Final gravity ?

Hi guys, I'm not sure what's going on with my batch (yes it's my first 1) I had it in my primary for 2 days all action stopped in the airlock so I moved it to the secondary (The recipe said to move it after 2-3 days but after finding this forum I think I should have waited 1 week). So it has been in the secondary carboy for 15 days today and I haven't hit my targeted "final gravity" of 1.010-1.014 yet it has been at 1.020 for 9 days now.

Should I keep waiting or do I have a problem ?

Thanks and sorry for the newb questions

Yes, you have a stuck ferment. This is the common result of racking a brew too early. Your best option is to buy more yeast and pitch it.

You moved the beer way too soon, you took it off the yeast that was working on fermenting the beer. Airlock bubbling it too faulty away to judge your beer. You should have taken a hydromter reading in stead, you would have found you were still high and then would have left it alone to finish it's job.

Most of us don't even touch our beer for a month, which gives the beer plenty of time to finish and the yeast plenty of time to clean up after itself. And If I do secondary (to add fruit or oak) I wait til day 14 then take a gravity reading and if it is within 1-5 gravity points of what the recipe calls for then rack.

I would get some dry yeast like US-05 and add it, then leave the beer alone for a couple more weeks to finish and then DON'T bottle until the hydro reading has been solid over the span of three days.

Your airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it is a VALVE to release excess co2. And the peak of fermentation has already wound down, so there's simply no need to vent off any excess co2.

If your airlock was bubbling and stopped---It doesn't mean fermentation has stopped.

If you airlock isn't bubbling, it doesn't mean your fermentation hasn't started....

If your airlock starts bubbling, it really doesn't matter.

If your airlock NEVER bubbles, it doesn't mean anything is wrong or right.

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....

Thinking about "doing anything" without taking a hydrometer reading is tantamount to the doctor deciding to cut you open without running any diagnostic tests....Taking one look at you and saying, "Yeah I'm going in." You would really want the doctor to use all means to properly diagnose what's going on. It's exactly the same thing when you try to go by airlock....

You'll be much happier if you get out of that habit,of thinking of your airlock as any sort of gauge.....In fact I've never had a beer not ferment. BUT half of my fermentations, spread out across 9 different fermenters, never blip once in the airlock.

Fermentation is not always "dynamic," just because you don't SEE anything happening, doesn't mean that any-thing's wrong,, and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working diligently away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years..

The main reason that you arilock stopped was that fermentation was SLOWING DOWN and therefore there wasn't a need for the Airlock to release any excess co2 NOT that it was done.

Revy's really not as mean as his post sounds. He's just real serious about beer!

I agree 100% . I found this forum after I put the beer in the secondary and until then I was just going by the instructions in the kit that says and I quote "after two or three days in the plastic fermenter , siphon the beer into a five gallon glass carboy"

So pitch more yeast and wait ?

HI_SALENITY said:

I agree 100% . I found this forum after I put the beer in the secondary and until then I was just going by the instructions in the kit that says and I quote "after two or three days in the plastic fermenter , siphon the beer into a five gallon glass carboy"

So pitch more yeast and wait ?

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Yes. As Revy mentioned, get some Safale US-05 dry yeast. Pitch one 11.5 gram packet per 5 gallons. Don't try and stir it. Just pitch it, reseal and leave it be for 2 weeks.

Do I pitch it dry ? Will this batch still taste good ?
Thanks guys

Yambor44 said:

Yes. As Revy mentioned, get some Safale US-05 dry yeast. Pitch one 11.5 gram packet per 5 gallons. Don't try and stir it. Just pitch it, reseal and leave it be for 2 weeks.

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My local brew shop has these yeasts listed will one of them work or should I order the Safale US-05 ?
http://www.brewcat.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=hbps2&Category_Code=008126
I used "Muntons active brewing yeast" to Begin with .

Pitch it dry. It will probably taste just fine. The muntons you used before will work just fine, you just want a clean fermenting yeast and it looks like muntons fits that profile.

Ok guys I went to the brew shop and had a long talk with the owner who asked me if I toped it off to 5 gallons after moving to the carboy . as this was my first batch I was not sure of ware to fill it to so I did not add any water . He said that is why the final gravity reading is off. He also asked if it had cleared and I told him It had cleared nicely (I think). After our talk he told me he didn't think it was "stuck" and he would go ahead and keg it .

So I'm damed if I do and damed if I don't You guys say yeast and he says keg

Often times LHBS guys are behind the times in terms of up to date brewing wisdom. You'll find around here we recommend not rushing things, letting beer sit and finish.

There's been a big shift in brewing consciousness in the last few years where many of us believe that yeast is a good thing, and besides just fermenting the beer, that they are fastidious creatures who go back and clean up any by products created by themselves during fermentation, which may lead to off flavors.

Rather than the yeast being the cause of off flavors, it is now looked at by many of us, that they will if left alone actually remove those off flavors, and make for clearer and cleaner tasting beers.

Even John Palmer talks about this in How To Bew;

How To Brew said:

Leaving an ale beer in the primary fermentor for a total of 2-3 weeks (instead of just the one week most canned kits recommend), will provide time for the conditioning reactions and improve the beer. This extra time will also let more sediment settle out before bottling, resulting in a clearer beer and easier pouring. And, three weeks in the primary fermentor is usually not enough time for off-flavors to occur.

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This is where the most up to date brewing wisdom and ideas can be found...In fact a lot of stuff has been started on here, and made it into byo or zymurgy or podcasts...in fact BYO DID a piece on no secondary/long primary, along with the BASIC BREWING PODCAST and even they said that there were no issues/harm with doing it and in some beers it did actually improve the flavor and clarity. And I believe that really WAS influenced by the discussion we have had for the last couple years on here.

If you look around here, you will see plenty of "the bad advice my lhbs gave me" threads on here.

You said your "final gravity" is 1.010-1.014 " so you are not really even in the ball park.

Honestly - trust the people here. Your LHBS guy probably had good intentions, but the collective wisdom here tends to be far more knowledgeable and helpful than even the best-intentioned LHBS owner. Revvy has another blog entry about that, I think - this site is honestly the place where the most up-to-date information is, where lots of people share the results of their brewing experiments, etc. LHBS owners are often nice people, and often quite interested in the hobby, but they're also often a few years behind the times. Poke around for a while and you'll see!

On the other hand, each batch is a potential opportunity to learn something, so honestly you probably won't go wrong if you pitch or if you keg. Choose one (I'd personally pitch) and see how it turns out. It'll be beer either way, and likely quite tasty beer! And if you don't like the result, then, well, do it differently next time - there are about a million different things you can do to make beer, and finding out what works for you and what you like takes some time and experimentation.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone , to pitch it is .
As soon as I found this site and Did a some research I knew I moved it to soon but in my defense I was following the directions in the kit.
This is a great place to hang around and I am learning a lot .

And trust me I know what you are talking about with the LHBS guy being out of touch . I have had the same dealings with the local reef house or the local gun store owners not knowing all they should know and accidentally leading customers astray

but in my defense I was following the directions in the kit.

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Kit directions are notoriously bad and many people have been lead astray. I remember one set that had dancing elves on it and wasn't much more than: "Dump everything in a bucket. Bottle when it stops foaming."

On another note: Muntons yeast is a low-attenuation yeast developed for canned malt + sugar kits. Of the yeasts your LHBS has, I'd go with Nottingham.

Siphon it off the sediment into your bucket add enough water to get to 5 gallons and I am sure it will be close enough to the final gravity. Just go ahead and bottle or keg at this point. The combination of not enough water and moving it way too soon caused this. I am sure the beer is fine now. No need to spend more money and a couple more weeks time. The beer will be fine.

Just chalk it up to bad advice and start working on the next batch from a homebrew store that gives better instructions.

Forrest

Austinhomebrew said:

Siphon it off the sediment into your bucket add enough water to get to 5 gallons and I am sure it will be close enough to the final gravity. Just go ahead and bottle or keg at this point. The combination of not enough water and moving it way too soon caused this. I am sure the beer is fine now. No need to spend more money and a couple more weeks time. The beer will be fine.

Just chalk it up to bad advice and start working on the next batch from a homebrew store that gives better instructions.

Forrest

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I agree. The new (complete) information from HI_SALENITY changes my vote.