Fermentation seems to have nearly stopped after 7 days?

[lorne17]

Hello there,

I’m fermenting a Bourbon Barre Porter right now and I’m still in primary in my fastferment fermentation container. It was very aggressive a few hours after I pitched the yeast for a few days. Now it’s almost stopped. A lot slower than my beers in the past. Is this expected? Or should I be concerned there may be an air leak in my fast ferment?

Thanks,
Lorne

 

[day_trippr]

Air leak or no, I've found with a proper pitch and temperature in the yeast's happy place pretty much any ale recipe will have fermented to its FG in seven days - actually, closer to 5.

Do a hydro test...

Cheers!

 

[lorne17]

Air leak or no, I've found with a proper pitch and temperature in the yeast's happy place pretty much any ale recipe will have fermented to its FG in seven days - actually, closer to 5.

Do a hydro test...

Cheers!

Ok cool. I’ll check where we are either a hydro test.

By the way, different question and maybe I need a new thread for this. How do you determine the expected final gravity when most recipes don’t even give this info in their recipe?

 

[rkhanso]

I'm not sure about how to calculate final gravity - other than to plug the recipe in some software (I use Brew Target), which gives you an expected final gravity. I suspect any software or online calculator will give you an expected final gravity number.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

Generally speaking, if you follow proper pitching guidelines , you can expect primary fermentation to complete in 7 or less days ...and full terminal fermentation in 14.

The main factor that effects finish gravity is mash temp ...a beer mashed at 148 will usually finish much lower that a beer mashed at 158 ...the grain bill also has an effect as well. Porters (American) have a SG range of 1.012-1.018 so that's not too heavy if you consider the mid point is 1.015. It should be fine in 14.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]How do you determine the expected final gravity when most recipes don’t even give this info in their recipe?

Recipe calculators will get you in the ball park.
I use BeerSmith. It's prediction will correlate well if fed accurate data and if the actual brew process follows convention...

Cheers!

 

[PKnotlost]

You need to know the sugars that were made depending on your mash temperatures. Your MT will make both Fermentable and non-fermentable sugars. Good programs can help, but your hydrometer and taste can be be pretty good as brewing is part art.

 

[ESBrewer]

As I understand, each wort is somewhat difference and the only ways to know when it is ready are
A)measure gravity now and a couple of days later, if same it has finished
B)perform a fast ferment test with this wort to see how far it can ultimately go in terms of gravity.

 

[ancientmariner52]

A comment, stop now if you like, I won't mind.

I've noticed that folks here rarely refer to books. A few good brewing books would answer 95% of questions I see here, heck, there's great thick books on just water, just malt, etc.

The books go into great detail, giving the why of things, not just doing the math for you and spitting out a answer with no explaining.

Not complaining, not criticizing. Just an observation.