Brown ale done already?

[newfiebrew]

So I brewed a 1.070 brown ale and pitched some rehydrated danstar Windsor dry yeast and fermentation started in about 12 hrs. The fermentation was rapid and a 2 inch krausen formed so I was content with that and thought everything was going great.however this only lasted for 48hrs(brewed weds everything stopped by sat morning)or so and now there is nothing not even any airlock activity?? Is it done or stuck?

I'm pretty new and never had everything go from rapid to nothing so quickly.

Should I be concerned and pitch more yeast or is Windsor really that fast? Fermentation temps were kept at 65 deg using ice packs in a water bath.

Thanks

Jamie.

 

[castillo556]

Well.. there is one surefire way to find out, and it involves a hydrometer...



I wouldn't take a gravity reading quite yet. Lack of airlock activity does not equal no yeast activity. Might just be the first two days the yeast were going crazy and now they are eating away at a more methodical pace. I would wait 7 days at least before I took a gravity reading.

Relax and have a homebrew

 

[bhanson]

Windsor is known to be fast, yes. But that's a fairly big beer. To get any insight into whether the fermentation is stuck, your best bet is to take a gravity reading daily for about three days to see if it is changing. As long as the gravity keeps dropping, the yeast isn't done. If the gravity is static and you haven't approached your expected terminal gravity, you might have a problem.

 

[newfiebrew]

I just checked the water temp around my fermenter and it's only 57 deg !

Maybe I cooled too much and made the yeast go dormant...should I remove the ice packs? The sticky carboy thermo reads 65 though.

 

[flars]

The three days of very active fermentation have set the the flavors in your beer. The yeast will now slowly finish. You can remove the ice bottles to let the beer slowly warm to ambient temperature, but not over 72°F to 73°F. This will help the yeast finish dropping the final gravity points over the next week to week and a half.

Leave the fermentor in the water to prevent temperature swings.

 

[castillo556]

The temp inside the fermentor is likely going to be a bit higher than water surrounding it.

 

[newfiebrew]

Thanks guys, I was debating on ordering a pkg of Nottingham yeast just in case I do need too rep itch but shipping is brutal even for just a single package of yeast. I'll just wait and see what happens and take a gravity in a week or so.

Thanks.

 

[flars]

Pick up extra dry yeast when you do place another order to avoid the shipping costs. Shelf life for dry yeast is two years, longer if refrigerated. Life may be extended by freezing for most dry yeasts.
http://www.danstaryeast.com/articles/freezing-dry-yeast
http://www.danstaryeast.com/articles/freezing-yeast

 

[newfiebrew]

So could the fact that this recipie used a lot of Carmel and chocolate malt mean there was less ferment able sugar available and thus a faster ferment?

 

[flars]

With or without the unfermentables would not make a noticeable difference in the fermentation time. Windsor just has a very active initial fermentation. The unfermentables will have an effect on SG. The finished SG may be a couple of points higher than the same recipe without the unfermentable sugars.

 

[brewbama]

I did a Brown Ale with Windsor recently as well. The fermentation started fast -- within just a few hours, lasted a few days and stopped dead. I checked several days apart with two hydrometers and got the same readings. It stopped high at 1.020 but I guess English Ales are malty so I chalked it up to the yeast strain and put it on gas.


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[castillo556]

Thanks guys, I was debating on ordering a pkg of Nottingham yeast just in case I do need too rep itch but shipping is brutal even for just a single package of yeast. I'll just wait and see what happens and take a gravity in a week or so.

Thanks.

Sounds like you need to start looking into yeast harvesting and storing.

Why buy yeast when you can continue to reuse it?

 

[newfiebrew]

Ok all is good...just checked the gravity and its at 1.022. Went from 1.070 to 1.022 so that's about 6.5 ABV.

 

[metanoia]

It seems to be characteristic of these English strains to work fast and finish high. I used WLP005 on Saturday for the first time, and my curious self wanted some extra insight into how fast the yeasties work. In 48 hours my brown was down from 1.062 to 1.020. Couldn't be happier!

 

[PIGMAN]

So I brewed a 1.070 brown ale and pitched some rehydrated danstar Windsor dry yeast and fermentation started in about 12 hrs. The fermentation was rapid and a 2 inch krausen formed so I was content with that and thought everything was going great.however this only lasted for 48hrs(brewed weds everything stopped by sat morning)or so and now there is nothing not even any airlock activity?? Is it done or stuck?

I'm pretty new and never had everything go from rapid to nothing so quickly.

Should I be concerned and pitch more yeast or is Windsor really that fast? Fermentation temps were kept at 65 deg using ice packs in a water bath.

Thanks

Jamie.

Windsor yeast finishes high by design. I'll bet your ale is fine.