Gents, I really am slow and can't seem to tackle this fermentation hurdle I keep running into. I have brewed both Extract and All Grain brews and cannot get my beer to ferment down to the correct final gravity. https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/images/smilies/mad.gif
All brew sizes are 5 to 5.5 gallons
They all stall out around 1.02 or 1.018 and my latest is stuck around 1.024.
I've learned something on each beer, but I'm tired of learning and want to skip to getting it right so I need some advice from the pros.
1st beer (APA) (partial mash) that stalled I learned I didn't pitch enough yeast. (OG 1.065 FG 1.020)
All beers since I've used a stir plate and use mrmalty and beersmith to get correct starter sizes (I even up that a bit to make sure I have enough yeast)
2nd beer (IPA) (All Grain) brewed and again ended at 1.020. Realized, pouring wort through strainer and shaking the crap out of it to aerate wasn't going to do the trick. (OG 1.068 FG 1.020)
3rd beer (Heff - EdWort's Bavarian) (All Grain) This time I used pure O2 with stainless steel diffusor for two min to add air. Two minutes at just enough to see bubbles at the top. That had to be way too little time because my freaking heff didn't even ferment out. (SG 1.045 FG 1.020)
4th beer (Imperial Stout - BigBen's IrishDeath Clone) (All Grain) This time I aerated by running beer through strainer then shaking the crap out of it for 3 min. Then I aerated with pure O2 for 4 minutes. Thinking I'm good right? Used WLP 004 with 2L starter. (SG 1.075)
This is where it gets interesting. Was cleaning up and instead of hooking up the blow off tube right away I just put the airlock on and started clean up (it was a 6.5 gal carboy). After cleanup I sat on the couch then went to bed forgetting about the beer. Oops. Wife complained all night of hissing noise, but I couldn't hear and didn't think anything of it. About mid day the next day the airlock blew off, which of course hit the ceiling, walls, and white carpet with black beer and pissed off SWMBO. There was a lot of scrubbing to clean that one up.
Anyway, I thought for sure this one would hit its mark, but I measured the gravity (hydrometer) and this one is only at a 1.024, supposed to be 1.018. WTF!?@?!?!?
All beer was fermented in a room where the ambient temperature ranged from 64-70. Is there something obvious I am doing wrong? Should I be fermenting the beer in the first few days at a lower temp to account for the yeast heating the beer up?
My next things to try:
1. Even though I believe I am hitting my correct water ph and characteristics I was thinking of starting my next with RO water and build to guarantee I am perfect.
2. use dry yeast since I've only ever used liquid WLP.
I need some help, I love this hobby and don't want to give up, but I'm getting a bit discouraged. I appreciate all the advice and sorry for the long post.
All brew sizes are 5 to 5.5 gallons
They all stall out around 1.02 or 1.018 and my latest is stuck around 1.024.
I've learned something on each beer, but I'm tired of learning and want to skip to getting it right so I need some advice from the pros.
1st beer (APA) (partial mash) that stalled I learned I didn't pitch enough yeast. (OG 1.065 FG 1.020)
All beers since I've used a stir plate and use mrmalty and beersmith to get correct starter sizes (I even up that a bit to make sure I have enough yeast)
2nd beer (IPA) (All Grain) brewed and again ended at 1.020. Realized, pouring wort through strainer and shaking the crap out of it to aerate wasn't going to do the trick. (OG 1.068 FG 1.020)
3rd beer (Heff - EdWort's Bavarian) (All Grain) This time I used pure O2 with stainless steel diffusor for two min to add air. Two minutes at just enough to see bubbles at the top. That had to be way too little time because my freaking heff didn't even ferment out. (SG 1.045 FG 1.020)
4th beer (Imperial Stout - BigBen's IrishDeath Clone) (All Grain) This time I aerated by running beer through strainer then shaking the crap out of it for 3 min. Then I aerated with pure O2 for 4 minutes. Thinking I'm good right? Used WLP 004 with 2L starter. (SG 1.075)
This is where it gets interesting. Was cleaning up and instead of hooking up the blow off tube right away I just put the airlock on and started clean up (it was a 6.5 gal carboy). After cleanup I sat on the couch then went to bed forgetting about the beer. Oops. Wife complained all night of hissing noise, but I couldn't hear and didn't think anything of it. About mid day the next day the airlock blew off, which of course hit the ceiling, walls, and white carpet with black beer and pissed off SWMBO. There was a lot of scrubbing to clean that one up.
Anyway, I thought for sure this one would hit its mark, but I measured the gravity (hydrometer) and this one is only at a 1.024, supposed to be 1.018. WTF!?@?!?!?
All beer was fermented in a room where the ambient temperature ranged from 64-70. Is there something obvious I am doing wrong? Should I be fermenting the beer in the first few days at a lower temp to account for the yeast heating the beer up?
My next things to try:
1. Even though I believe I am hitting my correct water ph and characteristics I was thinking of starting my next with RO water and build to guarantee I am perfect.
2. use dry yeast since I've only ever used liquid WLP.
I need some help, I love this hobby and don't want to give up, but I'm getting a bit discouraged. I appreciate all the advice and sorry for the long post.