stalled ferment?

howdy
total noob here but ive learned a ton from this site by searching
kinda ran into a prollem with this batch (edme devilishly strong red ale) started with a gravity of .043 on the 17th and had stopped bubbling by the 21st
gave it a day and then got a final of .020 and it held till today. now using the 1/4 to 1/5 rule shouldnt it be more around 1.010.we tasted it today and it isnt sweet

guess my question is should we add more sugars? more yeast? or just bottle it and letter rip

since there is no sweetness to the beer im guessing there wasnt enough sugars to begin with

Any ideas will help

thanks

Sanitize a spoon and stir it once or twice to get the yeast back into suspension. Re-check the gravity tomorrow to see if it drops.

If it doesn't then you should pitch more yeast.

it should get down further...that's only 53% attenuation. did the temperature change suddenly and significantly? what temp is it at? you may wish to give it a swirl to get the yeast back in suspension and back to work! it should probably be at most 1.016.

it's also possible you had a bad original reading. was it mixed properly? 1.043 is not devishly strong if that measure is correct then the beer would be under 5% ABV. What were the ingredients?

Also, here's a couple formulas i use:

Alcohol Content: (OG - FG) * 1.3125
Attenuation: (OG-FG) / (OG-1)

I'm a N00b to but what I getting from your post is that your brew has dropped 23 points on 4 days and now you ready to add something to it or even bottle it?

Don't do that.. Do as homebrewer_99 says but I would wait 3 or 4 days before adding more yeast.
What yeast did you use? What is the temp?

I just had my stout start frmenting a 2nd time (14 days after I brewed it). I freaked out like you are and I pitched more yeast. Then a week later I moved the carboy off the floor an onto a shelf. Taking it off the cold floor and onto the shelf woke it up and off it went. Airlock bubbled like mad for 4 days.

hey thanks for the quick replies

we stirred it a few hours ago but didnt see any bubbling

the temp has been kinda stable (72 -78 F)

as far as ingredients go it was a can of extract plus 450 grams of corn sugar and 450 grams of dme

they didnt give a starting gravity to shoot for like some of the other kits ive used
but looking at our notes its alot less than the last two batches that weve done

thanks again

At those temps you should not be having any problems.

You are right in saying your FG should be about 10 or 11.

That OG is probably pretty accurate then. i'd try to swirl and get it going again and pitch more yeast if necessary. you may wish to look into cooling your fermentation as well. 72 is probably good, but 78 is far too high.

EDIT: HB99...quit posting while i'm typing!

dubT said:

hey thanks for the quick replies

we stirred it a few hours ago but didnt see any bubbling

the temp has been kinda stable (72 -78 F)

as far as ingredients go it was a can of extract plus 450 grams of corn sugar and 450 grams of dme

they didnt give a starting gravity to shoot for like some of the other kits ive used
but looking at our notes its alot less than the last two batches that weve done

thanks again

Click to expand...

Putting one can of Muttons light LME (3.3lbs), 450 grams of corn sugar and 450 grams of Muttons light dme into my promash (I'm new to it) it says that you should have a OG of 1.043.. And from what you say, that's what you got. So I "guess" depending on the yeast you used you may be there or may not be. I have no idea. But I would think that you have a some more to go.

DeathBrewer said:

EDIT: HB99...quit posting while i'm typing!

Click to expand...

Yeah, that goes for you to...

yeah, looking back at your post, it's only been fermenting for 4 days. give it at least a week.

EDIT: YOU DID IT AGAIN!!!!

alright
gonna agitate and wait should i have to add more yeast any recomendations on the amount? ive got about 6 grams of dry yeast left

thanks

dubT said:

alright
gonna agitate and wait should i have to add more yeast any recomendations on the amount? ive got about 6 grams of dry yeast left

thanks

Click to expand...

You never told us what yeast or how much..

We are using a pack of the supplied dry yeast (approx 6 gms)
the kit was an Edme brand kit that was called Devilishly Strong Red Ale.

Did you happen to use Laaglanders DME?

ooh... *shudder*

DeathBrewer said:

yeah, looking back at your post, it's only been fermenting for 4 days. give it at least a week.

EDIT: YOU DID IT AGAIN!!!!

Click to expand...

I understood 4 days also that's why I recommended stirring it up a bit.

(I can type using all 7 fingers... )

All the sugar and DME we have used has been JD Carlson.

dubT said:

All the sugar and DME we have used has been JD Carlson.

Click to expand...

I think you mean LD Carlson. Was it a kit (brewers best) from them?

All my brews have been from them ( I get them at dealers cost) and I have had one that had the Muntons bottom end yeast and that brew has been a pain in my arse the whole time. The others have used the Nottingham dry yeast and that has worked very well for me so far.
What did the yeast packet say on it?

It was a EDME brand Devilishly Strong Ale and the supplied yeast pack was unlabled. After adding 1/2 a pack of Munton's dry brewer's yeast and waiting a week the gravity has dropped into the range we were looking for and has a bubbly froth on top. Will the extra yeast or long ferment time(2-3 weeks) affect it?