Fermentation stopped after 24hrs

[cverink]

I brewed my first beer Sunday evening 3/9/2008, fermentation started approximately 15 hours after the yeast was pitched, it was going decently from what I could tell. (a bubble every few seconds) when I woke up this morning 3/11 at around 7am it had slowed down quite a bit, to a few bubbles a min. I’m curious if this is normal, being my first time im not sure what to expect.

Recipe:
7lbs Amber LME
1lb crystal malt
1.5 oz fuggles
Two packets of dry yeast ( I think it was muntons or something)

The OG was 1.035

The temp was 70 when the yeast was pitched, and it was fermenting at a temp around 64. I think the temp last night my have dropped to around 60. We have it in the warmest part of the house but our heat is set at 56 so its hard to get it any warmer.

I guess I’m curious if this is normal, I haven’t had a chance to check the SG yet. Any ideas?

 

[Revvy]

Well, if the temp dropped into the 50's then your yeasts may have become dormant. Bubbling (or lack of) in the airlock, is not really a sign that fermentation is happenning or is finished, the only real way to tell is with your hydrometer.

If your hydro says it's not finished, you may have to cover them with a blanket, or do something else to warm them back into fermentation temp range.

 

[cverink]

Yeah thats probably what happened. Where would i find what my FG should be?

 

[Revvy]

Yeah thats probably what happened. Where would i find what my FG should be?

What are you brewing? If it's a kit then it should say on the recipe sheet. If it's a recipe on here then the poster put the FG in the recipe. If you just threw something together you can run the numbers through any brewing software like,

http://beercalculus.com/ or http://tastybrew.com/calculators/recipe.html

Just imput all your ingredients and it will calculate it for you. Usually it will be a range of numbers. e.g. (FG 1.014-1.018)

 

[cverink]

Alright thanks a lot for all the help. Ill have to check that out when I get home from work.

 

[Revvy]

I didn't know what lovibond your crystal was so I calculated it using crystal 60 and the fg range is 1.012 to 1.015...but you should run it youself so you can get an idea about how to create recipes and imput them into software, it'll really help your process.

Can I ask why you used 2 packets of yeast with 8 pounds of fermentables? That's a little overkill for a basic beer like you brewed.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Shouldn't your OG have been around 1.054 or so?

 

[Revvy]

Shouldn't your OG have been around 1.054 or so?

Whoa...good catch. Beer calculus said 1.056 (1.050 to 1.058)/ 5 gallon batch.

cverink, did you thoroughly mix your wort with your top off water before taking a reading?

 

[cverink]

I bought a kit and the recipie it came with called for 2 packets, i think they were 3.5g each. I didn't have any other info to base it off except the recipe so thats what i used. I can't recall what the specs on the crystal was.

The recipe said the OG should have been 1.04ish but we added an extra 1/2 gallon of water to it. Never trust a chemist to do conversions.....

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Hmmm.. based on beer software, that est OG should have been 1.054 or so for a 5 gallon batch (19L) or 1.043 for a 6.5 US gal batch (24.3L).

What size batch is this? The batch would have to be 7.26 US Gallons or 6 Imperial gallons (27.5L) for an OG of 1.037 with that recipe.

 

[cverink]

Its a 5.5 gallon batch.

I just ran it through the tastybeer.com calc and it came out with 1.036 for an OG
Settings,
Recipe type: extract
Batch size 5.5
Boil Volume 2.5
Apparent Attenuation 75% not sure what thats supposed to be for the type of yeast i used
7lb of amber malt extract mashed
1lb of crystal 60l steeped
1.5 oz fuggles boiled 30min

 

[cverink]

NM im a moron. It should have been about 1.048 because the extract is an extract not mash..... hmmm im not sure what happened then. Im fairly certain it was mixed well.

 

[Revvy]

NM im a moron. It should have been about 1.048 because the extract is an extract not mash..... hmmm im not sure what happened then. Im fairly certain it was mixed well.

Yeah...on a lot of the software you gotta hit the dropdrown for what you were doing to the grain...Beercalc is a little forgiving If L or DME is in your recipe I think it figures you're doing an extract batch and calculate accordingly (I assume).

But that's neither here nor there, I don't know why you og was so far off the mark, it could be a simple misreading of the hydro, a not good enough mixing...whatever...at least we know what your fg should be near.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

You were probably fairly close to that 1.048.

Check your hydromter. Does it read 1.000 in water at 60F? (Also check what it says it's calibration temp is. Most are 60F).

Is your carboy or bucket in US gallons or Canadian (Imperial) gallons? 5.5 Imperal gallons would be about the same as 6.6 US Gallons or 25L and would give you an est OG of 1.040 wich isn't to far off from where you said you were at.

If that is the case you will likey finish around 1.008 at end up with a beer that's around 3.5% a/v. (given a 75% apparent attenuation)

If it's a case of not mixing well or a out of whack hydrometer then you will likely be finishing at around 1.012 and have an A/V of about 4.75%.

BTW, what type of beer was this kit supposed to make?

 

[cverink]

I checked the gravity last night and it was at 1.018 so it must have been doing something. I think im gonna let it be for another week to see if that will drop anymore and then ill rack it to the secondary so I can get another batch going. Im thinking a wheat beer seeing as the summer months are approaching quickly.

Thanks for all the advice

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

I checked the gravity last night and it was at 1.018 so it must have been doing something. I think im gonna let it be for another week to see if that will drop anymore and then ill rack it to the secondary so I can get another batch going. Im thinking a wheat beer seeing as the summer months are approaching quickly.

Thanks for all the advice

Time for another bucket or carboy. If there are any U-Vin type places, they often throuw out the food grade buckets that a lot of all juice wine kits come in. I scored about 15 from the back of one here (I asked first).

 

[cverink]

Hmm i tasted the beer today.... It tastes sweet. Ive been gone all week and the temp dropped to 50ish. I racked it to the secondary to hopefully wake the yeast up a bit before i bottle it. Is there anything i can do to get fermentation started again? BTW my hydro is messed up. i can't get the same reading twice. Thanks for all the help.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Racking to secondary will do the opposite, it's for clearing the beer of yeast. You can add some dry yeast to the carboy now to see if it will ferment out farther.

Nottingham or something like that. Use EC 1118 champagne yeast if you really want it to restart. If there's any left over sugars (from malt) that strain will likely take care of it.
Are you compensating for temperature when you are reading your hydrometer?

 

[cverink]

Yeah I haven't been paying attention to the temps. Ill have to start remembering to do that.

It definitely tasted sweet so I think ill add some yeast to it now and see what it does.