Did i shock the Yeast, or is it ready to go? Fermentation/Gravity

[demens]

Hey there,

1st time brewer, there is SOOO much info here its actually hard to find what i'm looking for so i figured i'll ask.

Its day 7 in primary, was planning to rack to secondary tomorrow as the instruction say. Not sure if its done fermenting though, or if it is the gravity is too high.

Its been steady at 1.015 for 3 days now (stared at 1.045), i think it should be down to 1.008. There were only visible signs of fermentation the 1st 2 days with bubbling, quiet ever since. 1 thing that i think i might be misreading is this, i have a small sample in a bottle, and thats what i'm using for measurements, not opening up the bucket, so maybe the gravity in the bucket is right where its suppose to be. Anyone have any comments on that? Anyway, since the gravity is too high i figured i needed to start up the fermentation again.

Read a bunch of posts here that you can do that by raising the temp. It was in the 65-75 range in the closet, i put it in a tub with hot water. It stated bubbling again. Now i did not pay as much attention to it as i should have and let it get over 81, now its not dead again. Will take another reading tomorrow.

So wondering what i should do next.

If its still high and not changing? Should i try to add more yeast?

 

[Calder]

What yeast? Windsor, and you are done at 1.015, anythying else and you should be able to get close to 1.008.

Leave it alone for another 2 weeks (ignore the instructions). Keep it in the mid 60s. Then take a reading from the main batch. There is no need to make a sample batch in a bottle, the beer is protected by a CO2 blanket and providing you sanitize everything, there should be no problem taking the occasional hydrometer sample.

 

[PolishLogic]

+1 on the advice to leave it be for another 2 weeks.

And as Calder said, as long as you keep your sampling equipment clean and sanitized prior to taking a sample, you can take it right from the batch. No need for a separate sample bottle.

What type of beer are you brewing? I ask because a fermentation of 75+ degrees is definitely on the high side for most ales. Upper 60's is a good rule of thumb in general.

 

[Skaggz]

Your fermentation temps are plenty high to get the job done.

Most likely, the reason it started bubbling when you put it in the tub with hot water (?) is because it was off-gassing. A solution will hold CO2 better when it is cold. When it is warmed up, it will begin to release the CO2 that is dissolved into solution.

Also, moving it around will cause CO2 to be released as well.
When I'm getting ready to bottle, I move my fermenter from the floor, onto a table a couple of days ahead of time. I had a porter recently that had been in the fermenter for 4 weeks. When I placed it on the table, the air lock began bubbling again fairly rapidly. Almost like it was fermenting again. Gravity never changed, so I knew that it was just dissolved CO2 being released.

 

[demens]

The beer is an Autumn Amber Ale. with Munton's 6 gm dry yeast. I threw away the package so i'm not sure about other info. Tried to pay attention to all the details but that was not one of them.

Anyway, you're saying to leave it in the primary for 2 additional weeks? 3 weeks total, instructions only ask for 2 weeks total, 1 in primary, 1 in secondary. So still 3 weeks?

I also would like to use the secondary too since i'm not too thrilled with how dark it turned out, maybe it'll clear up a bit. I used the smallest pot size possible for a partial boil.

 

[PolishLogic]

A secondary isn't a necessary step. Many here rarely (if ever) use one. Rather, they'll leave their beer in the primary for 3 weeks or more, then rack to the bottling bucket. If you really want to use one for this batch, I'd still say to keep it in the primary for at least another week or so before racking to the secondary. It'll give the yeast a chance to clean up after themselves.

Personally, I use secondaries more often than not, simply because I have them and it allows me to keep my pipeline at it's maximum.

 

[ultravista]

I thought secondaries were the norm? Why not move to a secondary - or - why leave in the primary? What are the advantages / disadvantages of both?

 

[Revvy]

I thought secondaries were the norm? Why not move to a secondary - or - why leave in the primary? What are the advantages / disadvantages of both?

Quite the contrary, there's been a shift in brewing culture over the last 5 years, now it is realized that rather than causing off flavors, prolonged yeast contact may actually clean up off flavors. Because if we don't rush our yeast off the yeast cake, the yeast has the opportunity to actually clean up after itself. Many many many brewers skip secondary altogehter and opt instead for a month long primary. I've been doing this for 5 years, and have never had an off flavor, just the opposite, i've been winning awards for my beers.

I just bottles a beer that was 5.5 months in primary, and was beautiful.

People have successfully left there beers in primary for a year with no signs of the dreaded boogeyman.

This is the most discussed topic on here, there's plenty of info. CURRENT INFO

I primary all my beers a minimum of a month minimum.

Read this....Every question you could ask about this has been answered on here....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/

 

[erikb]

I know that I am 8 months behind on this but I am new to the forum and wanted to see if you guys can give me advice about a related shock issue. I brewed a Kolsch this weekend but used Windsor yeast instead of a Kolsch yeast. I had violent fermentation after about 18 hours in a room approximately 74 degrees. The fermometer read about 78 degrees and my brother thought that was too warm so I moved the beer to the basement at a temp of roughly 64 degrees. The fermentation (bubbling and visible activity) stopped after only about 3 hours in the basement. Did I shock the yeast? I am still new enough to not really understand the hydrometer readings and what that tells me but I am affraid I have a "stuck" beer.

 

[cshamilton]

I know that I am 8 months behind on this but I am new to the forum and wanted to see if you guys can give me advice about a related shock issue. I brewed a Kolsch this weekend but used Windsor yeast instead of a Kolsch yeast. I had violent fermentation after about 18 hours in a room approximately 74 degrees. The fermometer read about 78 degrees and my brother thought that was too warm so I moved the beer to the basement at a temp of roughly 64 degrees. The fermentation (bubbling and visible activity) stopped after only about 3 hours in the basement. Did I shock the yeast? I am still new enough to not really understand the hydrometer readings and what that tells me but I am affraid I have a "stuck" beer.

That temp sounds very warm - I haven't used Windsor so I don't know what to expect with esters but I'd expect some fruitiness.

You did the right thing by moving it, but try starting it cooler in the future. If there are sudden extreme temperature changes you can make your yeast go dormant. But I doubt the change was too extreme. The only way to know for sure though is to check your gravity - I wouldn't be surprised though if it was done or almost done fermenting. If you have a hyrdrometer take a sample and check it. (You can use some brew software to calculate what your final gravity should be - if you don't have one you can use brewcalculus at hoppville.com - it's free).

Also if you want it to taste like a Kolsch you need to use Kolsch yeast - you can still get a good beer, but it's not quite the same.

That said, I'd probably leave it another 2-3 weeks the yeast should cleanup after themselves a bit then go ahead and bottle (unless your gravity is really high)

 

[demens]

After a few batches i'm a lot more easy going when it comes to these things. 78 doesn't sound that horrible to me (assuming this is ale yeast we're talking about). It could have definitely "finished" in the period of time you mention. By finished i mean, finished with visible signs.

Just take a gravity reading and see if its close to what the FG is suppose to be.