fermentation. It should be totally flat until you bottle or keg it. If it's carbonated, you have something else going on in there. Are you using the Munton's yeast that come with the Midwest kits? If so, you should do a search on here about that particular yeast. There are many threads about it pooping out at 1.020.
 
The German Altbier and California Pale Ale were Brewers Best kits. Both used dry yeast. The kit I got from Midwest used a liquid yeast and turned out wonderful.

If carbonation is the result of yeast converting sugars wouldn&#8217;t that indicate yeast activity? I thought the lack of carbonation was one indication yeast activity has stopped.
 
There is nothing wrong with brewers best kits. My bet, the yeast got a little cool and gave up early. Warm them up, gently agitate (twist 1/4 turn a few times) and wait a few days.
 
well maybe its just my LHBS but they are all sitting on the shelf with no refrigeration and some of the oddball kits have been there a long time. one i got a while back undoubtedly had bad hops because they smelled like old cheese and they ALL still have the old style packaging of nottinghams yeast. JMO.
 
If carbonation is the result of yeast converting sugars wouldn&#8217;t that indicate yeast activity? I thought the lack of carbonation was one indication yeast activity has stopped.

If by carbonation you mean CO2 being forced out of the airlock, then yes, it does mean that the yeast is still working. However, if by carbonation, you mean small bubbles in the finished product, then it shouldn't be there. That should only be at the end when the CO2 is forced into solution because there is no place for it to go. If it's fizzy in the fermenter when you taste it, I still think something else might be wrong.
 
There is nothing wrong with brewers best kits. My bet, the yeast got a little cool and gave up early. Warm them up, gently agitate (twist 1/4 turn a few times) and wait a few days.

The temps in my fermentation closet are pretty consistent at 67-68 nights and 69-72 during the day. I also thought the temps might be part of the problem so I put a brew belt on with a timer that could be set in 15 minute increments. This has kept the brew at a steady 70 for 4 weeks. I also agitated and pitched some yeast nutrient when I added the brew belt.

Both of these Brewers Best Kits came with notes saying substitute hops were used because of shortages and both had dry yeast. I also wondered how long they had been sitting on the shelf at the LHBS.

By carbonation I mean small bubbles on the top of the beer if it's disturbed. Also... When I take a sample with the wine thief and dispense it into the glass for my hydrometer I get bubbles coming up the sides and forming a head. You can also detect the carbonation when tasting.

My Heff from Midwest turned out so well I'm tempted to pitch the Cali Pale Ale and fill the carboy with another kit from Midwest.
 
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