Red Ale stuck at 1.040

[takeluk]

I've had a Red Ale in the fermenting bucket for 2 weeks now. I've taken a couple hydrometer readings and they have both showed 1.040. It seems to be done fermenting. Any ideas of what's happening, or what I can do?

The last brew I did was a Milk Stout that stopped fermenting at 1.029, which seemed high. I didn't worry too much about it, since it had lactose in it. But now I'm starting to wonder if there's something I'm doing wrong, or if my LHBS is giving me bad extract, or what the cause might be.

Details:

6 lb Light DME
0.5 lb CaraAroma
0.5 lb Melanoidin
0.5 lb Crystal 60
2 oz Roasted Barley

1 oz Centennial @ 60 min
1 oz Cascade @ 5 min

Sprinkled 1 pack of US-05 into primary (haven't had any problems doing this in the past).

My house stays at 68 degrees.

OG: 1.060
after 2 weeks: 1.040

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Yes something is off. You beer should have hit Final gravity a long time ago and FG is nowhere near 1.040. Sprinkling on the top is fine with s05. What temp was your wort when you sprinkled the yeast on?

 

[jtratcliff]

I've heard that extract batches can hit a 1.020 wall and not go lower but 1.040 seems high...

Is your hydrometer calibrated properly? And you're testing with your sample at the calibration temperature?

Can you move it somewhere warmer... even though 68F isn't really that cold...

I'd be worried about bottle bombs if you tried to bottle it at 1.040...

Maybe pitch another packet of yeast that's been rehydrated first?

 

[takeluk]

I've heard that extract batches can hit a 1.020 wall and not go lower but 1.040 seems high...

Is your hydrometer calibrated properly? And you're testing with your sample at the calibration temperature?

Can you move it somewhere warmer... even though 68F isn't really that cold...

I'd be worried about bottle bombs if you tried to bottle it at 1.040...

Maybe pitch another packet of yeast that's been rehydrated first?

I have an immersion cooler and cooled the wort down to around 70 before pitching the yeast. I also checked my hydrometer with water and it seems to be working properly.

I'll try pitching another packet of yeast and giving it a stir, hopefully I get some action, there's a lot of fermentation that still needs to be done! I definitely won't bottle at 1.040, not only because of bottle bombs but also because it doesn't taste very good right now.

Should I use the same yeast or try a different one?

 

[jtratcliff]

S-05 should be fine... Make sure the packet is not too out of date and try rehydrating before pitching...

You want the most yeast you can get and I think I've read that directly sprinkling can kill up to half of them from the initial shock, where as rehydrating gives the wee besties their best shot...

 

[takeluk]

I rehydrated and pitched in another packet of yeast. After about 24 hours I hadn't seen any activity yet, so I gave the bucket a good shake and a few swirls, and since then it's been bubbling every 8-10 seconds. So at least there is something happening.

I hope splashing the beer around at this point won't give it too many off flavours, but I'm pretty desperate to get something going.

I'm wondering now if maybe I didn't oxygenate the wort enough initially, and that's why the yeast didn't do it's job very well. I don't know. Next brew I will splash it around a lot more before pitching the yeast.

 

[jtratcliff]

Whew, activity... Congrats.

The O2 shouldn't be too big of deal, since you have active fermentation again... Yeast need oxygen...

Supposedly, dry yeast doesn't need the same oxygenation. I guess oxygen reserves are built in some how in the drying process.

I pour vigorously from my kettle to the bucket anyway...

 

[takeluk]

Well, after all that... still at 1.040. I'm bummed.

How could there have been activity and it's at the same gravity? I can't figure out what went wrong here. Must have been an infection of some kind, right? It doesn't look or smell infected, though.

Also, Brewtarget showed this would be a deep red colour, and it's not even close. So overall 0/10.

This is the first brew I've done that has failed completely.

 

[kristiismean]

First off, you did not fail at all.

It's totally possible that the people that made your DME messed up,

also, extract and red never really worked for me, never really worked for my friends, unless you totally disregard the directions and add the extract in at the end.

You also just learned that airlock activity is not an indication of fermentation. yes, it's nice to hear the bubbles going since it means it's doing something. but that's about all it's good for.

Add a pound of sugar and a pound of dme, it'll take off again (no, really don't, give it a few more days, same reading, bottle it up)

 

[LRS_Brewer]

.

 

[kh54s10]

I don't have an answer for the 1.040 but that color is good for a Red Ale. You are looking at it through a thin sample. In a glass it will be darker. You will never get a really "red" color it will have some brownish to it. You cannot judge a color by what a picture looks like on a computer. Go to Walmart and look at the TVs. They are all showing the same thing but can look very different.

 

[troglodytes]

Well, after all that... still at 1.040. I'm bummed.

How could there have been activity and it's at the same gravity? I can't figure out what went wrong here. Must have been an infection of some kind, right? It doesn't look or smell infected, though.

Also, Brewtarget showed this would be a deep red colour, and it's not even close. So overall 0/10.

This is the first brew I've done that has failed completely.

If it was extract, there's little to no chance you are the one who failed miserably. Like other's have said, getting the red color is tought with extract, so that's not not on you. And it will be redder in a glass.

One thing I can say is that I've had yeast crap out on me in a fermentor. I pitched a super healthy dose of Conan into 66F wort that was well oxygenated and it just stopped at 1.028 (which is very high for this yeast). No amount of temp increases or rousing changed that gravity so after a month, I finally bottled. I guess the introduction of oxygen, rousing during transfer or some other factor woke the little guys up and boy did it finish with a vengeance. Too bad only my basement floor got to enjoy that batch after they all exploded.

Perhaps as a last ditch effort you can transfer to a secondary (do not bottle at this point) and hope the act of transferring wakes the yeast. I generally don't suggest secondaries as I think they are unnecessary, but in this case, the off change of oxidation or infection is a minor price to pay over dangerous bottle bombs.

Oh, and rest assured you don't have an infection. Otherwise you would undoubtedly have the opposite issue of the beer finishing too dry. Generally infections slowly consume more sugar than yeast, often times, even the "unfermentables". If you had an infection the beer would be at a far lower gravity.

 

[takeluk]

I don't have an answer for the 1.040 but that color is good for a Red Ale. You are looking at it through a thin sample. In a glass it will be darker. You will never get a really "red" color it will have some brownish to it. You cannot judge a color by what a picture looks like on a computer. Go to Walmart and look at the TVs. They are all showing the same thing but can look very different.

Good point, I didn't think about how skinny the hydrometer tube is.

If it was extract, there's little to no chance you are the one who failed miserably. Like other's have said, getting the red color is tought with extract, so that's not not on you. And it will be redder in a glass.

One thing I can say is that I've had yeast crap out on me in a fermentor. I pitched a super healthy dose of Conan into 66F wort that was well oxygenated and it just stopped at 1.028 (which is very high for this yeast). No amount of temp increases or rousing changed that gravity so after a month, I finally bottled. I guess the introduction of oxygen, rousing during transfer or some other factor woke the little guys up and boy did it finish with a vengeance. Too bad only my basement floor got to enjoy that batch after they all exploded.

Perhaps as a last ditch effort you can transfer to a secondary (do not bottle at this point) and hope the act of transferring wakes the yeast. I generally don't suggest secondaries as I think they are unnecessary, but in this case, the off change of oxidation or infection is a minor price to pay over dangerous bottle bombs.

Oh, and rest assured you don't have an infection. Otherwise you would undoubtedly have the opposite issue of the beer finishing too dry. Generally infections slowly consume more sugar than yeast, often times, even the "unfermentables". If you had an infection the beer would be at a far lower gravity.

Good to know. I will transfer it into a secondary tonight, leave it for a bit and see if anything happens. At least it's something to try! Otherwise it's going down the drain.

It's definitely possible that the homebrew store gave me bad extract. I've only used their extract for two batches, and both of them finished too high. This one in particular.

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I suppose your shaking released the gas... Perhaps some yeast energizer would help, just don't overdo it.

 

[kh54s10]

Good point, I didn't think about how skinny the hydrometer tube is.



Good to know. I will transfer it into a secondary tonight, leave it for a bit and see if anything happens. At least it's something to try! Otherwise it's going down the drain.

It's definitely possible that the homebrew store gave me bad extract. I've only used their extract for two batches, and both of them finished too high. This one in particular.

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

I wouldn't do a secondary at all. It is unnecessary unless you are adding something that for some reason can not go directly into primary. Nothing will happen in a secondary that will not happen in the primary, in fact taking a large portion of yeast away will only make it more likely that it won't fall any more.

 

[whovous]

Try checking the gravity of water.

 

[takeluk]

I wouldn't do a secondary at all. It is unnecessary unless you are adding something that for some reason can not go directly into primary. Nothing will happen in a secondary that will not happen in the primary, in fact taking a large portion of yeast away will only make it more likely that it won't fall any more.

Too late. I dumped it really aggressively into another bucket, basically as an experiment. It was either that, or down the drain... so I might as well try something out and see what happens, right?

It had been stuck at 1.040 for about a month, so it definitely wasn't falling any more regardless.

There was a very thin yeast layer at the bottom of the primary. Very runny, I was almost able to just pour it out. I imagine that means there is still a lot of yeast floating around in the beer, especially since I pitched a second packet in there.

 

[kh54s10]

If you dumped it really aggressively into another bucket you probably severely oxidized it. A bucket is not a good vessel for a secondary - too much headspace and high risk of oxidation. I don't know the reason for the 1.040 gravity, but I think it is certainly a goner now....

 

[whovous]

Have you tried checking the gravity of water? You need to rule out instrument error here. I had a hydrometer that was about four points off. Granted, that would still leave you with a stuck ale.

 

[takeluk]

Final update: it was still at 1.040. It didn't budge, no matter what I did. I'm just going to assume it was bad extract.

5 gallons of Red Ale have now been dumped down the drain.

 

[ArcaneXor]

Pitching some WLP099 would have more than likely fixed it - it takes care of 95%+ of all stuck ferments.

"Bad extract" is almost unheard of. But if that were the reason (i.e. too many dextrins and not enough fermentable sugars), adding some powdered amylase to the fermentor may have done the trick.

 

[takeluk]

Pitching some WLP099 would have more than likely fixed it - it takes care of 95%+ of all stuck ferments.

Ah, wish i would've known that a few days ago.

I'll keep it in mind for next time.