Fermentation stopped at 1.12

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steve roth

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My son and I have started a batch of beer. Fermentation has clearly taken place but we are about 10 days in and the hydrometer is stuck at 1.12. What should I do.
 
I'm assuming you either mean 1.012 or 1.020. Either way, that's not bad and it's most likely finished. Some more information would be helpful
 
It’s a St. Peter’s ruby red kit. The surface of the beer is one mark below the black band on the hydrometer. I read it as 1.12 but I believe that is 1.012. The room has been at a temperature of about 22 degrees c.
 
It's probably done. Check again in 3 days and if it's the same package it up and enjoy!
 
steve roth said:
It’s a St. Peter’s ruby red kit. The surface of the beer is one mark below the black band on the hydrometer. I read it as 1.12 but I believe that is 1.012. The room has been at a temperature of about 22 degrees c.
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What was the gravity reading at the start of the fermentation? If you started at 1.068 and ended at 1.012 it will be just fine.
 
Thanks for the help. I assume I don’t need to add anything else to the fermented mix. I just barrel it
 
If you're kegging and force carbonating, you don't need to add anything else, but would benefit from leaving the beer for another week or so in the fermentor. Even though the beer is at final gravity (no more sugar to ferment) the yeast are still 'cleaning up' after themselves - removing some other stuff that is made during fermentation. You'll get a cleaner tasting beer if you leave it a while (or keg it now but keep warm for a while).

If you're bottling or naturally carbonating in the keg you'll need to add sugar. Go ahead and do this now - the yeast will continue to clean up in the bottle/keg.
 
Gnomebrewer said:
If you're kegging and force carbonating, you don't need to add anything else, but would benefit from leaving the beer for another week or so in the fermentor. Even though the beer is at final gravity (no more sugar to ferment) the yeast are still 'cleaning up' after themselves - removing some other stuff that is made during fermentation. You'll get a cleaner tasting beer if you leave it a while (or keg it now but keep warm for a while).

If you're bottling or naturally carbonating in the keg you'll need to add sugar. Go ahead and do this now - the yeast will continue to clean up in the bottle/keg.
Click to expand...

To clarify the last sentence here, add the priming sugar and bottle right away. If you add sugar and do not bottle it, the sugar will ferment out and you will need more when you do bottle.

Read this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/bottling-tips-for-the-homebrewer.94812/
 
Gnomebrewer said:
If you're kegging and force carbonating, you don't need to add anything else, but would benefit from leaving the beer for another week or so in the fermentor. Even though the beer is at final gravity (no more sugar to ferment) the yeast are still 'cleaning up' after themselves - removing some other stuff that is made during fermentation. You'll get a cleaner tasting beer if you leave it a while (or keg it now but keep warm for a while).

If you're bottling or naturally carbonating in the keg you'll need to add sugar. Go ahead and do this now - the yeast will continue to clean up in the bottle/keg.
Click to expand...

Is there any data on this (letting the yeast clean up)? And what specifically does this mean? I’ve cold crashed at 9 days and 14 days and notice no difference. This on a beer that finished fermenting by day 4.
 
Cevan65 said:
Is there any data on this (letting the yeast clean up)? And what specifically does this mean? I’ve cold crashed at 9 days and 14 days and notice no difference. This on a beer that finished fermenting by day 4.
Click to expand...

Data from a controlled study? Unlikely. Anecdotal data from many, many brewers? Definitely.

It means that yeast will chew through sugars fairly quickly (often in a few days to a week) but in the process leave behind by-products (sometimes desirable, sometimes undesirable) such as higher alcohols and acetaldehyde. With time, the yeast clean up some of these (most notably for me - acetaldehyde/green apple - I'm very sensitive to it's flavour and hangover contribution). With more time still (up to several years) flavours can meld and change which MAY improve beer further (it's really style dependent).

If you like your beer at 9 days, go ahead and drink it at 9 days. Most brewers (based on HBT discussions) prefer a longer ferment.
 
Probably a daft question, but do I have to carbonate/add sugar at all. I am going to barrel the beer and didn’t intend to force carbonate it (as I don’t like it too gassy.). I wax just going to put it in the barrel as it is and leave it for a few weeks. But if I do have to add sugar - how much is best.
 
steve roth said:
Probably a daft question, but do I have to carbonate/add sugar at all. I am going to barrel the beer and didn’t intend to force carbonate it (as I don’t like it too gassy.). I wax just going to put it in the barrel as it is and leave it for a few weeks. But if I do have to add sugar - how much is best.
Click to expand...

You really do have to carbonate beer - otherwise it tastes a bit too sweet and 'odd'. There's a difference between 'not too gassy' and 'not carbonated at all'. The best amount of carbonation (hence, best amount of sugar to make that carbonation) is style dependent. But if you don't want it too gassy, try 50 grams of sugar - it'll just give your beer a little tingle. If you find it's not enough, you can add more carbonation later from CO2 cylinder. Alternatively, don't use sugar at all but leave your CO2 connected to your keg at about 6PSI for a few weeks. This again will give a low-level tingle of carbonation - turn the pressure up higher if you find it's not enough.
 
Cevan65 said:
Is there any data on this (letting the yeast clean up)? And what specifically does this mean? I’ve cold crashed at 9 days and 14 days and notice no difference. This on a beer that finished fermenting by day 4.
Click to expand...

Read 'Yeast', White and Zainasheff. The yeast clean up acetalhedyde, and diecetyl, and can reduce some fusel alcohols ..... and probably some other stuff. Taking it off the yeast cake too soon slows this process down, or it doesn't complete at all. But if it is done at day 4, leaving it 5 days should be more than enough.

steve roth said:
Probably a daft question, but do I have to carbonate/add sugar at all. I am going to barrel the beer and didn’t intend to force carbonate it (as I don’t like it too gassy.). I wax just going to put it in the barrel as it is and leave it for a few weeks. But if I do have to add sugar - how much is best.
Click to expand...

Yes, you need to add sugar, otherwise it will just be flat beer. I would recommend doing some research on how much to carbonate. From what I have seen, cask ale should be carbonated from 1.2. to 1.8 volumes of CO2. For reference, 1 volume is the amount of CO2 retained in beer at standard pressure and temperature (65 F I think and open to atmosphere).

I'd start with 1.8 volumes, and it will reduce as you empty the barrel as CO2 will come out of solution as you have more space in the barrel.

1.8 volumes is a little over 2 ozs of table sugar in 5 gallons of beer. 1.2 volumes is about 0.8 ozs. It is not a linear relationship between the two amounts as I have assumed the max temp of the beer after fermentation was 70 F, so it will hold less than 1 volume before priming.
 
Have I ruined the beer? Added sugar. There was lots of bubbles as soon as I added the sugar. However there was lots of undigested blobs of yeast and other stuff at the bottom of bucket - which is why It didn’t ferment as much as I had anticipated, I suspect. I put it into a barrel but a lot of the undigested yeast and sediment from the bucket went in the barrel with the beer. Two questions.

1.Have I ruined the beer or will it continue to ferment and clear in the barrel.
2. do I need to loosen the cap to let out any air to stop the barrel exploding
 
steve roth said:
Have I ruined the beer? Added sugar. There was lots of bubbles as soon as I added the sugar. However there was lots of undigested blobs of yeast and other stuff at the bottom of bucket - which is why It didn’t ferment as much as I had anticipated, I suspect. I put it into a barrel but a lot of the undigested yeast and sediment from the bucket went in the barrel with the beer. Two questions.

1.Have I ruined the beer or will it continue to ferment and clear in the barrel.
2. do I need to loosen the cap to let out any air to stop the barrel exploding
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No, you haven't ruined the beer.
Bubbles are quite normal - CO2 is produced during fermentation and some will dissolve into the beer even when it's not pressurised. Adding sugar and agitating causes some to fizz.
Yeast blobs and other muck at the bottom of the bucket (collectively called 'trub' - pronounced 'troob') is normal. It's not 'undigested' and has nothing to do with not reaching your anticipated final gravity. Sugar gets digested, not yeast. You don't see sugar clumps though - the sugars are dissolved in the beer.
If you loosen the cap to let air (actually CO2) out, the beer won't carbonate. You need it to be under pressure so the CO2 dissolves into the beer (otherwise you'll only get a minimal amount of carbonation like you noticed from adding the sugar). What sort of barrel are you putting the beer in? Is it a stainless steel keg, or a wine/bourbon cask? Make sure it's able to handle the pressure of carbonated beer.
 
Thanks. I am using a plastic barrel with tap which came with home brew kit from brew shop in Cheltenham. Looks quite thick. Black screw top with metal valve. Max pressure 15psi

So it doesn’t matter if loads of trub went into the barrel? Will It just settle again?
 
Last edited:
Yes, you should be discarding the trub. It's normal to leave behind a litre/quart or two from a 5G batch.

The plastic 'barrel' sounds to me like a fementor or bottling bucket, not something for pressurising and serving beer from. I haven't heard them rated to 15PSI though, so maybe I'm wrong. Is the tap just a plastic twisty thing like this
fermenter.tap_large.jpg

If it is, it's not mean for serving beer from, and you should put an airlock on top to let the CO2 escape, finish fermenting the sugar you just added, then add more sugar and bottle.
 
No, it’s more like a tap (like on a wine box). Should I siphon the beer to another barrel to get rid of the trub or can I leave it to settle out?
 
If you serve from that, the level of the spigot will be above the trub. I would leave it alone. IMO, more harm would be done transferring again than anything from the trub. If there was any harm from the trub at all.
 
That's a cool looking barrel! It must be some sort of imitation cask (English style)? Does it use bottled CO2 to dispense beer, or just use it's own pressure and gravity? I'm not quite sure how it keeps dispensing without either losing carbonation or oxidising if it doesn't use bottled CO2 (English cask ales are normally only good for a few days before they become oxidised).

I'd also leave it as is - a bit of trub won't hurt.
 
steve roth said:
Have I ruined the beer? Added sugar. There was lots of bubbles as soon as I added the sugar. However there was lots of undigested blobs of yeast and other stuff at the bottom of bucket - which is why It didn’t ferment as much as I had anticipated, I suspect. I put it into a barrel but a lot of the undigested yeast and sediment from the bucket went in the barrel with the beer. Two questions.

1.Have I ruined the beer or will it continue to ferment and clear in the barrel.
2. do I need to loosen the cap to let out any air to stop the barrel exploding
Click to expand...

How much sugar did you add?
 

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