Fermentation not completing? temp?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

hopfen

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
64
Reaction score
0
Location
Hartford
Hi,

We've been having trouble the last couple of weeks with our fermentation not reaching final gravity. We ferment in a conical that is not temp controlled in the basement that is usually 65-70 degrees. It has been getting colder outside and wonder if the lower temp is affecting our process.

These same recipes were brewed in Sept with perfect results. We use the yeast calculator to ensure that our pitch rate is correct.

Any ideas??

Thanks,

hopfen
 
Thames Valley, London III
Wyeast lists a Thames Valley (1275) and a London III (1318) but not both.

recipe doesn't matter
It certainly does matter, at the very least in terms of knowing the OG and FG to calculate expected attenuation. Recipe is also good to look at to trouble-shoot other issues.


ferm temp around 65-66

There is no way your fermentation could have been at 65-66 in 65-70 basement. You can expect it to be 5-10 degrees about ambient temps during active fermentation.
 
Background - we brew 20 gallons every week (Sunday)

We are not monitoring the actual fermentation temp through our SS Conical but may put a temp probe in.

Recipe - Doesn't matter as I said, we brewed the same recipes in Sept and hit all of our numbers

We run two different strians depending on the recipe.

Beer seems to be very active for 2-3 days then calms down - should be done in 3-4 days.
 
How far off of the anticipated FG are we talking? And recipe/procedure does matter. Was your mash thermometer calibrated correctly? Did you mash for the same amount of time? Did you have a different supplier of specialty malts? Did you hit the same OG as your first batch? If you have your conical set to 65F but it was sitting in a room that was 60F, the conical temp will be 60F.
 
Background - we brew 20 gallons every week (Sunday)

We are not monitoring the actual fermentation temp through our SS Conical but may put a temp probe in.

Recipe - Doesn't matter as I said, we brewed the same recipes in Sept and hit all of our numbers

We run two different strians depending on the recipe.

Beer seems to be very active for 2-3 days then calms down - should be done in 3-4 days.


Whatever guy...figure it out for yourself then. Somebody who brews 20 gallons a week should be able to troubleshoot this without my help. But then again, they should know why the recipe is also important for this particular problem....

I dunno, maybe the recipe is a secret...again whatever-English ales have been made for the last 600 years or so-I'm sure you guys have come up with a totally unique recipe that everyone would love to have.:drunk:

Good luck!
 
Whatever guy...figure it out for yourself then. Somebody who brews 20 gallons a week should be able to troubleshoot this without my help. But then again, they should know why the recipe is also important for this particular problem....

I dunno, maybe the recipe is a secret...again whatever-English ales have been made for the last 600 years or so-I'm sure you guys have come up with a totally unique recipe that everyone would love to have.:drunk:

Good luck!

Ya gotta be careful. AB is scouring the message boards looking for new recipes.
 
The reason I say the recipe doesn't matter is that we've brewed it before with the correct results. Just taking variables out of the equation.

Our mash temps are consistent from batch to batch.

OG is consistent from batch to batch.

We buy grain in bulk so these batches came from the same sacks.

Again, we currently do not control our fermentation temp.

FG has been off by .005 - .010
 
Suggestions please for contolling Ale fermentation temps in a Blichmann 27 galllon fermentor.

thanks,

hopfen
 
I'm assuming its to cold since it's not attenuating. My first (cheapest) fix would be to wrap some sort of insulation around it. Could add an electric blanket for a while to warm it up a bit.
 
I would sanitize a temp probe and put it in the wort while warming though. Just so it doesn't get outta control.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top