fermentation

[Proofman]

Two weeks ago Sunday I brewed a pale ale. Starting gravity was 1.061. I pitched a 2 qt starter of wyeast London ale III (1pm). The next morning this is what I had.

I took a gravity reading after 7 days in the primary and I got 1.030 (with a healthy krausen). I closed it up and let it go for another week. Yesterday I opened it up and still had about a ½” krausen and a gravity reading of 1.025. It is still bubbling, but very slowly. I had another smack pack of London Ale III, so I decided to smack it and pitch (knowing that if they did take off conditions would be so that it would take a while for them get up and going).

After I did that I read in Palmer’s book that if ther is a sudden temp drop it could cause yeast activity to drop off. The temp did drop last week, and as a result there was a one night drop of 5-6F in my “fermentation room”. Palmer suggest moving to a warmer room and swirling to resuspend some of the yeast.

Should I try this or just give it more time? I worry about contamination when swirling.

 

[Yooper]

If it still has a krausen and the sg is dropping, it's still fermenting. No reason to add more yeast.

What is the temperature at now?

 

[eviljafar]

I wouldn't worry about swirling per se. From the pics the thing I would worry about is all that wort all over the place. You're asking for some nasties to start growing in that, and if you swirl and suck in a little air containing nasties from that mess you'll be in trouble. Clean and sanitise the oustide of your pail, the wall; everything with wort on it. Clean and sanitise the lid and if you need to remove it to get into some crevices makes sure nothing falls in the wort. If you are brewing in an environment that invites wort loving nasties you're going to get some in your beer sooner or later. And you're going to have to lift that pail out to transfer to secondary or bottle, and when you lift a full plastic pail it always sucks a little air in.

 

[Proofman]

The temp this morning was 64F. There was one day the first week when the temp went from 68-69F down in the low sisxties (62-63?).

I added more yeast yesterday, but didn't consider temp until this morning.

I had cleaned things and I replaced the lid, because it was so deformed, the day after it blew.

 

[shafferpilot]

that's one heck of a bomb ya got there:rockin:

 

[Joker]

that's one heck of a bomb ya got there:rockin:

It had great potential.

 

[cubbies]

FWIW, I swirl pretty much all of my brews. I have never had an infection.

 

[Yooper]

FWIW, I swirl pretty much all of my brews. I have never had an infection.

And I never swirl. And I've never had a stuck fermentation. I don't even touch or look at my buckets or carboys until I'm ready to transfer them.

So, I guess there really isn't a "right" answer here. Patience is the main key- the beer will finish whether you swirl or not.

 

[Proofman]

Well, right now it is bubling every 25 sec (avg over 5 min). I will wait a week and check the gravity. It just blows me away that it can take off like a bomb then go into granny gear like that.