Issues with yeast.....

[cgentile01]

I recently brewed a rose hip ale from Austin home brew and I think I moved from primary to secondary to early. I gave it a week in primary and now a little over 2weeks in secondary but I am still getting a gravity reading of 1.030. Do you guys think that transferring to early caused my yeast to stop working? Also is it possible to add more yeast and save my brew? Please help me....thanks!

 

[rambler]

It could be but it's doubtful. How about some more info like recipe,sg,target fg and process?

 

[SD-SLIM]

Hello...most of us have ran in to this issue at some point and stopped using a secondary. As a general rule of thumb I leave my ales in my primary for 3 weeks..2 weeks to ferment and 1 week to condition.
Here is a great online reference for fermenting questions: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-2-3.html

I would re-pitch for another week to two weeks, and hopefully it will be ok.

 

[marc06]

As a general rule, always use your hydrometer to make sure you beer has reached its terminal gravity. Once it has done, check again in three days and if its holding steady then, if your so inclined, you can move the beer to a secondary. With that high of a fg gravity, there are no problems with pitching more yeast.

 

[ryandlf]

Are you using a hydrometer or a refractometer? If its the latter it could be because using a refractometer post-fermentation will show off results because the alcohol messes with the sight. You can either use a hydrometer or a calculator online to determine the "real" FG.

But ya, one week could easily have been too early. If you used a hydrometer I would go ahead and pitch another vial into the secondary and leave it for another 2 weeks.

 

[bruin_ale]

IMO, I think it's less about the transfer to secondary as it is about how you treated the yeast before that..
What type of yeast? If it was a liquid did you make a starter? did you aerate your wort?
Fermentation temps?

Racking to secondary may be deemed unnecessary, but I don't think it necessarily kills your attenuation. Most of my beers are at FG before a week is up anyways... now if we were talking about diacetyl or something, then yes - taking it off the yeast cake too early can cause that.

 

[cgentile01]

Hello everyone,

I am using a hydrometer and right after brewing the gravity reading was around 1.060. I also added the alcohol boost from austin homebrew. The kit says the final gravity should be 1.013. I just took a gravity reading a few minutes ago and it was a little over 1.020. I used liquid yeast without a starter but airlock activity started within 6 hours of pitching the yeast and it was going like crazy for about 4 days strait. I think even before the alcohol boost this is supost to be a pretty high alcohol beer. Also a day after i racked to secondary there was a big ring of foam at the top of the carboy, it literally looked like carbonation. Holy crap i hope i can save this beer.

 

[ryandlf]

Your first post said you took a gravity reading of 1.030 and now 6 hours later your down to 1.020? Sounds to me like its moving right along, what exactly is the issue again?

 

[cgentile01]

no i acually had the 1.030 reading 3 days ago. and i was cold outa the fridge i ferment in so i dont know if that effected it

 

[cgentile01]

and it has been at 1.020 for the past 2, sorry for not being clear

 

[cgentile01]

and i guess the issue is the gravity didnt change for over a week and i would assume it was around 1.020 most of the time

 

[Revvy]

When you rack to a secondary BEFORE fermentation is complete, as you obviously did, this is what often happens. You get a stuck fermentation from taking it off the yeast best suited to finish the job.

If you choose to use a secondary, you should wait until fermentation is complete, by taking two grav readings over three days.

Yeast don't know how to read recipes/instructions/calendars, so expecting them to be done on some arbitrary date like 1 week is idiotic. Especially if the yeast had a NORMAL lag time of 72 hours, as often happens, you're only giving the yeast 4 days to finish the job.

I recommend to folks that they take their first grav reading on day 10 or 12 and again two days later, if the grav is the same, then rack away.

Otherwise this is what happens...

 

[cgentile01]

thanks i am very new to this, only second brew. I work at a brewery and they told me to do 1 week primary and one week secondary....last time i listen to them! I figured thats what happened with the yeast. so if i do add more yeast will they finish up the leftover sugars?

 

[bruin_ale]

also, you massively underpitched as I was pointing out in my post. Probably your brewery friends told you 1 week because that's about how long an average beer takes to ferment if you pitch the proper amount of yeast. Can you get away with pitching just the vial? Sure.. sometimes it'll ferment out all the way, sometimes not. Also, you're stressing the yeast so they have to work a bit harder - this can cause off-flavors. Anyways, I don't expect you'll have all this down by your second brew - in fact, my third beer was a belgian wit - I brewed 10 gallons and if I recall correctly I may have taken a vial of liquid yeast and poured half of it in each! Haha, if I could go back in time I'd have to kick my own ass for doing that - but the beer turned out awesome anyways.

 

[DrawTap88]

no i acually had the 1.030 reading 3 days ago. and i was cold outa the fridge i ferment in so i dont know if that effected it

The hydrometer gives it's best readings right around 60F, so if you're coming right out of the fridge the temp of the beer could throw off the reading.

 

[cgentile01]

so i went to the brewery and got a mason jar of their yeast they use and pitched it....within a few hours i saw activity just minor activity...nothing like the first time around so i assume it is because there isnt a ton of sugars left to ferment. so what next? should i take a gravity reading in a week, 2 weeks? im gonna skip the secondary and just leave it in the primary a little longer. also will putting it in the mini fridge for 48 hours before kegging help clear it up?

 

[cgentile01]

p.s. thanks for all your help

 

[mhenry41h]

I've likewise gone to the 3 week minimum primary. If I secondary, it's for dryhopping and additions OR to get a low flocculating yeast to drop out.

 

[mhenry41h]

You beer will be fine if your only mistake was taking it off the yeast cake too early. You seriously reduced your yeast count by racking and now it will just take longer to finish. RDWHAHB!

 

[SD-SLIM]

so i went to the brewery and got a mason jar of their yeast they use and pitched it....within a few hours i saw activity just minor activity...nothing like the first time around so i assume it is because there isnt a ton of sugars left to ferment. so what next? should i take a gravity reading in a week, 2 weeks? im gonna skip the secondary and just leave it in the primary a little longer. also will putting it in the mini fridge for 48 hours before kegging help clear it up?

All newbies have fondling problems...so leave it for two weeks, take a gravity reading and if all is good bottle/keg! I hope it turns out well!