Coopers kit. Stalled at 1.02.

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venquessa

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I now have two hydrometers. One that came with a kit, the other I bought separate (didn't trust the first).

I took a sample and read it with both last night. The kit one read 1.01, the better(?) hydrometer read 1.02... suggesting it was not finished. I checked the new hyrdometer in water and... it read exactly 1.000. Didn't even bother to test the older one, I think I'll just bin it.

So... I effectively kicked the barrel (well I gently lifted one corner with my foot and let it drop sloshing the beer about inside).

This morning... the lid is puffed up and there is foam on the surface.

Seems it just needed a little kick and a few more days. :)

Was hoping to bottle it tomorrow, so that isn't going to happen then.
 
Using the kit hydrometer it was reading about 1.035, but I know now it reads low. Kit suggested an OG of 1.045 with 1Kg of sugar.
 
At the time of OG messurement it was around 23.5C. It settled to 21.9C and it's been around 22C for 8 days now. The top froth cleared and the lid stopped puffing up (i have no airlock on this bin yet) on Tuesday. It was mixed and pitched last Friday afternoon.
 
well the average for the primary fermentation is 10-14 days. Some rack to a secondary for another 2 weeks some don't. It mostly depends on the type, basically the darker the beer the longer the fermentation. I have an oatmeal stout that ferments for a couple of months before I bottle it.
 
Maybe you should call it patton ale? It needed a swift kick in the a$$ to get moving.:D It may take another 5 days or so to knock off those last few points. Fermentation is always slow at this point. Check it again at that point to see where it is. A 1.045OG should get down to 1.008-1.010.
 
I'll take another reading tonight, if it's still 1.02, I take a reading tomorrow evening and if it's still 1.02 I'm thinking of just bottling it. I mean, I followed the instructions, as I did last time and last time I got drinkable beer, without accurate hydrometer readings.

If it's failing, I'll leave it till a week night or next weekend.

It's in the critical path of my new pipelining, so I want it bottled soon :)
 
Try rousing the yeast again. That's def too high for an OG. Adding the priming sugar at bottling may be dangerous. It also depends on how dark the malt extract is. I've found the darker ones have more un-fermentables that give that darker color/flavors. They do tend to want too finish higher.
 
I tested both hydrometers, first in sanitizer solution, then in water.

Kit hydrometer read consistently lower, measuring water below 1.000, more like 0.995.

New hrydrometer measured water at 1.000 exact and sanitizer solution at about 1.005

Retested the beer and it's definately around 1.020, looking more like 1.018 now, but if I was to put an honest accuracy on my reading of the device I'd say it was +/- 0.001.
 
Temp at test time must also be taken into account. The sites that have priming calculators also have temp correction programs. Like brewheads.com,they have a hydrometer correction program I use.
 
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