Fermented like crazy, but gravity did not drop much?

OK, so I brewed up an extra pale ale and pitched yeast 9 days ago. The OG was 1.050. I used a Wyeast Activator Pack British Ale II and the wort was well aerated and at about 70 degrees. I placed in a dark closet that is set to 68 degrees. It took about 24 hrs to start seeing signs of fermentation, then it went crazy for 8 days. Yesterday, I did not notice any activity, so I took a gravity reading and it was only 1.020. I thought that it would have for sure been lower than that for as much activity as I was getting. I will probably take another reading tonight to see if it moved any. How much longer should I leave it in the primary? Is there anything I can do to get it to start fermenting again?

i've had really active fermentations where the yeast didn't finish up on their own for whatever reason. the yeast you used is highly flocculant, so it might be that most of it fell out of suspension before it was finished.

first thing i'd do is calibrate the hydrometer in plain water (distilled if possible, if not it should still be pretty close to 1.000). presuming that's all in order, take another sample and see if it has dropped.

if not, give the fermenter a good swirl to get the yeast back in suspension, cover it up to protect the beer from light (unless it's a bucket, then no cover needed) and stick it somewhere warm, low to mid 70s is probably best. leave it there another week or longer if it shows signs of continued activity.

that's usually all it takes. some beers are done at 1.020, and yours might very well be too. but with that yeast i wouldn't at all be surprised if you dropped another 5 points or more.

I never thought to check the hydrometer. But then again, if it was off, the starting reading would have been equally off. Still a good thing to check. I gave it a good swirl at lunch today, and will raise the temp so it is in the low 70s. I will take another SG reading tonight and let you know what it says.

What temp did you mash at? If your mash temp was high, you made a lot of non-fermentable sugars and will have a higher finishing gravity.

I only used 2 pounds of grain in a partial mash, then added extract during the boil. I mashed at 160 for 30 minutes, then sparged with 170 degree water. I did extract additions at 60 mins and 40 mins (3 pounds each time). For future reference, how high is too high?

I have read that sometimes extract brews tend to not flucculate fully. The last 3 extracts that I have done have been stuck at the dreaded 1.02. The beers will still be good, just will have a little less abv and a little more sweetness, depending on what FG you were looking for.

As far as seeping, I believe that 160 deg is where you should have been. Not sure how high is too high, but anything over 170 is probably a bad thing.

If you mashed your grain at 160 degrees, then you would have a less fermentable wort, if they were base grains. You may be done at 1.020, but wait at least a week to see if it goes down at all.

If you're doing a partial mash, 153 is about right for a temperature. Even for a very full bodied less fermentable wort, I NEVER go above 158 degrees. What grains did you mash, and what was the rest of the recipe?

macabra11 said:

I never thought to check the hydrometer. But then again, if it was off, the starting reading would have been equally off.

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this is true. but if it were, say, .005 too high then you'd have gone from 1.045 to 1.015 which is 66% attenuation, instead of 60%.

as for steeping 2 lbs of specialty grains, 160 is perfectly fine and it shouldn't affect your fg much at all. don't worry if your sample tonight doesn't show much improvement, yeast sometimes work on a timetable of days rather than hours. just keep it warm and out of sunlight and i bet you'll drop a few more points at least.

also yooper's right about mashing lower than 158. mashing and steeping specialty grains are two different processes with different intended results. if you have it, what was the grain bill?

Here is the recipe. I was wrong about the grains. There was only a pound of total grains that I steeped.

FugNug Extra Pale Ale

Grains:
0.5 lb Crystal Malt 10L
0.5 lb Carapils

Extract:
6 lb Light Dry Malt Extract
1 lb Dry Rice Syrup Solids

Hops:
1 oz Nugget (11% AA, 60 mins)
0.5 oz Fuggles (4.5% AA, 15 mins)
0.5 oz Fuggles (4.5% AA, 3 mins)
0.5 oz Fuggles (4.5% AA, Dry Hopped)

Wert Additions:1 tsp Irish Moss (15 mins)
Yeast: Wyeast #1335 British Ale II

Took a SG reading at lunch yesterday and it did drop a little. Down to 1.018 from 1.020. That is with me raising the fermenting temp into the low 70s and giving the carboy a good, hearty shake. I will let it go for a few more days before I transfer.

that's great!

how'd the sample taste?

john from dc said:

that's great!

how'd the sample taste?

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wellll....
to be honest, not that great. It is really light bodied and colored (which is what I wanted), but it just wasn't doing it for me. Now, it is not done yet so it may be too soon to make a real judgment. I still need to dry hop and condition it, so maybe it will change for the better because of that. Maybe? It was weird... it was dry, but it was also kinda sweet Don't know if that is even possible.
I will keep everyone posted.

UPDATE: Ok, so it has been awhile and I thought I would fill everyone in on the progress of this beer. The FG was 1.018, so higher than I hoped. The sample that I tasted at bottling was real bread-like and the yeast was really noticeable - not what I hoped for. We wanted to try one a week after bottling and OMFG it was terrible. I mean it was like banana nut bread beer! I can't tell you how disappointed we were (especially since we ended up with a sh*t ton of this stuff). So yesterday (two weeks after bottling) we tried another one... IT WAS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT BEER!!!! No banana taste! You could actually taste the hops in it rather than rancid bread dough and banana runts! I cannot believe how much that beer changed in ONE WEEK! It still needs to carbonate more, but I have learned a very important lesson through this beer. And now I can't wait for warm sunny weather when I can sit outside and enjoy a nice, clean tasting, hoppy, non-banana FugNug EPA! :rockin:

Yup, patience is your friend! Congrats....