Apparent stuck fermentation after 36 hours

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nickwin

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This is my 3rd time brewing, I didnt have any problems during the first two. This time I am brewing a "brewers best" IPA. It is an extract brew with some specialty grains as well.

I brewed on thursday night (the 9th) and was seeing lots of action threw the airlock by friday morning. When I got up today (the 11th) I checked the fermenter and found that there was zero bubbling goin on in the airlock. Could I possibly have stuck fermentation already?

Should I wait it out, or try pitching some more yeast?

I have heard mixed advise on agitating the wort to try and rouse the yeast, should I give that a try?
 
Bubbles mean nothing...the airlock is a vent, nothing more...don't think that nothing's happening just because the airlock isn't moving. It is a cheap 2 dollar lump of chinese plastic...not a precision instrument...The only precision instrument that can tell you what is going on is your hydrometer...

Read this,
http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/


More than likely it finished out...
 
starting gravity was 1.049. Current gravity is 1.021. Theres still no bubbling going on in the airlock, and it looks like the yeast is starting to settle.

There is no obvious contamination as far as the smell or taste of it, as far as i can tell. Could it just have finished fermenting in under two days?
 
This was the first brew I made. Mine started @ .051 and finished @ .020 after two weeks in primary. Did it have Muntons yeast? If so I think it poops out easily so I would just let it clean up a bit and move on. It should still be tastey but it won't have the expected alcohol content.
 
i also started a first batch on friday morning, it was a brewers best, american pal. it started fermenting in 3 hours, woke up the next day it was not bubbling. the. og was 1.040, saturday was 1.020, guess i will wate for a couple of days and take another reading. i hope it is not some week beer from the short time it was fermenting. it shure is smelling good!!!
 
First batch I did was with Muntons dry yeast, and it bubbled furiously for 2 days and then stopped. It was 1.016 when I moved to secondary and its now in its 2nd week in the secondary. Looks, smells, and tastes fine.
 
I had a similar situation with the NB mild kit: 36 hours of hard bubbling (1-5 bubbles/second) followed by an abrupt stop. Took a gravity reading, and it was a little high (1.016, from an OG of 1.032). Figured I'd let it sit another 5 or 7 days. Took another gravity reading after 48 hours, and it was down to 1.013, with no bubbling, no significant warmth from the bucket.

The moral of the story is: RDWHAHB! :mug:
 
Thanks for the help guys...

Looks like its finished at .02. This is the second batch in a row that has finished at .02 (the first was a BB American nut brown with OG of 1.07)

What would cause this? Could it be the yeast? (Both used Windsor ale yeast)
 
I had the same problem with Windsor the one time I used it. Nottingham, Safale US-04 or US-05 should definitely get you lower next time. I use Safale US-05 most of the time now and it's always got me down to my expected FG.
 
Part of what determines your ending gravity is how much unfermentable sugars you have, some malt provides sugar that will not ferment, ie: crystal malts. so if you have a high % of these types of malts, then you will have a higher ending gravity and subsequently, a sweeter beer.

Yeast can also be the problem, but you can usually fix that by using a larger starter, and making sure that you maintain a consistent temp for the type of yeast you use.
 
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