Did the yeast stop?

[bondybrew]

Did the yeast stop?
We're brewing an english bitter.

We pitched the yeast friday afternoon and it stopped (bubbles stopped/no noticeable activity) yesterday or today.

Should we re-pitch yeast?

I'm wondering if this could be due to temperature fluctuations. We put it in a small bathroom by the garage door...so if the bathroom door is open than it can get cold air.

We did a biab all-grain method with following this sort of method, except we did it on the propane grill burner https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/

We only did 3 gallons, I used brew target to scale the recipe.


Pale Malt (2 Row) US Grain 4.020 lb Yes No 79% 2 L
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L Grain 4.020 oz Yes No 74% 60 L
Cara-Pils/Dextrine Grain 4.800 oz Yes No 72% 2 L

Hops
Yakima Golding 4.5% 1.000 oz Boil 1.000 hr Pellet
Golding 4.5% 0.500 oz Boil 15.000 min Pellet

Irish Moss Fining Boil 1.000 tsp 10.000 min

Safale S-04 Ale Dry 0.388 oz Primary

 

[ehedge20]

Is the krausen still on top, or tiny bubbles all over the surface? I would shake it up a bit and rouse the yeast first. How vast are the temperature differences?

 

[bondybrew]

Yes krausen or cakey substance on the bottom.

I think there are tiny bubbles on the top.

The temp changes could possibly be 10-20 degrees. He had the heat on in that bathroom at times/its been about 50 degrees and colder at night, with ppl coming in and out that door.

 

[ehedge20]

You can not rely on the airlock for active fermentation. If there are still little bubbles in it then I would say you are okay. I would move to a more temp friendly location however and your fermentation should start up again. Pitching more yeast does not hurt anything, just a pain if you have to go get it.

 

[malkore]

1. don't rely on airlock
2. DO NOT SHAKE IT!
3. get a hydrometer...its the ONLY way to test beer.
4. if you only pitched 3 days ago you still have 5 days before you should mess with it...period. even then, you should just leave it alone in primary 3-4 weeks, then bottle it.

 

[jsweet]

Where's Revvy?

+1 to malkore. The only thing I would add is that it's not at all out of the question that the yeast could be done with the attenuation phase aleady -- especially with S-04 as the yeast, which is generally a fast fermenter. This may all be perfectly normal. As malkore said, though, leave it alone for now either way, and get a hydrometer reading.

 

[Becks]

A repost from something similiar a while back
"Here's a little story for you, hope it puts some fears aside.
I brewed a batch last week monday. Threw some yeast fuel in there, pitched and stored the wort around 0100. Next day comes, I check in the afternoon, no airlock activity. Odd but no worries, my last batch was bubbling furiously by this point but I figure different yeast different times etc. Let it ride.
Check the next night (Wed), still nothing. Start to get a little bit worried, hit up HBT chat some fermentation threads. Still under 72 hours...so let it ride.
Thurs comes and still nothing. Cue the bit of a freak out. Dump it? Repitch? Sacrifice a goat to the beer gods? Just for good measure I shake up the bucket to aerate the wort and hope to jumpstart what may be a lagging yeast.
Come home Thurs night, still nothing. Screw it I say, pop off my airlock, draw some wort out to check the gravity after all of 3 days.
Starting Gravity 1.044. Gravity when I checked? 1.012. AHS recommends an FG of 1.010.
Well color me surprised. No airlock activity, 3 days in the primary and already almost to the FG.
You may have a leak and the CO2 is escaping or it may just not be bubbling.
Moral of the story; CHECK THE GRAVITY!
RDWHAHB "

 

[ACbrewer]

+1 Malkore and Becks

OP- the yeast has probably done most of the fermentation (sugar to alcohol) but it has other work to do, so let it do it. It is possible after 48-72 hours for most of the fermenentation to complete, and now for 3 weeks is 'yeast clean up' A Hydrometer test is the only way to tell if it is done converting.

 

[kanddr]

As others have said, just let the yeast do their job for at least another week or two before you take a gravity reading then wait for 3 more days to take another reading. I would move it to a more stable temperature controlled room though so the yeast will be less stressed and produce a better tasting beer.

Report back what the final gravity readings are so we can compare to your original reading.

 

[zachary80]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was done, but it's better to leave it anyway. I just bottled my Big Honkin' Stout. Sometime between 2 and 6 weeks it dropped from 1.032 to 1.022 with no visible activity