Killinger
Well-Known Member
OK, so I've read a bunch of the stuck fermentation threads, but couldn't find
one obviously applicable to my situation. BTW, it's funny how they all start like an ad for viagra, "I swear this has never happened to me before."
Anyway, I usually do one week in a primary and two in a secondary. I brewed a ginger saison two weeks ago, aerated as I normally do (low-tech dumping from the brewpot into a bottling bucket and then draining through the spigot into a 6 gallon better bottle), the OG was 1.066. I pitched Wyeast Belgian Saison.
After a week in the primary, the big, nasty/beautiful krausen was falling and the bubbler stopped bubbling. I racked to the secondary and checked the gravity. It was only 1.042! I let it sit another week, and checked the gravity again, but it was still about 1.042.
Here are my initial thoughts:
1. Too cold. We're in a new house, and the basement is getting colder. I'm wondering if the yeast went to sleep in the cooler temps. The ambient air temperature is about 68F, so not bad, but maybe still slowing the yeast?
2. Racked too early. In combination with a slower fermentation, maybe I racked it off the yeast too soon, and now there isn't enough yeast in suspension to move the needle.
Something else? I know every noob with a slow fermentation jumps to the repitch solution, but I thought that in combination with raising the ambient air temp might do the trick.
Thoughts?
one obviously applicable to my situation. BTW, it's funny how they all start like an ad for viagra, "I swear this has never happened to me before."
Anyway, I usually do one week in a primary and two in a secondary. I brewed a ginger saison two weeks ago, aerated as I normally do (low-tech dumping from the brewpot into a bottling bucket and then draining through the spigot into a 6 gallon better bottle), the OG was 1.066. I pitched Wyeast Belgian Saison.
After a week in the primary, the big, nasty/beautiful krausen was falling and the bubbler stopped bubbling. I racked to the secondary and checked the gravity. It was only 1.042! I let it sit another week, and checked the gravity again, but it was still about 1.042.
Here are my initial thoughts:
1. Too cold. We're in a new house, and the basement is getting colder. I'm wondering if the yeast went to sleep in the cooler temps. The ambient air temperature is about 68F, so not bad, but maybe still slowing the yeast?
2. Racked too early. In combination with a slower fermentation, maybe I racked it off the yeast too soon, and now there isn't enough yeast in suspension to move the needle.
Something else? I know every noob with a slow fermentation jumps to the repitch solution, but I thought that in combination with raising the ambient air temp might do the trick.
Thoughts?