replacement
Member
So this is my first homebrew, Brewers Best RIS, but I've done a ton of reading up, and being something of a chemistry nerd I approached it as a science and took good care following instructions.
I started @ OG of 1.080, pitched 2 packs of properly rehydrated Safale S04. Temp was on the low side in the 55-60F range in my basement. but a temp sticker on the bucket read low to mid 60's and it was bubbling away after 24hrs, for a good day or 2. But after about 4 days when the airlock was really dead I moved it upstairs to 65F+ ambient just to be safe.
After 16 days in the primary I was ready to check it and possibly go to secondary with oak cubes for a couple months, but it's at 1.030 and tastes too sweet (but great other than that!)... should get down to 1.017-1.020. I know I need to leave it at least another week and check to see if it's made any progress, but the combination of low starting temp, maybe a lacking aeration (just shook the bucket for a couple mins but maybe should have done more?), and a quick drop-off in airlock activity early on leads me to think the yeast might be done. I'll update with where it stands next weekend, but to plan ahead thinking it will still be at 1.030 what should I plan on doing if its still there? (want to minimize times opening this thing up for O2 exposure and possible contamination, so if I should have some extra yeast on hand I'll probably pick it up ahead of time)... added a poll of some options I found most common.
Worst case I'll let it sit up to a month to be sure it's done and then just roll with it as-is.
I started @ OG of 1.080, pitched 2 packs of properly rehydrated Safale S04. Temp was on the low side in the 55-60F range in my basement. but a temp sticker on the bucket read low to mid 60's and it was bubbling away after 24hrs, for a good day or 2. But after about 4 days when the airlock was really dead I moved it upstairs to 65F+ ambient just to be safe.
After 16 days in the primary I was ready to check it and possibly go to secondary with oak cubes for a couple months, but it's at 1.030 and tastes too sweet (but great other than that!)... should get down to 1.017-1.020. I know I need to leave it at least another week and check to see if it's made any progress, but the combination of low starting temp, maybe a lacking aeration (just shook the bucket for a couple mins but maybe should have done more?), and a quick drop-off in airlock activity early on leads me to think the yeast might be done. I'll update with where it stands next weekend, but to plan ahead thinking it will still be at 1.030 what should I plan on doing if its still there? (want to minimize times opening this thing up for O2 exposure and possible contamination, so if I should have some extra yeast on hand I'll probably pick it up ahead of time)... added a poll of some options I found most common.
Worst case I'll let it sit up to a month to be sure it's done and then just roll with it as-is.