CCrisfield
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- Jun 9, 2013
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Hi everyone,
I’m fairly new to brewing and I’m having some problems with stuck fermentations. I brewed 4 batches of beer this month and all of them seem to be stuck! I’m wondering if anyone has any ideas of what I can do to fix my problem. I have to move at the end of the month and I was hoping to have everything bottled before moving. I’m not sure if there is anything I can do to fix these before I move or if I’m going to have to toss everything.
I brewed a milk stout (my first all grain batch) that is currently stuck around 1.040 and I also brewed a triple batch of raspberry ale (extract) which I divided into 3 small carboys so I could do some experimenting. I added some Belgian yeast to one, did my usual recipe with another and diluted the third with some water to make a lighter beer. These 3 are stuck at 1.017-1.026.
Here are some more details. I hope it’s not too much but I just want to give the whole story:
Beers:
Raspberry ale (extract) using Golden Light LME and some specialty grains.
Boiled 11 gallons in keg (90 minutes), cooled to pitching temp (75F) and aerated well.
I then added 4 gallons to one carboy (OG 1.068) and pitched 1 vial WLP575 (Belgain style ale yeast blend) (should attenuate around 80% so should finish around 1.013) without a starter. I added 4 gallons (OG 1.068)to another carboy and pitched 11 grams (1 pack) of rehydrated Danstar Nottingham ale yeast (should also attenuate around 80% and finish around 1.013). Finally I added 3 gallons to the last carboy and diluted with another gallon of water giving an OG of 1.049 (should finish around 1.010). This carboy also got 1 pack of rehydrated Nottingham.
I went to bed after brewing and fermentation had started in all 3 carboys when I woke up the next morning. The Belgian yeast wasn’t too vigorous, but the krausen filled the 1 gallon headspace and moved into the airlock on the beer pitched with Nottingham.
These beers were allowed to ferment at around 64-72F for a week. Most of the airlock activity had stopped at this point. These were then transferred into secondaries which contained 2-3lbs of previously frozen raspberries (not washed or pasturzed). The 2 bigger beers were given raspberries that I picked and the lighter beer was given store bought frozen raspberries. The beer bubbled very slowly for a day or two before airlock activity stopped. SG was taken 1 week after transfer to secondary and it was at 1.027, 1.026 and 1.018 for the beer containing Belgain yeast, undiluted with Nottingham and diluted with Nottingham beers respectively.
At this point I assumed that the fermentation was stuck so I moved it to a warmer location (75F) and gently rocked the beer. I know this is a higher than ideal temperature but I was in a hurry to get this stuff bottled. The next day there was no airlock activity in any of the beers so I stirred all of the trub and settled yeast back into the beer and held the temperature constant at 75F. After another day I took a SG reading and none of the values had changed.
I then went to a new store (as I suspected that maybe the first store had some old yeast) and bought some more dry yeast. I sprinkled 1 pack of US-05 into the Belgian beer, 1 pack of Nottingham into the undiluted Nottingham beer, and 1 pack of US-05 into the diluted Nottingham beer (no rehydration). Additionally I added ¼ teaspoon of diammonium phosphate (yeast nutrient) and 4oz of dextrose to each carboy as I thought it might give the yeast some nutrients and simple sugars to get started.
After adding the yeast, sugar and nutrient, slow airlock activity resumed for a day or two. I then measured the SG after 3 days and it was still the same (or in the case of the diluted beer it had gone up a point)! I am starting to get frantic as I have to move in 4 days and with ~1 gallon of head space in each carboy I think they would get pretty aerated on the 2 hour drive to the new place. I could maybe leave the beers with a friend and deal with it later but that still involves moving the beer around a lot.
I am also having a similar problem with the milk stout I brewed (5 gal). I mashed for 90 minutes at 152F and added 1.1lb lactose. The OG was 1.072 and the current gravity is 1.040. Assuming 1.042ppg from lactose, lactose should be contributing approximately 9 points to the OG and FG (as it is unfermentable). I originally added 2 packs of US-05 and added another pack of Nottingham after 3 weeks when warming and stirring did not work (yeast was added at the same time I added yeast to the raspberry beer). It was originally fermented at 64-72F but has also recently been warmed to 75F to promote fermentation.
I’m wondering if the water could be lacking something the yeast needs (my water is very low in minerals here, basically RO water) or if I just need to pitch more healthy yeast or what.
I assume there is also some unfermentable sugars in the raspberries but surely there aren't that many.
I was thinking that maybe there was some pesticide or something on the raspberries that was killing the yeast but I used store bought raspberries on one batch and hand picked raspberries for the other two. This also doesn't account for why the milk stout isn't attenuating as expected.
I’m using a keggle that I just made and while I think I cleaned it fairly well could there be some chemical or something that got into the beer that is killing the yeast?
Would it be a bad idea to bottle these? I'm assuming that they are all too high but what about the diluted raspberry beer that is at 1.017?
Also, I have checked my hydrometer with another and it is calibrated correctly.
Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated, sorry for the very long post!
I’m fairly new to brewing and I’m having some problems with stuck fermentations. I brewed 4 batches of beer this month and all of them seem to be stuck! I’m wondering if anyone has any ideas of what I can do to fix my problem. I have to move at the end of the month and I was hoping to have everything bottled before moving. I’m not sure if there is anything I can do to fix these before I move or if I’m going to have to toss everything.
I brewed a milk stout (my first all grain batch) that is currently stuck around 1.040 and I also brewed a triple batch of raspberry ale (extract) which I divided into 3 small carboys so I could do some experimenting. I added some Belgian yeast to one, did my usual recipe with another and diluted the third with some water to make a lighter beer. These 3 are stuck at 1.017-1.026.
Here are some more details. I hope it’s not too much but I just want to give the whole story:
Beers:
Raspberry ale (extract) using Golden Light LME and some specialty grains.
Boiled 11 gallons in keg (90 minutes), cooled to pitching temp (75F) and aerated well.
I then added 4 gallons to one carboy (OG 1.068) and pitched 1 vial WLP575 (Belgain style ale yeast blend) (should attenuate around 80% so should finish around 1.013) without a starter. I added 4 gallons (OG 1.068)to another carboy and pitched 11 grams (1 pack) of rehydrated Danstar Nottingham ale yeast (should also attenuate around 80% and finish around 1.013). Finally I added 3 gallons to the last carboy and diluted with another gallon of water giving an OG of 1.049 (should finish around 1.010). This carboy also got 1 pack of rehydrated Nottingham.
I went to bed after brewing and fermentation had started in all 3 carboys when I woke up the next morning. The Belgian yeast wasn’t too vigorous, but the krausen filled the 1 gallon headspace and moved into the airlock on the beer pitched with Nottingham.
These beers were allowed to ferment at around 64-72F for a week. Most of the airlock activity had stopped at this point. These were then transferred into secondaries which contained 2-3lbs of previously frozen raspberries (not washed or pasturzed). The 2 bigger beers were given raspberries that I picked and the lighter beer was given store bought frozen raspberries. The beer bubbled very slowly for a day or two before airlock activity stopped. SG was taken 1 week after transfer to secondary and it was at 1.027, 1.026 and 1.018 for the beer containing Belgain yeast, undiluted with Nottingham and diluted with Nottingham beers respectively.
At this point I assumed that the fermentation was stuck so I moved it to a warmer location (75F) and gently rocked the beer. I know this is a higher than ideal temperature but I was in a hurry to get this stuff bottled. The next day there was no airlock activity in any of the beers so I stirred all of the trub and settled yeast back into the beer and held the temperature constant at 75F. After another day I took a SG reading and none of the values had changed.
I then went to a new store (as I suspected that maybe the first store had some old yeast) and bought some more dry yeast. I sprinkled 1 pack of US-05 into the Belgian beer, 1 pack of Nottingham into the undiluted Nottingham beer, and 1 pack of US-05 into the diluted Nottingham beer (no rehydration). Additionally I added ¼ teaspoon of diammonium phosphate (yeast nutrient) and 4oz of dextrose to each carboy as I thought it might give the yeast some nutrients and simple sugars to get started.
After adding the yeast, sugar and nutrient, slow airlock activity resumed for a day or two. I then measured the SG after 3 days and it was still the same (or in the case of the diluted beer it had gone up a point)! I am starting to get frantic as I have to move in 4 days and with ~1 gallon of head space in each carboy I think they would get pretty aerated on the 2 hour drive to the new place. I could maybe leave the beers with a friend and deal with it later but that still involves moving the beer around a lot.
I am also having a similar problem with the milk stout I brewed (5 gal). I mashed for 90 minutes at 152F and added 1.1lb lactose. The OG was 1.072 and the current gravity is 1.040. Assuming 1.042ppg from lactose, lactose should be contributing approximately 9 points to the OG and FG (as it is unfermentable). I originally added 2 packs of US-05 and added another pack of Nottingham after 3 weeks when warming and stirring did not work (yeast was added at the same time I added yeast to the raspberry beer). It was originally fermented at 64-72F but has also recently been warmed to 75F to promote fermentation.
I’m wondering if the water could be lacking something the yeast needs (my water is very low in minerals here, basically RO water) or if I just need to pitch more healthy yeast or what.
I assume there is also some unfermentable sugars in the raspberries but surely there aren't that many.
I was thinking that maybe there was some pesticide or something on the raspberries that was killing the yeast but I used store bought raspberries on one batch and hand picked raspberries for the other two. This also doesn't account for why the milk stout isn't attenuating as expected.
I’m using a keggle that I just made and while I think I cleaned it fairly well could there be some chemical or something that got into the beer that is killing the yeast?
Would it be a bad idea to bottle these? I'm assuming that they are all too high but what about the diluted raspberry beer that is at 1.017?
Also, I have checked my hydrometer with another and it is calibrated correctly.
Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated, sorry for the very long post!