Rouse the yeast?

I've been trying to read up on this subject a little bit, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer to my question.

I've got an American Pale Ale in primary. It's been in there for 3 days and airlock activity ceased sometime during the day yesterday (i.e., about 1.5 days into primary). I was going to take a gravity reading tonight, and I hope it's down where it needs to be (SG was 1.051, so I'm looking for 1.012 or 1.013). I kind of don't expect it to be down that far, though, so my question is what to do if it's not.

I've come up with a few options, some of which I'm guessing are terribly wrong:

1. Stir the wort/beer with a sanitized spoon to rouse the yeast. (How hard/long does this stirring need to be?)
2. Add more yeast
3. Boil a cup of table sugar and add to the wort/beer, hoping to kick start the yeast and get them to eat up the rest of the malt.
4. Deal with it and rack to secondary.
5. Wait a few days and check again... airlock activity isn't the best indicator.

Thanks for any help!

5

It's only been a few days. Kindly step away from the fermenter and relax.

Yeah, if it is not down to the FG that you were looking for, check it again in another day or so. Chances are that it will continue to fall if it has not reached the intended FG yet. Always trust your hydro reading as the final indicator if your brew is done or not. Bubbling in the airlock will not provide you with the best information regarding the status of your beer.

If you are steady over the next few days on your SG, but still are over the proposed FG, you may have more unfermentables in the beer than you were supposed to. Did you brew this AG or extract?

number 4 is bad. the rest sound reasonable. but wait till its been a full week. the yeast may just be on their coffee break. also you may want to bump the temp of your fermenter up a few degrees. somewhere between 65F and 70F.

oh and never rack before 2 weeks.

Tipsy, 2 weeks? What about the 1-2-3 rule?

Thanks for the replies. I'll be a little more patient with it for now. Would it hurt to shake the fermenter a little bit?

It won't hurt anything to rock the fermenter. I wouldn't worry about it, though. Ale ferments can go from OG to FG pretty quickly if you give the yeast the right environment.

Check the gravity if you really want to Do Something. Otherwise, leave it alone.

As some would advise:





Bob

MBM30075 said:

Tipsy, 2 weeks? What about the 1-2-3 rule?

Thanks for the replies. I'll be a little more patient with it for now. Would it hurt to shake the fermenter a little bit?

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1-2-3 is a good general rule for beginning brewers. It would probably work well for your recipe as well.

However, most experienced brewers have irrefutable proof that longer time on the yeast in the primary produces cleaner tasting beer. Not only does yeast ferment your beer, converting sugar to alcohol and CO2, but it also plays a part in cleaning up it's own waste and reducing the likelihood of off flavors like diacetyl.

All grain or extract? That will make a big difference in your attenuation.

All grain. Second batch. I'm pretty sure my mash temperature was between 152 and 155 for 60 minutes. Maybe slightly lower, but I'm almost positive it wasn't higher. If it matters, I had about 63% efficiency.

Thanks!

OK, OK, I'm gonna leave it alone.

Question, though:

If I'm going to forsake the 1-2-3 rule in favor of a longer primary (say, 2 weeks), what length of secondary should I have, if any? It's an American Pale Ale, but I have to say I'm not terribly concerned with clarity, just flavor. There's no real rush, but I was hoping to maybe have some ready to drink by the weekend of July 24th. Possible?

Thanks!

MBM30075 said:

OK, OK, I'm gonna leave it alone.

Question, though:

If I'm going to forsake the 1-2-3 rule in favor of a longer primary (say, 2 weeks), what length of secondary should I have, if any? It's an American Pale Ale, but I have to say I'm not terribly concerned with clarity, just flavor. There's no real rush, but I was hoping to maybe have some ready to drink by the weekend of July 24th. Possible?

Thanks!

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I don't usually use a secondary, but having it ready in two weeks is really rushing it!

I usually leave it for three to four weeks in primary, then keg it if I'm not dryhopping it in the secondary.

Yeah, I was afraid you'd say that! Oh, well, guess I'll just have to make due with my others...

MBM30075 said:

OK, OK, I'm gonna leave it alone.

Question, though:

If I'm going to forsake the 1-2-3 rule in favor of a longer primary (say, 2 weeks), what length of secondary should I have, if any? It's an American Pale Ale, but I have to say I'm not terribly concerned with clarity, just flavor. There's no real rush, but I was hoping to maybe have some ready to drink by the weekend of July 24th. Possible?

Thanks!

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It'll be better with longer aging. For future reference, you can often get away with 2 weeks grain to glass with milds and wheat beers.

Can you define a "mild" for me? Is it the type of base grain, the color, the OG?

I just did an Ordinary Bitter that turned into a Special Bitter because my efficiency went from 63% on the previous batch to about 77% on this batch (still not sure why yet). OG ended up being 1.050. Would that be a "mild?" Would it have been if I hit my target OG of 1.040?

For those types of beer, would you recommend simply doing a 2 week primary and bottling without a secondary?

Thanks!

Mild is an fascinating style. There is a very good book in the Classic Beer Styles Series by David Sutula called Mild Ale. Your local brew shop should be able to get you a copy if they haven't one in stock.

One of the few Wikipedia entries I find reliable is that for Mild. See also the BJCP style description.

Your beer that turned out stronger is still a bitter. Mild and Ordinary Bitter share many characteristics, including OG and often color. Ordinary Bitter, however, is hopped to a much higher rate than mild. There are more than a few small breweries in UK that omit the finishing hops from their Bitter in order to brew their Mild! The best Milds have flavors from roasted malts, though, which won't be found in Bitter grists.

Can you tell I like Mild?

Bob

will adding sugar to rouse the yeast affect the flavor of the beer in any way?

MountainGoatBrewing said:

will adding sugar to rouse the yeast affect the flavor of the beer in any way?

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Adding sugar will not rouse the yeast. Rousing is the physical process of get yeast back into suspension. Adding sugar generally doesn't change the flavor. Unless the yeast is totally pooped out, then adding sugar will make it sweet.

ha - yeah, I figured that out a while after I posted that...I'm gonna try to wait it out a bit before adding anything in the way of sugars or pitching a secondary yeast. Elevated the temps to over 80º, so hopefully that helps as well.