1st Brew and Gravity is stuck

Total newbie here attempting my first homebrew and my gravity is apparently stuck. I bought a basic brew kit (like http://www.homebrewery.com/beer/beer-gs-basic-kit.shtml) and I am fairly certain I have followed the step-by-step instructions exactly.

Saturday April 7th
Brewed 1.6kg can of John Bull Amber with 2lbs of DME in 3 gallons of water and added in 1/2oz of hops at the end of the boil. I then cooled the wort in the stainless steel pot rapidly (20mins) in my laundry tub of cold water down to around 75 degrees. Poured the wort into my single-stage-fermentor with additional cold water to bring the total to 5 gallons, added some super ferment and pitched the yeast (Muntons). Took an initial gravity reading with my hydrometer at 1.041. Closed it up and put it in my basement at a temp of 68 degrees. Noticed bubbles the next day on the airlock...so far so go.

Friday April 13th
Opened up to take a gravity reading and it was 1.020. Closed it up and wait a few more days.

Sunday April 15th
Took another gravity reading and it was still 1.020 - bummer. Ok I tried stirring it up to get the yeast going again. Closed it up.

Monday April 16th
I phone the store that I bought the supplies at to see if they can give me any insight. The lady tells me to get it off the concrete floor in the basement and stir it and call them back in 2 days. Ok, so I do this.....

Wednesday April 18th
Gravity still at 1.020. Call the beer supply store again, she tells me that I am not reading the hydrometer correctly (I was putting it right into the Fermenting pale. Says I need to put it in the tube to see it dead on (I am thinking ya like that is going to make up the .20 that I need to go). I try this for kicks and giggles and of course my SG is still at 1.020.

Thursday April 19th
I return to my local beer brew store and buy another packet of Munson's yeast. I then re-pitch the yeast and stir it up. I also bring it upstairs in my home to temperature of around 72 degrees. Close the lid and wait.

Friday April 20th
Bubbles in the airlock, although not as frequent as what I read on these forums that others get. Perhaps one bubble every 5 minutes. So I wait....

Sunday April 22nd
I open it up to take a gravity reading and it is at 1.019...... WOW it moved a whole .001 - argh!

So what should I do at this point? The beer tastes and smells good, but I thought the fermentation was suppose to only take around a week. It has now been 2.5 weeks. If I bottle now, do I risk exploders not to mention the fact that the alcohol level is really really low.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

leave it another week. the majority of fermentation happens in the first week, but it goes on for long after. that's why some people follow the 1-2-3 rules, 1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, 3 weeks in bottles. If you are not using a secondary, it can go faster, but not necessarily. The final bit of the fermentation goes much slower.

you may not even see bubbles after a while, but she's still fermenting. you really only need to go down a few more points anyway. bottling that at 1.016 would probably still make for a good beer, though you probably want it lower with your original low OG.

if she stops in the next day or two, give her a slight swirl to get the yeast up and running again. other than that, I'd say just be patient and if you can't get fermentation started again, just bottle it.

Should be done by now honestly, since you pitched more yeast though, let it sit for 3 days, if the gravity doesn't change, then you are safe to bottle it.

A quick question, was your DME Laaglander's? If so this will be the reason for your FG remaining high. My first brew was done with Laaglander's Amber DME and my FG was stuck at 1.024 and I was worried until someone asked me if I'd used Laaglander's.

Laaglander's is only about 50-55% fermentable not 75% ish like the Munton's etc.

In case you are wondering about exploding bottles....

I recently had an IPA fermentation stall at 1.036 after 5 days. I think the fermenter got too cold. I tried agitating the yeast (without introducing more oxygen) and bumping up the temp to around 75 degrees. I let it sit for 2 more weeks and it didn't fall a single point. Looking back, I should have added more yeast, but didn't have any on hand.

Anyway, I decided to bottle the brew with the FG at 1.036, half expecting to have some explosions. So far, they've been bottle conditioning for over 3 weeks now and none of them have exploded. It's the sweetest IPA I've ever had.

Also, some people have tried Beano to drop the FG with mixed results. Do a quick "Beano" search for more info.

Laaglanders was my first thought. A lot of newer brewers will choose it because it is less expensive. It won't ferment worth a damn though. It's used to create a maltier lower ABV beer.

I made the mistake of using beano once. Ended up pouring the gushers down the drain.

If your hydrometer reading is the same 3 days in a row, time to bottle.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I ended up bottling with a FG around 1.019. Two weeks later I popped one open and was pleasantly surprised I will just have to drink a couple extra since the ABV is low - twist my arm.

Btw, I went back down the the local HBS that I bought the DME from and found out that it was indeed Laaglander's. When I told the lady about the feedback that I got from individuals online (here) in regard to it not fermenting well she was like "..oh thats not true..." yeaaah... she is trying to sell me stuff while the you nice chaps here have nothing to gain

Thanks Again!!

At least it tasted good. You wound up with a nice malty, low ABV session ale. Coulda been a lot worse.

It's absolutely true; pretty sure it's even mentioned in either Palmer's or Daniel's book (I can picture a table with different extracts and their fermentability).