Final Gravity too high??

[amiller]

Hey guys,

I'm in the process of brewing my second batch of beer, i used a Coopers Canadian Blonde kit with a Saflager w-34/70 yeast and 1kg of Dextrose

Pitched the yeast in at 27 C and it has been sitting for a week in the primary fermenter at 18 C.

After 24 hours i could notice an egg smell due to the lager yeast, signalling that fermentation has started, but then after 3 or 4 days the foam dissipated and there have been little to no signs of bubbling in the past 2 or 3 days.

OG was 1.04 and the gravity has been stuck at 1.02 for the past 3 days, is it done fermenting or is there something i can do to get the FG to around 1.01?

 

[jekeane]

Some notes on Saflager w-34/70
Optimum fermentation temperature: 48F-59F
Suggested ambient air temp during first 24 hours of fermentation: 53F
Suggested ambient air temperature after 24 hours of fermentation: 53F
Scent during fermentation: Sulfur

There is a good chance that your fermentation is done at 1.020. It happens often with extract kits. There is also a good chance that you heavily stressed the yeast with your high pitching temp and fermentation temps. Lager yeasts are not meant for ale temps.

 

[h22lude]

Pitching at 80 (27) was a little too high. Fermenting at 65 (18) wasn't terrible but ideally you should be around 57 (14) (give or take a few).

Did you aerate enough?

Did you pitch 1 or 2 packets? For a 1.040 OG lager you probably want 2 packets.

There is also a phenomenon going around about extract brews getting stuck at 1.020. I have had an ale get stuck at 1.019 but I also just did a lager and it went to FG. I'd look at your process more than blaming it on extract.

If it really is stuck you could add another packet (maybe half a packet) and see what happens.

 

[amiller]

Pitching at 80 (27) was a little too high. Fermenting at 65 (18) wasn't terrible but ideally you should be around 57 (14) (give or take a few).

Did you aerate enough?

Did you pitch 1 or 2 packets? For a 1.040 OG lager you probably want 2 packets.

There is also a phenomenon going around about extract brews getting stuck at 1.020. I have had an ale get stuck at 1.019 but I also just did a lager and it went to FG. I'd look at your process more than blaming it on extract.

If it really is stuck you could add another packet (maybe half a packet) and see what happens.

Okay, since the temps are a little too high and the beer is currently in the coolest darkest place in my house, there's not a whole lot i can do about that.

I pitched in one packet (11.5 g).

In an attempt to get the FG down below 1.010 without making the beer too yeasty ill try adding half a pack. Would you suggest using the same yeast (saflager w-34/70) or maybe use the ale yeast which came with the kit since it will work better at the temperature my house is currently at (64F or 18C)?

 

[mesa4234]

When I have a stuck fermentation, I usually use safale s-05. It is a clean fermenting yeast as long as you keep it at the right temp. I usually ferment s-05 at around 64, so the ambient temp needs be around between 58-60.

 

[h22lude]

If you can get the temp down, I would go with the lager yeast again.

If you can't get down to lager temps then you might want to use 05 in the low 60s. I'm not really sure how using a lager yeast and then ale yeast will turn out.

If the beer temp during fermentation was 18C, that would be perfect for ale. If that was ambient temp, your beer may be in the 70s which is a little too warm.

I would suggest looking into some kind of temp control. That is one of the top 3 things you should look at (others being aeration and right amount of yeast). If you don't have a large budget you can do something like a swamp cooler. If you have some money to put into it, you can get a fridge and build an eBay temp controller. I found a fridge and built the controller for under $50.

 

[amiller]

Thanks for the help guys, I talked to my LHBS and they suggested waiting another day or two, then take another gravity reading and if it's still stuck at 1.020, then they'll fix me up with a yeast to pitch in to waken it up a little.

 

[flars]

Are you using a hydrometer to measure SG?

Rehydrate your dry yeast before pitching. Pitching dry may have killed up to half the yeast and stressed out the remainder.

 

[amiller]

Are you using a hydrometer to measure SG?



Rehydrate your dry yeast before pitching. Pitching dry may have killed up to half the yeast and stressed out the remainder.

Yup, using a hydrometer, what's the best/cleanest way to rehydrate the yeast so I don't harm it?

 

[flars]

This is a method that can be used for all dry yeast.
http://www.brewwithfermentis.com/tips-tricks/yeast-rehydration/

 

[amiller]

This is a method that can be used for all dry yeast.

http://www.brewwithfermentis.com/tips-tricks/yeast-rehydration/

Awesome, thanks!

 

[amiller]

So I just took a hydrometer reading and it's roughly 1.014. I took a sample and tasted it, sort of a wine taste. Trying to decide whether I should rack it to a secondary tonight or not. If I do, would it continue to ferment a little bit bringing the sg down to around 1.010, which would make it roughly 4.3% before bottling?

 

[flars]

So I just took a hydrometer reading and it's roughly 1.014. I took a sample and tasted it, sort of a wine taste. Trying to decide whether I should rack it to a secondary tonight or not. If I do, would it continue to ferment a little bit bringing the sg down to around 1.010, which would make it roughly 4.3% before bottling?

Racking to a secondary vessel will basically stop the fermentation. Leave it in the primary with the yeast for awhile longer.

 

[amiller]

Racking to a secondary vessel will basically stop the fermentation. Leave it in the primary with the yeast for awhile longer.

By about how much will the alcohol % increase due to the priming sugar?

 

[flars]

By about how much will the alcohol % increase due to the priming sugar?

Fixing supper right now. No time for exact math, but ABV increase would be negligible.