First brew in trouble.

[Jellyhead]

Hello Everyone.

My new brew kit came the other day with the Canadian Blonde Kit and the Brew Enhancer 1. I started the kit on the 20-4-15 and did everything as the instructions say plus with the many hours of you tube videos, Im sure I did it right.
I was told that to raise the ABV to just add a few liters less of water so I added 20l instead of the 23l.
After a day and a half it started to bubble and did so for just over 2 days then stopped.
The OG was 1.040 and when it stopped it was 1.014.
I was told by someone to open the lid and give a good stir (as I did)
I didnt see any movement but I just today (26-4-15) did a reading and it seems to have stopped at 1.012.
Can I go ahead and bottle with the carb drops? or should I just ditch this and start a new one?
Thanks for any help.
(also its has been in a dark room at about 22c to 24c)

 

[mdindy]

I am not sure what your concern is with ditching it but you should always bottle and try it first before you ditch. that being said I don't know why you would remove the lid and stir, all your doing is introducing oxygen that will only give you problems.

 

[cyanmonkey]

1.012 is generally fine. No worries!

 

[DirtyPirate]

Does it taste horrible or smell rancid? Sounds like you made beer to me. Bottle it you don't stir after fermentation only to add priming sugar. Use your carbonation tabs and soon you will be enjoying beer.

 

[Knkbrand]

I say bottle and let it condition for a couple of weeks...1.012 is completely within normal FG range

 

[Jellyhead]

Ill get bottling then. I hope I didnt spoil it when I stirred it.
Thanks all of you. Very helpful.

 

[cyanmonkey]

Ill get bottling then. I hope I didnt spoil it when I stirred it.
Thanks all of you. Very helpful.

Assuming you sanitized the spoon, worst thing is introduction of some oxygen, which can be detrimental at that stage of the process, but I wouldn't bee too concerned.

 

[RM-MN]

No, no, no!!! Don't stir the beer just because the bubbling stopped. It's supposed to work that way. Don't bottle today because your beer isn't ready yet. Don't dump your beer until you have left it in the fermenter for 2 to 3 weeks and then having checked and found the gravity to be the same 3 days apart by using your hydrometer, bottle it and let is sit in a warm (room temp, not too hot) locations for 3 weeks or more. Then refrigerate a bottle for at least 24 hours to allow the beer to chill properly and sample just one. If you can't stand to drink that one, wait another 2 to 4 weeks and sample a second. If it still is undrinkable, you have my blessing to dump it and my condolences.

 

[govner1]

^^^^This! Patience!!!