Venting about FG

Don't know what it is lately. My last 3 beers have all finished high.

Wheat only to 1.016; expected 1.012
Southern Brown ale to 1.020; expected 1.012
Oktoberfest at 2 weeks from 1.060 to only 1.040 at 48 degrees.

Just venting. They'll taste OK, maybe a bit sweet though.

Are you pitching enough yeast, aerating, mashing low enough?

Soulive said:

Are you pitching enough yeast, aerating, mashing low enough?

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Pitching a ton.

Aerating by shaking.....never had a problem before.

Mashed the wheat at 148, the brown at 152, the Okto at 153.

xamers said:

Pitching a ton.

Aerating by shaking.....never had a problem before.

Mashed the wheat at 148, the brown at 152, the Okto at 153.

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Hmmm, thats weird then. What yeast strains?

Thats the opposite problem I just had. I had an pale ale that finished at 003.

Soulive said:

Hmmm, thats weird then. What yeast strains?

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WL400 Belgian Wit- for the wheat - average starter, +blowoff
WyY Whitbread 1099 - to the brown - average starter, good Krau
WL820 Okto - for the Okto - huge 4 stepped starter, still fermenting well

Calibrate your thermometer.

The first two sound fine, last one sounds like its stalled. Lager yeast I'm assuming? Have you calibrated your hydrometer?

sirsloop said:

The first two sound fine, last one sounds like its stalled. Lager yeast I'm assuming? Have you calibrated your hydrometer?

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Thermometer is fine. Reads right about 32 in ice water.

Hydrometer is fine. Reads right at 1.001 in 65 degree tap water.

The lager is actually still fermenting away. It's just taking it's sweet time. The airlock activity is still good. I pitched a TON of yeast in that one.

I don't think there's anything I could have done differently. Just venting. Might be time to invest into a nice O2 setup.

How does it taste? If you think its too sweet, drop a crushed beano in each one a month before you plan on drinking. It'll drop it at least a few points in that amount of time.

sirsloop said:

How does it taste? If you think its too sweet, drop a crushed beano in each one a month before you plan on drinking. It'll drop it at least a few points in that amount of time.

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The wheat has too much coriander (my fault), so it's not winning any taste comps. It's a loss overall. It'll get drunken though.

The brown is sweet, but really not bad overall. It'll be very drinkable. In fact, there's a good chance my wife will love it the way it is. I'll leave it in primary for another week, making it 4 weeks.

The Okto......I don't know why it's inching along; especially with 2L (4 step ups) of starter. Heck, it even started airlock activity within 10 hours which was probably the fastest I've seen in my brewery for a lager. I'm going to raise the temp 5 degrees to the low 50s for another week before another SG reading.

I'm in no hurry and thoroughly do not believe in yeast autolysis.

I do think that there may not be enough aging time. How long fo you age ales and lagers? You can not rush beer.

Have you used Whitbread before? Like Ringwood, it's a real pain in the ass. They're both high flocculating yeasts. I mean, really high, high enough that they often flocculate before their job is done.

It's because yeasts develop traits over time; they're as subject to natural selection as any other organism. In the breweries where those yeasts were developed, manual rousing was widely practiced. Now Whitbread and Ringwood don't work well without a lot of hands-on management.

It's probably too late to rouse it, but you should try anyway. If it's in a bucket, simply sanitize a plastic stirrer and stir twice per day - without splashing, of course - until you see a drop in hydrometer readings. If it's in a carboy, you're on your own; I don't use carboys for primary, and I've never used Whitbread in that environment.

At any rate, you now know - and anyone searching for Ringwood or Whitbread also now know - that those are not "fire and forget" yeasts. In other words, the admonition to pitch the yeast, seal up the fermenter and forget about it for a couple of weeks does not apply. They're going to poop out, and they're going to poop out well before full attenuation is reached, the lazy little buggers. You've got to catch it and start rousing when it shows signs of tailing off, which can only be done with consecutive hydrometer readings.

Cheers,

Bob

Whitbread......I knew it wasn't the best. I actually was going to harvest it and reuse it for a stout.....but that's out.

In terms of time, the wheat and the brown had more than enough time at 3 weeks. In my estimation, if an ale yeast takes longer than 3 weeks to ferment at 66 degrees.......I'll try another strain next time around.

I'm patient, but have no time for lazy yeast!

xamers said:

Whitbread......I knew it wasn't the best. I actually was going to harvest it and reuse it for a stout.....but that's out.

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Don't get me wrong! I make no claims or estimations as to the quality of the strain, good or bad. Whitbread is a fabu yeast if you're looking for the characteristics the strain imparts. It's just a bit more labor-intensive than we homebrewers are used to.

In terms of time, the wheat and the brown had more than enough time at 3 weeks. In my estimation, if an ale yeast takes longer than 3 weeks to ferment at 66 degrees.......I'll try another strain next time around.

I'm patient, but have no time for lazy yeast!

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It's not that they're lazy, really. They merely have characteristics with which the brewer must deal. There's no qualitative difference between, say, Whitbread and Czech Pils yeast - both have certain characteristics, and both have requirements the brewer must meet before they will function properly. You wouldn't ***** at a lager yeast not doing its job properly if you didn't provide it the correct environment, would you? Same for Whitbread.

If you were after a certain characteristic imparted by the strain - like the butterscotch esters from Ringwood - I'd advise to keep using it. Some of those characteristics can be unique (like the aforementioned butterscotch). You'd just have to remember the strain's other characteristics and cope with them. If you were just after a fruity English ale yeast, seek elsewhere; there are plenty of alternatives.

I'd reuse the cake for your stout. Pitching onto the cake will probably attenuate the stout wort fully before the yeast have time to figure out that they're lazy (you're really just overpitching, technically). Keep an eye on it, though - if attenuation starts to slow, you'll have to rouse it.

Think of it as a learning experience for your memoirs.

Bob