1.020 Curse!

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bastinsarabia

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Total Noob here...seriously, it took me a long time to figure out what "RDWHAHB" stood for, but i have been having a little issue with my stuck fermentation. My OG was 1.050 which i took at 70 degrees. I used that BIAB method, and have let the beer ferment for two weeks. I used dry english ale yeast and due to living in southern california, the temperature range for fermentation was between 60-70. I checked it three days before the two weeks and the day i was planning on bottling, and the FG was stuck at 1.020 so i took the lid off, swirled the beer with a sanitized spoon, cleaned the bucket lid since it seemed to have condensation on it, put everything back on, and raised my temperature to 72 degrees. I also noticed that when i was checking the gravity, there were a lot of stuff floating around (yeast?) and also had a lot of stuff sink to the bottom. So, my two questions are:
1) How bad did i mess up?
and...
2) How long should i wait to bottle now?
Any advice would be awesome...
 
1) you really have to TRY to ruin beer to actually ruin it, so RDW

2) I'd let it settle for a couple days to a week and in the meantime RDW

reading a lot about extract batches sticking at 1.020, but yours was all-grain BIAB?

the question is: when taking the sample for the gravity measurement, HOW DID IT TASTE?

as long as it didn't taste like feet or ass, I'd say you made beer

congrats and 3 weeks after bottling, HAHB and enjoy it
 
your final gravity is going to depend on a bunch of things.

What temp did you mash at? Did you include any extract?

Post your recipe and we can take a look.

A FG of 1020 doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong with your beer. If the gravity stops at 1020 and stays there - then you might just be done with fermentation. If you get 1020 twice a couple of days apart you're ready to bottle.
 
your final gravity is going to depend on a bunch of things.

What temp did you mash at? Did you include any extract?

Post your recipe and we can take a look.

A FG of 1020 doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong with your beer. If the gravity stops at 1020 and stays there - then you might just be done with fermentation. If you get 1020 twice a couple of days apart you're ready to bottle.
 
Well i raised the temp to 165 and stirred all the grains into the kettle. Turned the tank off and the temperature seemed to stay around 155. It was all grain, no extract. After an hour, i raised the temp up to 170 for about 8 minutes and carried on as normal for the rest of the process.
 
4.25 lbs 2-row
1 lbs white wheat
.5 lbs flaked oats
cascade 6.2aa 1 ounce 60 min
cascade 6.2aa .50 ounce 20 min
cascade 6.2aa .2 ounce 5 min

started the boil with 4.5 gallons. ended with 3.5. no sparge.

i did taste the beer while taking a reading, and it definitely did not taste like feet or ass. Tasted like a wheat beer. super cloudy. i can see all the yeast floating. should i attach a mesh bag to the end of the siphon?
 
4.25 lbs 2-row
1 lbs white wheat
.5 lbs flaked oats
cascade 6.2aa 1 ounce 60 min
cascade 6.2aa .50 ounce 20 min
cascade 6.2aa .2 ounce 5 min

started the boil with 4.5 gallons. ended with 3.5. no sparge.

i did taste the beer while taking a reading, and it definitely did not taste like feet or ass. Tasted like a wheat beer. super cloudy. i can see all the yeast floating. should i attach a mesh bag to the end of the siphon?

sounds like a successful brew!:mug:

yeah, that's normal every day trub, probably wasn't necessary to stir it, but beer is pretty forgiving. so wait a couple days for all that to settle and it wouldn't hurt to use some mesh on the racking cane.
 
what's your grain bill? What style of beer you aiming for?

Getting a good thermometer is vital - "around 155" isn't really good enough. Changing mash temp from 150 to 154 has a big effect on final gravity and body of your finished product. If "about 155" was actually 160 then 1020 is actually lower than you might get on some fermentations for a FG.

155 is at the upper end of mash temp. The higher you mash the higher your FG is going to be. lower temp mash gives you more fermentable sugars, higher give you less
 
grain bill?.....ah...this was my recipe. is that what you mean?
4.25 lbs 2-row
1 lbs white wheat
.5 lbs flaked oats
cascade 6.2aa 1 ounce 60 min
cascade 6.2aa .50 ounce 20 min
cascade 6.2aa .2 ounce 5 min

started the boil with 4.5 gallons. ended with 3.5. no sparge.

considered a wheat ale

the only thermometer i have is a floating thermometer. maybe i will invest a little more on one. thanks for the mashing advice!
 
And, it's not a good idea to stir the beer. You want to aerate before you add the yeast and try not to introduce oxygen in it after fermentation begins and stops.
Otherwise, the advise given already is right on.
 
Lower your mash temperature to about 150 F.

:)


I would suggest not doing "about" anything for mash temp.

Low body, drier beers can be mashed as low as 148. Medium body beers in the 150-152 range. 154 and up for heavy body beers.

The windows are small - you need to be precise for repeatable brewing. Mash in, stir well, let it come to temp, measure at multiple locations and adjust up or down with boiling water and ice cubes.
 
He clearly mashed at a higher temperature than 155 F and ended up with less fermentable sugars. If he shoots for a lower temperature there will be less risk. He can slowly raise the temperature as needed.

Sounds like he is direct firing. I quit that because it is so easy to overshoot.

I would at least check your thermometer at boiling and freezing to see if it is off.
 
Wow! Thanks for all the replies guys! Remember, I used BIAB method and I was told to raise temp. of water to 165, and then put in the grain, and through that, the temp. would drop about 15 degrees. It didn't! Seemed to work okay, but next time I may just use an initial temp. of 160. What do you guys think?
I was also told that it is okay to stir the beer, as long as I don't aerate the beer. I did not stir vigorously. Is that incorrect?
 
+1. Use a calculator to get close for a strike water temp. If it is a little high, no worries. Stir until temp is correct. Then hold the temp steady for the hour or 90min (whatever your schedule is).

As was said, there is a relatively small range where the enzymes are extracted but not denatured (mash temperatures). Within that range are even smaller ranges where you can produce low-, medium-, and full-bodied brews.
 
Floating thermometers are super slow and often inaccurate.

Spend on an instant-read thermometer. Even a $15 one (here, here, or here). Doesn't need to be ThermoPen, unless you like to spend on that sort of thing.
 
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If 1.020 is not what you were expecting for an FG, all you have to do is swirl. I have my carboys sitting in dairy crates, and I can easily rotate them and that light swirl picks yeast up from the bottom and suspends it back into the beer. I've made it part of my process after active fermentation ends, I'll swirl once a day for another week before I leave it alone. There was no reason to open it up and stir when an easy spin of the bucket would have been just as effective.
 
My first several beers stopped at 1.02 even when it was supposed to be lower. After some research and a talk with the helpful folks at my LHBS I learned that I shouldn't be using distilled water because it has no minerals. Years, and dozens of beers, later I haven't had this problem since moving to tap water.

If you're using distilled try switching to tap if your tap water isn't too nasty.
 
My first several beers stopped at 1.02 even when it was supposed to be lower. After some research and a talk with the helpful folks at my LHBS I learned that I shouldn't be using distilled water because it has no minerals. Years, and dozens of beers, later I haven't had this problem since moving to tap water.

If you're using distilled try switching to tap if your tap water isn't too nasty.
 
cernst151 said:
My first several beers stopped at 1.02 even when it was supposed to be lower. After some research and a talk with the helpful folks at my LHBS I learned that I shouldn't be using distilled water because it has no minerals. Years, and dozens of beers, later I haven't had this problem since moving to tap water. If you're using distilled try switching to tap if your tap water isn't too nasty.

I had a friend with the same 1.02 problem. We went over everything in his process and talked for hours about what could be going wrong. A month after we have up he tells me he had been taking his final gravity readings with a refractometer. YOU CANT DO THAT.
 
I had a friend with the same 1.02 problem. We went over everything in his process and talked for hours about what could be going wrong. A month after we have up he tells me he had been taking his final gravity readings with a refractometer. YOU CANT DO THAT.

YES YOU CAN.

You just have to comoensate for the alcohol content. Sean Terrill makes a great refrac calc for this.
 
I'd recommend taking at least the final reading with a hydrometer since a refractometer is still a calculation. I've found the calulated value is dead on in my setup but ymmv...

As to the OP, You mentioned this is cloudy and you wondered if you should filter it. My advice is don't. If it's a wheat beer it's supposed to be cloudy. Part of the style. Let it settle a couple days (cold crash if possible) then rack over to a botting bucket leaving the trub behind.
 
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