Nokitchen
Well-Known Member
I'm currently making a Cascadian Dark Ale from a recipe in Zymurgy (extract). OG came in on the button at 1.064. Fermentation from a 2-liter starter of Wyeast 1318 London III went normally. But after a week airlock activity had stopped and gravity was stuck at 1.02 (goal: 1.011). So I figure stuck fermentation and repitch. Nothing. So just for fun I throw in some American Ale II I had lying around. Nothing.
But the wort tasted fine and it's wrong to throw away a beer that's not rancid. So I moved it to secondary to see what would happen (and to make my primary available for a new beer. ). After a couple of days a moldy-looking scum appeared on top. A visit to these forums convinced me that a) it was indeed probably mold and b) it probably wouldn't kill the beer. So I left it.
After a week in secondary, airlock activity has resumed. It's not going nuts but I'm getting a bloop every six seconds or so. I after a few days of that I take another gravity reading. 1.020.
What's happening to my beer? What made it restart and why isn't the gravity going down now that it has? The scum is mostly gone, BTW, and may have been yeast in any event? The wort still tastes good.
Obviously I'm not going to bottle an active beer -- I like my bottles and my carpet they way they are. If it stops and gravity is still high, should I risk bottling a beer that far above the target?
Thanks for any thoughts you might have.
But the wort tasted fine and it's wrong to throw away a beer that's not rancid. So I moved it to secondary to see what would happen (and to make my primary available for a new beer. ). After a couple of days a moldy-looking scum appeared on top. A visit to these forums convinced me that a) it was indeed probably mold and b) it probably wouldn't kill the beer. So I left it.
After a week in secondary, airlock activity has resumed. It's not going nuts but I'm getting a bloop every six seconds or so. I after a few days of that I take another gravity reading. 1.020.
What's happening to my beer? What made it restart and why isn't the gravity going down now that it has? The scum is mostly gone, BTW, and may have been yeast in any event? The wort still tastes good.
Obviously I'm not going to bottle an active beer -- I like my bottles and my carpet they way they are. If it stops and gravity is still high, should I risk bottling a beer that far above the target?
Thanks for any thoughts you might have.