Stand aghast on fermentation time

[komomos]

I bottled a dark ale 12 days ago. The starting gravity was 1.083. After 7 days gravity low to 1.043 (first 7 days bubbling was quite aggresive) That's OK. After 8 days it's 1.042. After 9 days it's 1.41,5.

Today I mean after 12 days gravity is 1.039 and bubbling is 2-3 per minute. Is there any problem about that? I thought gravity will low to 1.019 at end of the fermentation however fermentation speed slow down and seems never reach to even 1.030.

In your oppinion Is there any excesive unfermentable sugars in the carboy or just need time a month extra or 2 month?

PS: Mash temp. was not very high. I added extra high fructose corn syrup and it contains only monosaccharides and disaccharides I think.

 

[pabloj13]

I bottled a dark ale 12 days ago. The starting gravity was 1.083. After 7 days gravity low to 1.043 (first 7 days bubbling was quite aggresive) That's OK. After 8 days it's 1.042. After 9 days it's 1.41,5.

Today I mean after 12 days gravity is 1.039 and bubbling is 2-3 per minute. Is there any problem about that? I thought gravity will low to 1.019 at end of the fermentation however fermentation speed slow down and seems never reach to even 1.030.

In your oppinion Is there any excesive unfermentable sugars in the carboy or just need time a month extra or 2 month?

PS: Mash temp. was not very high. I added extra high fructose corn syrup and it contains only monosaccharides and disaccharides I think.

Are you using a refractometer or hydrometer?

 

[Alchemy]

What temp are you fermenting at and what yeast

 

[homebrewdad]

2-3 bubbles per minute, plus a gravity that continues to drop, says that it is still fermenting. Leave it alone for another two weeks or so, then check again.

 

[dawgmatic]

sounds like he already bottled it

 

[homebrewdad]

sounds like he already bottled it

If the OP bottled it with the gravity still that high and dropping, he needs to take precautions NOW or end up with bottle bombs.

 

[komomos]

No I'm not mad that. I didn't bottled.

Fermentation temp: 67 - 72 F
Yeast: Safale S-05

I use hydrometer but don't use refractometer.

 

[pabloj13]

No I'm not mad that. I didn't bottled.

Fermentation temp: 67 - 72 F
Yeast: Safale S-05

I use hydrometer but don't use refractometer.

Eesh. I was hoping this was another "not accounting for alcohol in the refractometer sample" post. But it's not.

 

[frazier]

Komomos, is this your home-malted barley? If so, please realize that this is something that few of us have any experience with. Your expectation of a FG may not be realistic.

Also, I'm not sure of the fermentability of fructose by beer yeast (you said high-fructose corn syrup). You might need to consider this as the first run of an experiment, with many more to come as you perfect your process.

I must say, I'm impressed by your efforts to brew without access to "normal" ingredients. Cheers!

 

[bighorn_brew]

With a gravity that high don't expect that brew to finish anytime soon, especially if you didn't take higher level measures (oxygenation, yeast nutrient, yeast starter, adding fermentables in staggered additions). What yeast did you use?
I recently made what had a potential alcohol by volume of 13% and ended up using staggered additions of fermentables, and 3 different quality yeasts, and 1 bottling yeast and it took somewhere in the neighborhood of almost 2 months to finish, I did ferment it at proximately 58 degrees though.
So,,, long story short, be patient.....

Edit: I see you used s05 yeast.

 

[barneygumble]

You are using your own ingredients? Wow! Impressive.

Patience! You are doing fine! Its got time to go yet. Dont peek for at least another week, then measure two days in a row. If they are the same, measure the next day. If not, wait another week and repeat.

That is a BIG beer and needed a lot of yeast. Did you make a starter? That looks like a 4L starter. Wait, you used dry. That needed 4 packs dry. 3 minimum. How many did you give it?

 

[YeastHerder]

I'm not sure of the fermentability of fructose by beer yeast

Just fyi, most yeast strains shouldn't have any problems consuming fructose, unless its been further modified somehow, in which case it isn't really fructose anymore.. but my understanding is that HFCS is simply corn sugar (glucose) where some of the glucose has been turned into fructose in an attempt to make it taste more like cane sugar (sucrose).

 

[komomos]

I don't know what malts I used. I cannot reach commercial brewing malts as you can. Only thing that I know is its 2-row and enzyme-active.

I roasted some malt. I kilned a little malt more at low tempereture and used rest of it as base malt.

I just wanted very effective mashing and I did. I added HFCS40 to boost ABV.

Despite I don't follow any recipe (already its imposible i couldn't find any commercial brewing malt ) when I scan recipe database of this forum I didn't see any recipe with 1.035 FG. So, There must be a problem with my brewing (in fact fermentation still lasts)

Today bubling slow down little more. Recent gravity is 1,035 btw.

Thanks for kind answers and compliments.
I didn't use outside of 1 dry yeast pack. Didn't make a yeast starter.

 

[kpr121]

Did you aerate the wort at all prior to fermentation? Yeast needs oxygen to reproduce. Although it is debatable whether dry yeast needs oxygen, you have a very big beer and it may have helped.

If the gravity is still dropping, then the yeast are still doing something. Give it some more time. Maybe swirl the carboy/bucket to get some of that yeast back into suspension, that sometimes helps.

Like others, I do not have experience with the particular types of grains you are using, so it may just be what it is.

What temperature did you mash at?

 

[komomos]

155-160 F mashing.


176 F for the sparge. Yes it still dropping even though very slow. Aggresive 38 point dropped in 6 days and, very slow 7 point in 7 days. Still bubbling 3-4 per minute.

 

[dawgmatic]

I second the comment that aeration, or lack thereof, might be the cause of your low attentuation

 

[kpr121]

155-160 F mashing.


176 F for the sparge. Yes it still dropping even though very slow. Aggresive 38 point dropped in 6 days and, very slow 7 point in 7 days. Still bubbling 3-4 per minute.

Just for your information 155 is generally considered on the high side of mash temperatures, 160 is hardly ever approached from what I’ve read/seen/done.

I think you just have a combination of many different factors that may be contributing to the slow ferment. Let this be a testament to how resilient yeast can be! “HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?”

 

[komomos]

I've being informed today the HFCS that I used is not fully convenient.
I mailed the firm and I reach the full ingredients of it.

%17 glucose
%16 Maltose
% 12 Maltotriose (Trisaccharide)
%55 High sugars (Tetrasaccharides)

F. U. Cargill!