beginner needs advice plz

im new on here and i have a question. i believe i racked to a secondary too soon. this is my first batch and i was a little too excited. in hindsight i dont think i even need a secondary...im making a dunleweizen from a kit...my og was 1.052....my fina fg should be somewhere around .013...im stuck around. .020...the temps been a steady 70 deg...what should i do...the reading hasnt dropped for 4 or 5 days. the taste is nice and hoppy (i tripled the hops) and slightly sweet and malty...id like a little more abv....

Let it age/condition/finnish in the secondary, there is still plenty of yeast in your beer to finnish it out, they will eat the fermentable sugar, That being said, how long it was in primary ?, also you might have quite a bit of un-fermentable sugars in your brew depending on brewing temps, grains, recipe, how much yeast you pitched, ect.

We need all of your brewing information to help you figure out why your beer hasn't finished, it could be for lots of different reasons or several combined.

I know this isn't the answer you were looking for but without all the information needed its just a best guess.

Cheers

Im not home but i can post specifics later. Would pitching more yeast hurt anything if it turned out to be unesesary?

IMO, pitching more yeast, unless it's a very high gravity beer, doesn't prove to be useful. I've had very good success at pitching normal amounts. The yeast will grow and take care of themselves. THey've been doing it for millions of years and they're very good at it.

So is there a way i can jump start the existing yeast. I tried to shake the carboy gently swirling the brew and raise the temp a little...didnt do much

Being an all extract beer kit it may very well be done. There are plenty of threads regarding the "dreaded" 1.020. The various reasons for this are yeast health, starter or no starter, proper aeration of the wort, pitch temps and ferment temps as well as your concern that you removed the beer from the yeast cake too soon.

If you roused the yeast and warmed the vessel a bit and there was still no change then most likely the beer is done. IF it hasn't been that long since you did that there is the possibility it may drop some more but might take a while since you removed from the yeast earlier then you should have, if at all. Yes, there are still yeast left but they are the least flocculant of the cells and will work quite slowly.

IME, re-pitching additional yeast is a waste of time. If the beer tastes fine then chalk it up and learn for the next batch

Heres my main fear. If my fermentation is stuck will that affect the carbonation process?

wouldn't worry about it

this obsession is incredibly forgiving; as long as you keep up the sanitation, the magical little beasties will laugh at your silly mistakes and keep on making beer.

you can do 999 things wrong that you think will ruin your batch and you will still make beer. Seems like you have to actively TRY to destroy your beer for it to go bad

punkrockbrew said:

im new on here and i have a question. i believe i racked to a secondary too soon. this is my first batch and i was a little too excited. in hindsight i dont think i even need a secondary...im making a dunleweizen from a kit...my og was 1.052....my fina fg should be somewhere around .013...im stuck around. .020...the temps been a steady 70 deg...what should i do...the reading hasnt dropped for 4 or 5 days. the taste is nice and hoppy (i tripled the hops) and slightly sweet and malty...id like a little more abv....

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You could add some simple sugar like honey or dextrose or even table sugar if you really wanted more abv that's if the remaining yeasties are strong enough to finish the job (I would guess that they would be). I guess it depends on if it is currently TOO sweet and malty or if you like the balance right now? Carbing it up in the end shouldn't be an issue.

So i bottled my batch today was only able to get down to 0.018....i did a little science expiriment when i was done...there was a few ounces of beer leftover in the bottom or the carboy sittn on top of the trub i poured a good bit of sugar on it shook it up and sealed it just to see what happens

punkrockbrew said:

So i bottled my batch today was only able to get down to 0.018....i did a little science expiriment when i was done...there was a few ounces of beer leftover in the bottom or the carboy sittn on top of the trub i poured a good bit of sugar on it shook it up and sealed it just to see what happens

Click to expand...

What will happen is the yeast will consume and ferment that sugar. The yeast didn't die, they just finished the first job and now you presented them a second job. What are you experimenting?

Well they didnt really finish the first job i could get the gravity as low as i wanted. I just wanted to see how strong the sludge at the bottom would get..this was my first batch i used a kit. I think next time i wanna do a recipe...imperial ipa perhaps

Uhoh just realized something...i used the priming sugar that came with the kit...it was premeasured for 5 galons i asume but i only had 4gallons. I hope my bottles dont explode

There are priming calculators online, you generally don't use the entire amount a kit provides.

What kind of adverse effects are possible? my fermentation was complete and I didn't hit my FG if that makes any difference

punkrockbrew said:

What kind of adverse effects are possible? my fermentation was complete and I didn't hit my FG if that makes any difference

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Negligible, you are not way off of your target fg.

Tested some out. Its definatley carbonating. The taste is ok but not as expected. Seems like it will be better once a little more mature/done carbonating ? The taste changes a little right or doi have my final beer?

punkrockbrew said:

Tested some out. Its definatley carbonating. The taste is ok but not as expected. Seems like it will be better once a little more mature/done carbonating ? The taste changes a little right or doi have my final beer?

Click to expand...

Taste will change and it will carb up with time. Put the bottles in a warm room around 70 and leave them alone for 2-3 weeks. Then put one in the fridge for a few hours and enjoy.

Wow its only been 6 days. Brew is carbonated. Taste has matured some but maybe will some more...thanx to anyone who gave advice on my first batch. Next i want to do a black ipa