I have been home brewing for a little over a year now but only recently been doing beers. My first couple beers went off without a hitch but my most recent batches are having issues. I did the process exactly how I've been doing my old beers but the only difference has been the yeast. I have been using a lager yeast instead of an ale yeast. My beers started out fine but within 48 hours of bubling it stops. I'm finding it very hard to believe the my beer is done brewing in the primary in only 3 days. So should I just wait to finish out the week in the primary than move it to secondary or what?!? Any insight is much appreciated
Why is my beer stopping so fast
- Thread starter BeauD
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WrQth
Well-Known Member
Nottingham ale yeast can be done in as little as 3 days but general 3 days is too quick. Since you are using lager yeast what was the pitching temperature and fermentation temperature? Do you have any time of fermentation temperature control?
Just because you have no airlock activity doesn't mean there is not something still going on inside. Typically most yeast converts 50-70% of the sugars in the first 72 hours, then it takes a bit longer to clean up the rest. I always wait until my krausen drops before I rack to the secondary (or just leave in primary for 2-3 weeks then rack to keg or bottling bucket).
Just remember that the airlock is not a good determiner of the activity. Take gravity readings, once you get stable readings 24 hours part and you get no off flavors (green apple is most common is young beers) then you are ready to keg or bottle.
Just remember that the airlock is not a good determiner of the activity. Take gravity readings, once you get stable readings 24 hours part and you get no off flavors (green apple is most common is young beers) then you are ready to keg or bottle.
Lager yeasts normally do best at about 50F. They will ferment faster at higher temperatures, but not necessarily for the better. Are you doing a California Common? If so you might get good results from some lager yeasts, if not you might or might not get something you would even want to drink.
Most likely some fermentation is still happening even after you no longer see activity.
How and why are you using the lager yeast? Which one and at what temperature?
Most likely some fermentation is still happening even after you no longer see activity.
How and why are you using the lager yeast? Which one and at what temperature?
flars
Well-Known Member
Take a SG reading about 10 days after the start of active fermentation. Take another a few days later to see if you are at FG. You could wait until the beer clears in the primary and skip the secondary. Time to bottling will probably be the same but without the work of racking to a secondary vessel.
With almost all of my beers, fermentation lasts up to 5 days but the vast majority is over by day 3. Warmer temperatures accelerate the fermentation process, but not for the better, and I've seen a very warm fermentation ferment out in less than 24 hours.
It's actually abnormal for a regular strength ale to NOT be done in 3-5 days. Generally, most regular beers will be at or near FG by about day 3. Keeping the beer in the fermenter longer allows for it to finish up, and for the beer to clear once the yeast is finished.
It's actually abnormal for a regular strength ale to NOT be done in 3-5 days. Generally, most regular beers will be at or near FG by about day 3. Keeping the beer in the fermenter longer allows for it to finish up, and for the beer to clear once the yeast is finished.
m1k3
Well-Known Member
Lower Gravity = faster fermentation
Warmer Temp = faster fermentation
Higher Pitching Rate = faster fermentation
O2 = faster fermentation (especially if the pitching rate was not high to begin with)
Yeast Nutrient = faster fermentation (especially if the pitching rate was not high to begin with)
I like to ferment cool for the first 3 days... then I can start ramping up the temp. When the yeast is dropping a the beer is getting bright, I give it a day or two more before cold crashing.
My beers are usually kegged in 11-14 days.
Warmer Temp = faster fermentation
Higher Pitching Rate = faster fermentation
O2 = faster fermentation (especially if the pitching rate was not high to begin with)
Yeast Nutrient = faster fermentation (especially if the pitching rate was not high to begin with)
I like to ferment cool for the first 3 days... then I can start ramping up the temp. When the yeast is dropping a the beer is getting bright, I give it a day or two more before cold crashing.
My beers are usually kegged in 11-14 days.
Michigan_Wolfman
Well-Known Member
+1 on what everyone said. I've had a few batches appear to finish after only 3 days, but I generally give it 7 days then take a gravity reading to be absolutely certain I won't be bottling potential bombs or gushers.
As the others have mentioned, your beer may not show activity after a couple days but it is still fermenting. There is no good reason to move most beers to secondary and some bad ones. Leave your beer where it is until it is ready to bottle, somewhere between day 10 and day 60. I like to leave my beers sit in primary longer than some because more yeast settles out and I don't get much in the bottle. Your choice so long as your hydrometer shows no difference in the gravity between 2 samples two days apart.
Thanks for the insight everyone! On day 10 I took first hydrometer reading then second the 12th and got the same result. So I bottled it and will give update on it. I tasted it before carbonation and so far tasted great! First Gravity was at 8% last reading was at 1% so a little stronger than my goal but not too bad.
stratslinger
Well-Known Member
Sounds like there are a couple things going on here:
You state that you used a lager yeast, then stated that it was a Safale strain. Fermentis labels all their ale yeasts as SafAle, lager yeasts as Saflager - and there are many strains of each. So you really need to know exactly which strain you're dealing with to know what to expect out of the yeast and the beer it made. If it's truly one of the Saflager strains, then you're fermenting WAY too warm and that could be why fermentation is going so quickly. If it's one of the SafAle strains, you may be a little warm still - which should speed fermentation but may throw some fruity off-flavors.
Secondly, it sounds like you may be reading your hydrometer incorrectly. In beer, ignore the % numbers on the hydrometer and read only the SG numbers. You should have a starting reading that looks like 1.046, or 1.062, or anything else along those lines. And your final reading should be somewhere in the neighborhood, depending on the yeast you used and your choice of fermentables, of 1.001 on up to 1.020 and beyond (for really big beers). You then do some simple math on those two numbers to figure out ABV (just google SG to ABV conversion and you should find a calculator or two).
You state that you used a lager yeast, then stated that it was a Safale strain. Fermentis labels all their ale yeasts as SafAle, lager yeasts as Saflager - and there are many strains of each. So you really need to know exactly which strain you're dealing with to know what to expect out of the yeast and the beer it made. If it's truly one of the Saflager strains, then you're fermenting WAY too warm and that could be why fermentation is going so quickly. If it's one of the SafAle strains, you may be a little warm still - which should speed fermentation but may throw some fruity off-flavors.
Secondly, it sounds like you may be reading your hydrometer incorrectly. In beer, ignore the % numbers on the hydrometer and read only the SG numbers. You should have a starting reading that looks like 1.046, or 1.062, or anything else along those lines. And your final reading should be somewhere in the neighborhood, depending on the yeast you used and your choice of fermentables, of 1.001 on up to 1.020 and beyond (for really big beers). You then do some simple math on those two numbers to figure out ABV (just google SG to ABV conversion and you should find a calculator or two).
worlddivides
Well-Known Member
+1 What Stratslinger said.
For reference, the ABV conversion is OG - FG * 131 = ABV
8% potential alcohol on my hydrometer would be between 1.060 and 1.070. 1% potential alcohol on my hydrometer would be between 1.009 and 1.018.
Which means, depending on what the original gravity and final gravity actually were, you could have something as low as 5.5% ABV or as high as 7.99% ABV.
If we assume you were exactly at the 8% and 1% markers, that would be something like this:
1.061 - 1.009 * 131 = 6.8% ABV
stratslinger
Well-Known Member
+1 What Stratslinger said.
For reference, the ABV conversion is OG - FG * 131 = ABV
8% potential alcohol on my hydrometer would be between 1.060 and 1.070. 1% potential alcohol on my hydrometer would be between 1.009 and 1.018.
Which means, depending on what the original gravity and final gravity actually were, you could have something as low as 5.5% ABV or as high as 7.99% ABV.
If we assume you were exactly at the 8% and 1% markers, that would be something like this:
1.061 - 1.009 * 131 = 6.8% ABV
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