Brewing a brown ale

[lwald]

I got my brown ale in the fermentor and its Been in there for a week. I used so4. And the air lock is done but the fg is @1.040 i need it a lot lower I warmed it up to 70 and shook the crap out of it and nothing so I add 1 more pack of so4 and shook it + I add yeast Nutrient. Now what do I do
Now what Nnnnnnnnnnnnn.

 

[lwald]

I got my brown ale in the fermentor and its Been in there for a week. I used so4. And the air lock is done but the fg is @1.040 i need it a lot lower I warmed it up to 70 and shook the crap out of it and nothing so I add 1 more pack of so4 and shook it + I add yeast Nutrient. Now what do I do
Now what

 

[duboman]

Extract or AG batch?

Are you taking a reading using a hydrometer or refractometer? If using a refractometer take another reading with a hydrometer as even with proper conversion refractometers do not provide very reliable readings post fermentation.

If your hydrometer calibrated and are you correcting for temperature?

 

[lwald]

All grain and I am using a Refractometer

Ok all do that

 

[duboman]

All grain and I am using a Refractometer

Ok all do that

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised

 

[JLem]

All grain and I am using a Refractometer

Ok all do that

Refractometers are not accurate once alcohol is produced - alcohol has a different coefficient of refraction than wort. There are calculators out there to help correct the readings, but even these don't quite give you a correct answer. Easier to just use a hydrometer for FG. Save the refractometer for OG and other brew-day data (like pre-boil gravity, etc).

 

[lwald]

Well I just checked it it @ 1.030 with the Hydrometer what should I do next if it doesn't drop. Thanks for all help

 

[duboman]

Time to dig deeper....

Was this extract or AG?
Post a recipe and if AG then also mash temp

I've never used SO4 so am only going off what I read through but if I remember correctly many people report issues with this strain and it seems to take longer to finish.......someone correct me if I'm no on target here...

Either way that's pretty high still and a recipe and process would help. Also, how did you aerate and was the yeast fresh and rehydrated.

 

[Demus]

If it's only at 1.030 what makes you so sure it's finished? Warm it up a few degrees and have patience. I've had plenty of beers with no bubbles and a clear surface drop another .005 over 10 days or so. Chucking in another dried yeast pack is unlikely to help at all...

 

[lwald]

Yeah I don't know what happen.
I mashed @152f for 2 hr ( i had to run and get a new tank) and batch sparged @170f and boiled for 60 min. Og was 1.050 and and shook the **** out of it then pitch so4. It fermented for 7 days and want drop past 1.030 whit a hydrometer and warmed it to 70 f and pitch new so4 still nothing so I'm going to just dry hop to so it's not so sweet and see what happen. Thank fit the help if u got sum thing to add let me know I'm going to bottle it in a few days thanks

 

[kh54s10]

It might be fermenting still and just not producing enough co2 to bubble the airlock, or you may have an leak allowing it to escape. You should wait for another week or three before deciding on bottling. Especially since it has such a high gravity.

 

[lwald]

I know it's not done but I tried a lot of stuff. I mashed at 152 for a hr and batch sparged at 172 I even put I yeast nutrient at 10 min left in the boil I'm going to dry hop to balance out the sweetness out

 

[Demus]

Has it dropped any more gravity points? Underattenuation usually results from under aeration or under pitching. Dry yeast usually has plenty of yeast cells so that leaves underaeration as the likely culprit. How did you aerate?