Advice Please!!!!

[Tommo]

Hi everyone, started homebrewing not long ago and now I'm on to my second batch, but ive have some problems, and i would be grateful for some advice!
The kit that I am using is a Muntons Gold old english bitter kit.
The OG was around 1.045. Its been in the fermenter for 9 days and yet the current hydro reading is only at 1.017 when its meant to be at 1.014. As its been in the fermenter for 9 days now, and the hydro reading has barely changed for 4 days, (although there is still a bit of krausen left at the top, and bubbles are still rising to the surface) what do I do? Am i being impatient? the kit says it should be ready after 7-8 days, but it seems to be taking a long time. I don't have enough experience to tell whether its stuck fermentation etc, so any advice/tips would be very much appreciated.

N.B-The yeast that i used was the one supplied with the kit, and the temperature has always been constant at around 68-70 F.

Thanks alot,
Tommo

 

[Bobby_M]

You're only 3 points off and it's still bubbling so leave it alone for another few days. You have to stop taking gravity readings because you're risking an infection everytime you open the fermenter. The instructions were giving you an approximate time to finish, but there are a lot of factors involved in when it finishes, including whether or not it got a quick start or not and the average temp. Assuming you didn't infect it with daily testing, it will be fine. Wait, and then wait again. I was the same way on my first batch, but relax.

 

[Tommo]

Thanks alot for the advice, much appreciated

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Any activity in the airlock?

How did you hydrate the yeast? Soak in water? How long?

Or did you do a starter?

 

[docbee]

If there is not much activity in the airlock then in my brewing process I would transfer to my secondary at this point. Yeast remaining in suspension will finish what fermentation is going to happen and begin the clearing process. If not doing a secondary then wait a few more days and should be ready for bottling.

 

[Orfy]

I'd go with that last advice.

 

[Bobby_M]

You'll find a bit of a mild debate here about when to transfer to secondary, when to bottle, etc. While there's no major harm in racking now, if bubbles are still visably rising in the carboy, it's likely dragging trub particulates up into the beer too. That means if you rack now, you'll move a lot of it into the secondary. Of course, that will eventually settle out also, but why not wait a couple more days to let it fall back into the cake, then rack. I think everyone will agree that leaving the beer in primary for even an extra two weeks will do more good than harm, especially if you're skipping the secondary (clearing stage) and going directly to the bottle.

 

[SteveM]

In any case you are probably pushing the limits of accuracy for your hydrometer.

 

[catnip1970]

In any case you are probably pushing the limits of accuracy for your hydrometer.

Really? How accurate are most hydrometers? Mine is one of the ones with the gravity.balling.abv scales on it.

 

[Orfy]

You can test it in distilled water at the temp rating of the hydro.

Id Say that given the hydro is probably a cheapish uncalibrated made in China jobby with a paper scale that maybe out by 2 points and it's not easy to read so that may be another 2 points. The important thing is to be in the right range and look for over all differences.

If you SG is 2 points out and your FG is 2 points out hen you're good to go.

It's the taste that counts. Gravity is just a useful indicator.