Fermentation stopped , what now ?

[Asherzzz]

Hi all

I brought a coopers European lager kit and it's been fermenting nicely but stopped 4 days ago at 1.020 . the room and beer is at 20-24 degrees Celsius at all times. Is this OK to bottle or is there any more required action ?

Thanks

 

[martyjhuebs]

I would suggest letting it ride until its been in the fermenter a full 2 weeks if you are not going to test it with a hydrometer. There may not be visual signs of fermentation but the yeast is still working on the sugars or they are cleaning up any byproducts of fermentation.

 

[martyjhuebs]

Just saw that you did test the gravity. Is the 1.020 the target gravity you are looking for? It looks like people with this kit have gone lower than 1.020. I would let it ride for the 2 weeks

 

[doug293cz]

If the FG stays stable for 3 days, then fermentation is done. I won't hurt to leave it in the fermenter another week, but it is ok to go ahead and bottle as long as you have a stable FG.

Brew on

 

[Asherzzz]

Thanks all

I was hoping that the FG would be lower than that as it started on 1.040 , of has been in the ferment for 9 days as of yet. I will leave it until the end of this week and hopefully it will have dropped some more

 

[martyjhuebs]

Wow, that seems like an abnormally low percentage...

 

[FireManDan]

Did you do any sort of diacetyl rest? There are alot of factors on why your fermentation may have "stopped". The reason i ask about the diacetyl rest is it usually requires that you ramp up your temp gradually. That in turn usually warms the yeast back up and they get all fired up.

 

[martyjhuebs]

Did you do any sort of diacetyl rest? There are alot of factors on why your fermentation may have "stopped". The reason i ask about the diacetyl rest is it usually requires that you ramp up your temp gradually. That in turn usually warms the yeast back up and they get all fired up.

Is diacetyl rest required for lagering?

 

[FireManDan]

Is diacetyl rest required for lagering?

Nothing is required and that is the beauty of brewing beer. Typically a diacetyl rest is done so that it cleans up just that. I believe it is more common with light lagers where there is nothing to mask the taste of the diacetyl. I have only brewed light american lagers and I did a daicetyl rest each time. There are many ways to skin a cat, in my case after 12 days in the primary at 55F i slowly increased my temperature to 65F. I increased the temp by 2-4 degrees a day until I reach my target temp. After reaching the temp I left it at 65F for roughly a day and a half about 36 hours. Then I, using the same aforementioned increments, dropped the temp to 55F for one week (7 days). After that week I transferred to a secondary where I kept it at 36F for 14-24 days. I say 14-24 because I have done 14 and i have also done 24 annnd I have also done a coupke in between there. I then kegged. Now I'm not saying go out and do what I did, but I read some shhtuff and talked to some people and I kind of put my own lagering schedule together. It has worked for me the multiple times that I have brewed these beers for my American Light lager drinking friends. The point is that raising the temp up rouses the yeast back into action so they can clean shhhtuff up in respects to the diacetyl they produce. Now diacetyl may not be a problem for you but this method popped in my head after reading your question. I hope that you can find some use in this reply. :rockin:

 

[FireManDan]

Hi all

4 days ago at 1.020 . the room and beer is at 20-24 degrees Celsius at all times.
Thanks

I didn't even bother to look at this and I apologize. From my understanding that there is a fairly warm temp to be fermenting with Lager yeast, if that is what you used.

What type of Yeast are you using and if so what are you attenuation %'s?:rockin:

 

[Kerrbrewer]

Check this out

"http://brulosophy.com/lager-method"