IPA stuck at 1.020

I have an IPA that has been fermenting for almost three weeks now and seems to be stuck at 1.020. I have tried raising the temperature which appears to have kicked the yeast back into action, as the airlock resumed bubbling, but the SG is still remaining the same.

This seems to be a continual problem for me as my other batches tend to have the same problem.

here are my brewing notes:

7th august: boiled two lots of 10L water, transferred to buckets and put in fridge to cool

9th august. dissolved munitions gold LME in about 5L of boiling water from the jug, mixed in thoroughly and then topper up with refrigerated boiled water to 23L. continued to mix and aerate thoroughly for about 5 minutes. Temp was about 12 degrees. Transferred to fermentation chamber and set the temp controller for 19.5 degrees to bring the wort up to pitching temperature.

took an SG reading of around 1.042 before pitching yeast directly to wort once the temp sensor was reading 18.5. stirred a little, and splashed a bit for a little more aeration. by the time I had finished the sensor was reading 17.5 due to the fridge door being open (I assume).

20th August. SG was 1.020 adjusted the temp to 20.5*C

21st August: adjusted temp to 21.5*C

24th august: swapped off of heat pad with other batch.
raised temp to 23*C

26th august Took sg reading. still at 1.020 which it has been at for a while despite renewed bubbling in the airlock

 

It might just be done. The additional airlock activity could have just been from dissolved CO2 coming out of solution. As the beer warms, the CO2 solubility goes down and so it off-gases.

I haven't run into it myself, but I've heard of the "1.020 curse" with extract batches before. Hopefully someone who has more experience with this issue can chime in, but what I can say is this: If you've been at the same gravity for almost a week, it is at its terminal gravity and probably time to think about packaging it.

 

Your OG is low for a IPA.

http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style14.php

What yeast strain are you using?

Ive never had a stuck fermentation but I have read that raising the temp is the first option and/or some gentle shaking to awaken the yeast. But since you have already raised the temperature with little results you are probably stuck with the 1.020. I would suggest a starter next time.

 

The IPA has been heated a few degrees for a while now, and would have got a bit of a shake with all the moving about.

It was a muntons gold pack, which is supposed to have had good reviews, and has a high quality yeast included in the package (I do not know what it is)

If the beer is finished then that means it will have an ABV of about 2%
man that is a bit of a blow for a $50 kit

I am thinking maybe I could improve my aeration in the future, and will definitely think about doing a starter in the future, although the instructions, and advice from on here has suggested that sprinkling dry yeast straight to must should work ok.

 

I would also second what BrewWNC says about your original gravity. Your FG is only marginally out, the problem in this instance is your OG which is way out.

 

Whether or not the OG is "within style" is irrelevant. Neither the kit nor the yeast care. If you only add enough sugars to bring the OG up to 1.042, your beer should typically ferment lower than 1.020 regardless of the style you tried to hit.

I looked up the kit, and it says it's supposed to be 4.9% ABV (if I'm reading correctly, the image i saw was a little fuzzy, but it's under 5% either way). I think the 1.042 is not very far off, but probably a little under what the OG actually was due to adding top-off water and not getting it mixed thoroughly - this is very common in extract brews as it is very hard to get the water and wort to mix completely.

OP: Did you add anything extra to the kit that didn't come with it? Additional sugar or anything? If not, it looks like the OG should have come in at 1.050, and if you hit your volumes and added the right amount of corn sugar and extract, you can rest assured your gravity was within a couple points.

Again, I come back to what I've read several times in the past, which is that sometimes extract brews just stop at 1.020. If it's done, it's done. Bottle it up and move on to the next batch.

 

I did not add anything extra to the kit. I just used the two malt extract cans that came with the kit.

I hit the volumes pretty spot on, but did not add any corn sugar.
Are you suggesting that I got a false OG reading due to not mixing properly?

I thought I mixed quite well, but perhaps I am underestimating exactly how much mixing these things need!

I did also have a hoegaarden clone that came in under the expected OG, which I thought could be due to spillage, but it was suggested to me that it could be from insufficient mixing.

Sounds like it might just be time to bottle her up eh?

 

Well that kit is supposed to have a AVB of 4.5% and a OG of 1.040. I don't know what calculation Muntons are using but to achive that AVB you would need a FG of 1.006. That's an attenuation of 85%, which I think is unrealistic. I just made a IPA with a OG of 1.063 and US-05 and my final gravity after 7 days was 1.014 at which piont all A/L activity has stopped. It might have dropped a few points since but its not going to shift much.

As the link that BrewWNC posted shows IPA typically have a FG between 1.010 and 1.020, so 1.020 isn't out of the range your'll expect. Even if you went for a much more optimistic FG of 1.010 you'll only have a AVB of 3.94% at a OG of 1.040.

OP I would leave it a little longer as this will benifit the beer in regards of maturation, then I would bottle.

 

I'm sorry, but I have to respectfully disagree with a lot of the advice you gave here.

1.020 is way out of the range you would expect with a 1.040 OG. Again, the yeast don't care about style. 50% attenuation is not supposed to happen no matter what the style is.

OP: is this the kit? http://store.homebrewheaven.com/muntons-gold-ipa-kit-p541.aspx

That kit should have an OG of 1.050. See here: http://paddybubbles.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/muntons-gold-ipa-kit/

The calculation Muntons is using is 1.050 OG and 70% apparent attenuation, resulting in FG of 1.015 and abv of 4.5%. The math works.

The fact that it stopped at 1.020 means it actually stopped at 63% apparent attenuation. Not a good show. Again, I say, the yeast know nothing of style and don't care about whether they put on a good show. They eat sugar until they stop eating sugar. This isn't about style. It's about the fact that some extract kits just crap out at 1.020.

References to 1.020 issue:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/stuck-fermentation-1-020-a-315209/
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/dunkelwiezen-my-fg-stuck-1-020-please-help-417880/
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/1-020-curse-63896/

Lots of people have had this issue with extracts.

This is an IPA that has been in the fermenter for 3 weeks and it is at its terminal gravity. Bottle it up. You want to drink these fresh. Long maturation in the primary will only allow the hop flavor and aroma that you are looking for to lose potency.

 

I'm not saying a FG of 1.020 is optimal, its not. I am also not suggesting that is this related to specifically to the OG, it may well as you point out be a function of the kit.

However the first link you provide states a OG of 1.041. Likewise these links says the same
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/muntons-gold-india-pale-ale-3kg.html
http://www.homebrewwest.ie/muntons-gold-india-pale-ale-3-kg-425-p.asp
http://www.home-brew-online.com/beer-kits-c1/muntons-c2/gold-ipa-india-pale-ale-kit-p114

So I think its safe to say the 'troops tipple' is ment to have a OG of around the 1.041 mark

The second link claims an est FG of 1.014 and an actual FG of 1.016. I found another blog that claimed an FG of 1.011. But in both instances they were making the 'officer' version.

 

Looking at it now the 4.5% is the officer brew. If we assume a OG of 1.041 and a final gravity of 1.016 you would get AVB of 3.3%. Which is the troops brew.

 

I see the 1041 degree thing on the first page now, missed that before, and you are absolutely correct about the target abv of 4.5% being for the Higher Reserve version - which would clock in at 1.050 (but that's a moot point here )
My point was simply that you stated earlier the OP's problem was that his OG was way out of style and his FG was only partially out of style. That is not the problem. The problem is underattenuation due to the extract not being fermentable past 1.020 and that this is a common problem with extracts. The batch is done and should be bottled. That was all I wanted to get across.

 

This^^. And the fact that it was an extract with top up. The wort was probably not mixed well and thus an inaccurate OG.

I think this beer will be just fine.

 

if you're using dry yeast, rehydrate it before pitching. you get much better vitality from a rehydration.

according to my favorite yeast expert, Jamil Z, about half the cells die when pitched directly on top of the wort. this might explain, in part, your high FG - you might not have had enough live cells to finish fermentation.

your kit instructions don't mention rehydration because they're trying to keep things as simple as possible. they are afraid of scaring people off with complicated steps like adding the yeast to warm water before adding to the wort (inset eye-roll here).

 

o.k that fine, I agree with that.

 

FWIW, I've had the 1.020 stick before. In my case it turned to be insufficient o2. I oxygenated for only 20sec. The next time I did it for 90sec. It broke the curse. Your results may vary.

 

I have started oxygenating by pouring through a sieve. Seems to have worked well.
The first time i trued it on a wheat beer fermentation was fierce, finished within a couple of days and the FG was 1.014 (target was 1.013)

FYI, the muntons gold box states that the upper ranks reserve should be 6% abv, and the troops tipple should be 4.5% abv

Also, I bottled yesterday using 130grams of dextrose for priming.