Ferment Stopped- HELP!

[MetuchenBrewerNJ]

Hello everyone,
I have a question to help with a problem I've run into. I know this has been posted before, but I haven't been able to understand any answers so as to be any help.Ok, so I'm on my 4th homebrew, and my first stout. It's a dry stout:

6.6 Amber Liquid Extract
.5 lb black malt
.5 lb 40-L
.25 Roasted Barely
2 ounce fuggel (60 min)
1 ounce Willamette (10 min)
Liquid Irish Ale Yeast

I know what I'm doing for the most part, but I've run into a problem. We brewed on Sunday, Monday had bubbles (I know not to judge fermentation by bubbles, but still..), and today (Tuesday) nothing. I know sometimes a beer can just ferment quickly, but I don't think this is the case..our bubbling on Monday was only a bubble every minute or so, not enough to make me think it finished in a day. It's hardly bubbling now..we need to push the lid to make it bubble, otherwise it only bubbles maybe once every 10 minutes or so (or even longer!)
Our OG was 1.053 (a bit high for the style, I know). Should we have pitched more than one standard vial of liquid yeast? Should we add more now? I have no idea what to do. From what I've read, I believe we should just wait the week out as planned and not judge a beer by its bubbles, but I want to see what everyone thought. We are (or were planning) on doing a primary for 7-10 days (until peak fermentation was over) and than secondary for 10-14 days. Should we go along with the plan or add more yeast or do something else? I should add that our primary bucket does not have a spigot, so in order to do a hydrometer reading we'd have to take the lid off, so we are wary of that.
Any help is GREATLY appreciated! This is the first big problem we've encountered. Thanks so much,
Chris

 

[hamiltont]

Couple of questions. What is the gravity and beer temp right now? Cheers!!!

 

[Homercidal]

There is no reason to fear opening the bucket. If you are sanitary, you should be able to get a sample right from the fermenter with no problems.

Then again, you KNNOW that fermentation started. And you say that it is still going on. So IMO there is no reason to open the bucket anyway. You can transfer to secondary after 14 days, but I'd recommend checking the gravity first, to make sure the fermentation is done.

Or, you could simply leave the beer in the primary for 3-4 weeks and let it clear up in there, then carefully rack into bottling bucket after that. The secondary is mostly to help clear a beer, and there isn't a good reason to worry about that for a stout, right?

Unless you think the temperature suddenly dropped below the yeast's working temps, it's doing fine. Or if it has, all you need to do is warm it up a bit. If it was fermenting above the optimum temp, then it's probably pretty much done it's job.

 

[michur]

Still a noob and have similar problem right now.

Can you just stir gently with a sanitized spoon being careful not to mix in too much air, but just rouse the yeasties? I've got a big fat yeast cake sitting there taking a nap.

 

[Hex]

I've roused once, it worked. (I stunned the yeast with too much camden in the pomegranate juice.)
I've re-pitched once, it worked. (First pitch in a store bought 'no preservatives' cider did not reproduce, only minimal fermentation, second pitch took off.)
I've 'DWHAHB' once, it worked.

 

[RM-MN]

Still a noob and have similar problem right now.

Can you just stir gently with a sanitized spoon being careful not to mix in too much air, but just rouse the yeasties? I've got a big fat yeast cake sitting there taking a nap.

I'd recommend against stirring. Your fermenter is full of carbon dioxide preventing anything from attacking your beer. If you open the fermenter to stir, you'll be disturbing that CO2 layer whereas just swirling gently doesn't require you to open the fermeter at all.

 

[MetuchenBrewerNJ]

Couple of questions. What is the gravity and beer temp right now? Cheers!!!

Gravity is 1.053, temp is 75 right now.




ANd as I said, it's going now, but extremely slowly (1 bubble every 10 minutes). As of now I'm just going to wait the week to 10 days as planned, perhaps longer (true, stouts don't need time to clear in the secondary..but our glass carboy is new and we're excited to use it:cross

 

[Yooper]

Gravity is 1.053, temp is 75 right now.




ANd as I said, it's going now, but extremely slowly (1 bubble every 10 minutes). As of now I'm just going to wait the week to 10 days as planned, perhaps longer (true, stouts don't need time to clear in the secondary..but our glass carboy is new and we're excited to use it:cross

Sunday was 1.053, and it's still 1.053 today?

 

[MetuchenBrewerNJ]

Oh sorry, no, that was the OG. I don't want to take a reading today because I don't have a spigot on my primary, so I'd have to take the lid off, which from reading around everywhere else looks like something I shouldn't do, as it is most likely just slow fermenting now and I should just be patient.

 

[Yooper]

Oh sorry, no, that was the OG. I don't want to take a reading today because I don't have a spigot on my primary, so I'd have to take the lid off, which from reading around everywhere else looks like something I shouldn't do, as it is most likely just slow fermenting now and I should just be patient.

Well, without a hydrometer reading you just don't know. I don't have a spigot on my primaries either. You can certainly take the lid off, and take a sample with a sanitized turkey baster or wine thief.

If you don't want to, that's fine. But then it's silly to ask about trying to help a stopped fermentation when really you don't even want to bother to check! It actually sounds like it's about done, and just finishing up. But there isn't any way to tell without a hydrometer reading. If you're patient and want to wait a week or two, that's fine. But you'll have to open it then, you know!

 

[Revvy]

Oh sorry, no, that was the OG. I don't want to take a reading today because I don't have a spigot on my primary, so I'd have to take the lid off, which from reading around everywhere else looks like something I shouldn't do, as it is most likely just slow fermenting now and I should just be patient.

Then how will you know? Sorry, but you're supposed to take gravity readings. You know, there is so much all over the place telling brewers, what not to do, do you actually think folks would be saying to use your hydrometer so much? Is it a vast conspiracy to ruin millions of new brewer's batches, so that they flee the hobby and give it a bad rap? Every book, every podcast, every posts talks about gravity of beer...how do you think they get them?

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....

Thinking about "doing anything" like repitching, or bottling, or racking, without first taking a hydrometer reading is tantamount to the doctor deciding to cut you open without running any diagnostic tests....Taking one look at you and saying, "Yeah I'm going in." You would really want the doctor to use all means to properly diagnose what's going on?

Thinking about re-pitching without taking a hydro reading is tantamount to doing the same thing.

Your HYDROMETER is the only BEST indicator of fermentation activity. Nothing else is accurate or consistent...

Unless you take a gravity reading you don't know what's really going on, not by airlock bubbling or by krausen formation. Neither of those signs are effective, they don't tell you exactly where on the fermentation process you are.

The amount of krausen can vary for whatever reason, it can come quick and depart quickly or it can linger long after fermentation is complete, and it all be normal.

And airlocks sometimes bubble or they don't. And airlock is a valve, a vent to release excess co2...NOT a fermentation gauge. It's important to make that distinction, or you'll be panicking everytime a an airlock doesn't bubble, or stops bubbling.

Fermentation is not always "dynamic," just because you don't SEE anything happening, doesn't mean that any-thing's wrong,, and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working diligently away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years.

That's why you need to take a gravity reading to know how your fermentation is going, NOT go by airlocks, or size of krausen, or a calendar, the horoscope or the phases of the moon (those things in my mind are equally accurate).

This is the one thing you really have to do. As you can see, because you are too afraid to actually do the ONE thing that will tell you what's going on...they you are sitting here with a panic thread." And we can't do anything for you...because WE rely on gravity readings to know what's going on, whether it's our own beers or in order to help you.

*shrug*

 

[Homercidal]

I think what the OP is saying is that he's confident that everything is ok and he is RDWHAHB until a couple of weeks then will check.

 

[Hex]

Once, I sanitized a hydrometer and 2 lb fine fishing line and lowered it down the stopper hole of my first batch of cider, took a reading, then retrieved it.

Now I'd just open the top, and use a wine thief.

 

[Yooper]

Once, I sanitized a hydrometer and 2 lb fine fishing line and lowered it down the stopper hole of my first batch of cider, took a reading, then retrieved it.

Now I'd just open the top, and use a wine thief.

Did you really try that? Pretty clever, I must say. I'd be so afraid I'd drop it or it would be dislodged, and it would break! But that was pretty ingenious!

 

[Yooper]

I think what the OP is saying is that he's confident that everything is ok and he is RDWHAHB until a couple of weeks then will check.

That's a good plan, actually!

 

[Hex]

...and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working diligently away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years.
*shrug*

Are you a devout yeast creationist? I'll bet it's more like 3.5 billion years, but I'm a scientist, who really knows?

 

[MetuchenBrewerNJ]

Well, don't I feel stupid. We did a hydrometer reading and got a gravity of 1.016 @75 degrees, which means that it's pretty much fully fermented (gave us an abv of about 4.7). So everyone was right, it just fermented very quickly (not that I doubted everyone, I was just a worried brewer). We'll do another reading tomorrow and if its the same, which I assume it will be, we'll move on.
Thanks for the help though everyone. I know I worried over nothing, but hey, I'm still new. Nice to have people here to help though, I appreciate it a lot!
Till my next problem,
Chris
(Or until I become good enough that I can offer others help, of course)..

 

[Yooper]

Well, don't I feel stupid. We did a hydrometer reading and got a gravity of 1.016 @75 degrees, which means that it's pretty much fully fermented (gave us an abv of about 4.7). So everyone was right, it just fermented very quickly (not that I doubted everyone, I was just a worried brewer). We'll do another reading tomorrow and if its the same, which I assume it will be, we'll move on.
Thanks for the help though everyone. I know I worried over nothing, but hey, I'm still new. Nice to have people here to help though, I appreciate it a lot!
Till my next problem,
Chris
(Or until I become good enough that I can offer others help, of course)..

Oh, we've all been there! But that's one reason we all encouraged you to not do anything except to take a reading if you were really worried. Sometimes a really active fermentation can ferment out overnight, while a slow and steady one plugs along for 5 days or more.

It's rare that you check the SG after 3 days and it's unchanged- but when that happens, that's the time to repitch yeast.

anyway, glad it's going so well! Let us know how you like the beer.