final gravity

[THEDIETZ]

so my oktober fest had an OG of 1.053 which was right about where it should have been but my FG has been. 1.022 for the past 3 days but my target was 1.012 -1.015. what happened? I guess it will still be ok just less alcoholic? thanks for the help

 

[homebrewer_99]

Stuck fermentation. Chances are if you rouse the yeast off the bottom they'll come back to life.

Take a sanitized spoon and drag it across the bottom of the fermenter once or twice. No need to stir. You don't want to introduce oxygen into the brew.

 

[menschmaschine]

It's hard to say without the recipe. Could be stuck or that could be all you're going to get.

 

[TheJadedDog]

Sounds stuck to me. What temp are you fermenting at? What type of yeast did you use? You may need to warm it up just a smidge when you rouse the yeast but it's hard to say for sure.

 

[THEDIETZ]

Well I brewed this on Sept 28th and After my final gravity hit 1.022 for 3 days last week I racked it to my seconary thinking this might stir up the yeast but it hasn't. I unfortunely think it may be done. I was making this for a party this weekend, This is the first time I have had a problem like this!!

 

[TheJadedDog]

Aha, now we know the real problem, you racked too early. You should never rack your beer until fermentation is complete, the second stage is just for cleaning things up, not for actual fermentation. When you racked the beer you removed it from the majority of the yeast, thus stalling fermentation. Repitch some dry yeast and give it another week.

 

[THEDIETZ]

i thought the general rule was after you get a same gravity reading for 3 days racK? Since it was not at my final gravity target should I have tried to stir it up to reactivate the yeast???

 

[TheJadedDog]

i thought the general rule was after you get a same gravity reading for 3 days racK? Since it was not at my final gravity target should I have tried to stir it up to reactivate the yeast???

Exactly. When the gravity remained unchanged for several days but was still significantly above the target gravity, that would have been the time to do as Homebrewer_99 recommended and stir the yeast up, maybe bring the temp up slightly, to get the yeast going again in the primary. When you racked you lost the majority of the yeast.

The beer won't be ready for the weekend, but just repitch and let it ferment in the secondary vessel (if it's a 5 gallon vessel you may want to use a blow-off), once it's done forget about another stage and just bottle it.

 

[BigKahuna]

i thought the general rule was after you get a same gravity reading for 3 days racK?

You'll find it hard to get a consensus around here. Unless it's a beer designed for a short turnaround, there is a good chance MOST of us will recommend 10 - 14 days MINIMUM on the primary yeast.

 

[THEDIETZ]

so just buy another bottle of the same liquid yeast i used before and add it all? and once again...thanks for the replies!

 

[TheJadedDog]

Yeah you could either buy another vial and pitch it, or pitch a dry yeast, either way should be fine.