Light ale stalled at 1.025 78F... re-pitch?

[150kwh]

Fire away folks! I'm sure I did at least one naughty thing. Which one is naughtiest?

"==>" means "mistake?"


Day 1
Thomas Coopers Pilsner LME kit + 1lb Munton's DME + ==>1 cup local honey
OG 1.034
6.5 gal carboy, vigorous swirling to aerate
1 packet Munton's active brewing yeast ==>(~4g of 6g packet)*
==>78F

Day 2 - krausen, 6-7 bubbles/min. 75-80F, nominal 78F

Day 3 morning
Color is much lighter
No krausen, some residue on side of carboy
1 bubble every min or so. 75-80F, nominal 78F

Day 3 night (now)
Some "head" on surface, didn't notice bubbler maybe 0.5/min. 78F
==>Rack to 5 gal
SG 1.025



Yes, I should have waited, primary = good, and I should have measured the SG first.... (lesson learned!) I figured primary was done, being warm and since it's a weak beer to begin with.

*pitch details: I wanted to give the packet instructions a try, to hydrate before pitching instead of just dry pitching. Boiled 1/3 cup water, let it cool to 38C or so, pitched but didn't stir 10 min, then dumped in. Correction, attempted to dump: my 1 cup measuring cup and ended up pouring a lot of it on the inside of the 6.5 gal carboy. Swirled it best I could to try and reclaim it. A significant portion of that slurry remains in the measuring cup, which I never washed. It dried up.

Why use the Munton's yeast at all?? Coopers provided yeast with the can. The instructions went on and on about lagers being colder temperature. I figured it was a lager packet. The serial number ends with a P. The night after putting it together I checked the interweb tubes and apparently they only have one kind of yeast packet, which does a bit of everything. The only markings on the white packet are: "THOMAS COOPERS YEAST 7g NET" + his photo/logo on the front, "Coopers Brewery Ltd. 461 South Road REGENCY PARK, S.A. 5010 www.coopers.com.au" + a laser printed "32512P" serial number on back.

So anyway I still have yeast. Any harm chucking it into the 5 gal? I was expecting this to get close to 1.005

Thanks!

 

[150kwh]

OK, possibly adding to the list..

I was about to clean up when I realized... oh. My primary is still right here. Racking it back now.

... So how dumb was that?

 

[hunter_le five]

I see no reason to think it has "stalled" after only 3 days and one SG reading. Let it ride.

 

[Northbanu]

OK, possibly adding to the list..

I was about to clean up when I realized... oh. My primary is still right here. Racking it back now.

... So how dumb was that?

I'm not sure what that means. Racking what to where? Did I miss something?

Either way, pitch the yeast or don't, it doesn't matter. But I'm with Hunter, there is no reason to think it has stalled.

*EDIT Not that it doesn't matter, I mean it wont hurt.

 

[Hello]

Well if you racked to secondary and left it then I'd say pitch more yeast. But did you actually rack to secondary then back to primary over the yeast you originally pitched? Stop it. 3 days is too soon to do anything. Anything includes: panic, rack to any other vessel, pitch more yeast, rack back to other vessels.

Let the yeast do their job. What's the beer in now? You will oxidize the beer if you keep racking. If it's sitting back in primary then do not rack to secondary again. Never with again with this batch. May as well toss some more yeast in there.

78 is too warm. Yeast can be slightly stressed. What's the yeast say? What's the temperature range for fermentation? Know your yeast.

Stop playing with your poor beer. Patience goes a long way in brewing. Good luck.

 

[BigFloyd]

Well if you racked to secondary and left it then I'd say pitch more yeast. But did you actually rack to secondary then back to primary over the yeast you originally pitched? Stop it. 3 days is too soon to do anything. Anything includes: panic, rack to any other vessel, pitch more yeast, rack back to other vessels.

Let the yeast do their job. What's the beer in now? You will oxidize the beer if you keep racking. If it's sitting back in primary then do not rack to secondary again. Never with again with this batch. May as well toss some more yeast in there.

78 is too warm. Yeast can be slightly stressed. What's the yeast say? What's the temperature range for fermentation? Know your yeast.

Stop playing with your poor beer. Patience goes a long way in brewing. Good luck.

+1. A sure fire way to ruin a batch is to keep messing with it like that.

Brewing 101- Pitch enough viable yeast, maintain it at the right temp (yes, 78 is too warm) and leave it the heck alone in the dark for 2-3 weeks.

 

[jfk69]

Doubt it's done at three days. I'd wait at least another week before taking a hydrometer reading. Oh, and 78 is much too high of a ferment temperature for "most" beers. I would try to keep your ales in the 64-68 degree range.

 

[150kwh]

78 is too warm. Yeast can be slightly stressed. What's the yeast say? What's the temperature range for fermentation? Know your yeast.

Stop playing with your poor beer. Patience goes a long way in brewing. Good luck.

Panic! Counseling!--not only do I need a fermentation cooler, I need a shrink to deal with my guilt. ... I'm going to yeast hell.... and talking yeast?? I'm new, still learning yeast language!--Are they screaming in agony?? ... Woe is me, Yeast hell, here I come!

Situation I'm facing is whether or not to toss it and try again. It is sitting on the original primary cake, still at 78F. If we--and I'm using the royal we here--casually ignore the whole panic post (and of course also ignore the premature 1 hr trip to Secondary Land), we can't ignore that it's been at 78F for four days. ...It is not a saison yeast, the pack reads "61-70" like most beginner yeast.

Do I risk certain death by riding this out? ... I fear I'm creating a monster.

...

Same question, reworded: Is it worse to change temp now, or is it worse to ride out at a constant 78F?


PS To be serious, thanks for the help folks. I feel dumb, but I also won't make this mistake again. .. .. hooray for progress

 

[hunter_le five]

To be honest, after 4 days at that temp, the damage has been done I think.

Yeast will actually thrive quite well at that temp, however, they are also producing a lot of off-flavors more than likely. You will probably end of with an estery beer tasting of fusel alcohols. Certain death? No, but drinking a lot of it might give you a pretty bad headache.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

Yeast was probably a bit old, and that temp is a problem.


Unfortunately, to be honest, I would taste it... then shake my head and toss the batch. Lesson learned.

Trying to Frankenstein it will only make it worse, plus that time could be spent brewing something delicious.

 

[150kwh]

Thanks .. yeah I'll start over. Will give it a taste before dumping..

..a taste of my own medicine? (Doesn't make too much sense, but maybe it'll help me repent for my yeast sins )