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madrean

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Well, something has gone wrong as my first batch is stuck at 1.03 specific gravity.

I went too soon from primary to secondary (the CO2 generation had fallen off).

I tried adding more yeast (1 pack of nottingham tossed in, another pack warmed in water the next day).

Not much happened.

The only time I got activity was when I set the carboy into a warm water bath-- it started right up. Thinking I had re-jumped the yeast into action, I took it out and sent it back to it's cold room.

Now, it's just frozen at 1.03 (going on 8 days now). I'm getting one bubble in the airlock about every minute.

So my question is: do I let it keep going for another week and bottle it even if it's stuck at 1.03? Throw it away?


On a better note, my second batch seems to be doing GREAT! On day three and there's still a healthy stream of bubbles. Didn't peek this time!


Thanks so much guys for your input and help.
 
What is the room temp? Liquid or dry yeast? Give it some time, some just take longer and if your temp is < 68 or so it could take much more. You don't want to heat it up to speed it but between 68-74 typically is optimal. Higher creates flavor issues, too low creates slow ferments.

Oh yea, racking it to a secondary isn't going to affect your fermentation process; the active yeast is still suspended in the wort. I had a batch that took 5 weeks to finish and still was great.
 
I had a similar problem with an Irish Red Ale, where it stalled noticeably higher than the target FG. As others will likely tell you, there are several possible reasons. I think in my case it was insufficient oxygenation of the wort. I, too, added new, primed yeast and it did little.

Now that yours is fermenting, do NOT oxygenate. You can stir the beer, but do not shake or aerate in any way. If it still stalls, it's still most likely drinkable. Just chalk it up to experience and improve future batches.

Other possible reasons:
- temperature - is the fermenter consistently within the range of fermenting temperatures required by your yeast?
- yeast quality - doubtful that two yeast additions were both bad, but you never know

Other possibilities are noted here: http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-1.html
 
desertBrew said:
What is the room temp? Liquid or dry yeast? Give it some time, some just take longer and if your temp is < 68 or so it could take much more. You don't want to heat it up to speed it but between 68-74 typically is optimal. Higher creates flavor issues, too low creates slow ferments.

Oh yea, racking it to a secondary isn't going to affect your fermentation process; the active yeast is still suspended in the wort. I had a batch that took 5 weeks to finish and still was great.
Click to expand...

it's been fermenting around 68 or so.. I just don't get it. initially used white labs, then used dried nottingham during a rescue attempt.

the hygrometer is floating in the brew, and hasn't changed at all. stuck at 1.03.

if it never gets down to ~1.014, can i still bottle it?

what happens if i let it sit 2 more weeks? 2 more months??

i'm counting on this brew to be this year's christmas presents!!!
:drunk:
 
I'm guessing that you didn't do a starter with the white labs yeast.

I'm guessing that you didn't use oxygen to aeriate your wort.

I'm guessing that you didn't do a starter with the nottingham dry yeast.

I'm guessing that you didn't use a servomyces tablet.

It's really, really important to understand yeast to consistantly brew good beer. Remember, it's the yeast that converts your carefully prepared wort into the blissful drink we so enjoy. If you don't take care of your yeast, they won't take care of you.

There is volumes of info on this subject on this board within the last month, do a search and you will understand what happened.

1st, insuffecient pitch.

2nd insuffecient oxygen for full sucessful propigation of the yeast to suffecient cell level.

3rd, lack of oxygen, insuffecient nutrient resluted in unhealthy yeast that were not able to attentuate to completion.

4th, your nottingham yeast cells were added to a no oxygen enviornment and could not propigate at all.

I can only suggest one more thing to try. Do a 2 liter starter with a 1.040 wort and 1 servomyces tablet. Grow this till at full krausen, in about 24 hours and pitch it into your brew. You should see renewed fermentation. If not, you may have ended up with too much unfermentable sugars in your wort.

Did you have maltodextrine or lactose in there?

How much carapils did you use?
 
ScottT said:
I'm guessing that you didn't do a starter with the white labs yeast.

I'm guessing that you didn't use oxygen to aeriate your wort.

I'm guessing that you didn't do a starter with the nottingham dry yeast.

I'm guessing that you didn't use a servomyces tablet.

It's really, really important to understand yeast to consistantly brew good beer. Remember, it's the yeast that converts your carefully prepared wort into the blissful drink we so enjoy. If you don't take care of your yeast, they won't take care of you.

There is volumes of info on this subject on this board within the last month, do a search and you will understand what happened.

1st, insuffecient pitch.

2nd insuffecient oxygen for full sucessful propigation of the yeast to suffecient cell level.

3rd, lack of oxygen, insuffecient nutrient resluted in unhealthy yeast that were not able to attentuate to completion.

4th, your nottingham yeast cells were added to a no oxygen enviornment and could not propigate at all.

I can only suggest one more thing to try. Do a 2 liter starter with a 1.040 wort and 1 servomyces tablet. Grow this till at full krausen, in about 24 hours and pitch it into your brew. You should see renewed fermentation. If not, you may have ended up with too much unfermentable sugars in your wort.

Did you have maltodextrine or lactose in there?

How much carapils did you use?
Click to expand...


i think the biggie is that i didn't aerate when i pitched the white labs. thats a big difference with that batch and my second batch (which seems to be doing really well, at day 3..)

so i'm wondering based on yall's experience if i can still bottle even though the sugars are high?

will the bottles explode?

if it's not dangerous, i'll go through with it.

if anything, it will be practice for my second batch, which i think will turn out good...


thanks
 
madrean said:
so i'm wondering based on yall's experience if i can still bottle even though the sugars are high?

will the bottles explode?

if it's not dangerous, i'll go through with it.
Click to expand...
It seems to me with all the yeast you've thrown in there that if it was gonna go any lower it already would have, so you must have a lot of unfermentables in there. Personally, I'd go ahead and prime as usual and bottle...you'll probably end up with something a little on the sweet side.
 
I'll still say 8 days is not the norm but by no means is it a long time either. You're getting little burps out of the airlock which is good. Can you raise the temp at all to 72-74 or is that house temp (68). Heck, if you follow the normal pattern of 3-5 days in primary and two weeks in the secondary your still not 1/2 through the cycle. Let it sit. That one slow batch I was referring to started at 1.050; was at 1.024 at 2 weeks; 1.018 at 3. At 4 I was finally down to 1.010 and let it sit one more week before I bottled it. I thought I screwed up as well but in the end it was a great batch. So much so that same brew I made this Sat and is in my primary right now. (Curious if it'll take forever again).

I think I read that this was your first batch right? The hardest damn thing to do is have to wait longer than norm for your 1st homebrew; but at least you have another in the works ;)

Oh yea, what was your SG if you know?
 
Nottingham and most dry yeasts can propogate without aeration, though aeration definatley is best. It takes about 24 hrs for the yeast to get to it's anaerobic state. Adding a shot of yeast energiser may help.

Without aeration it takes longer for the yeast to propogate to sufficient levels.

Another thing, when you pitched the nottingham did you hydrate it first?

Which white labs yeast did you use?
 

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