First kit brew, stuck fermentation, then restart in secondary

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anarkisti

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Hello!

I thought I wanted to share my first brewing experience so far with you and maybe you could share some thoughts too!

As a first brew I wanted to do something simple, so I went to my local homebrew store and bought two cans of Brewferm Christmas kit. As a yeast I used the supplied dry yeast.

Specs:
- 2 cans Brewferm Christmas extract
- 2 packs supplied dry yeast
- OG 1.065
- expected FG from manual 1.020
- no additional sugar

I brewed the kit per instructions expect I didn't rehydrate the yeast. Fermentation started after few hours, temperature was 73F. Airlock showed activity for 48hrs and then stopped. After a week I took a sample and gravity reading: 1.026 (hydrometer).

I swirled the fermentation bucket around and waited another week. Sample showed gravity reading 1.026. So I thought I had a stuck fermentation. Then I went to get a pack of Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast. Rehydrated the yeast and pitched it into fermentation bucket.

A week went by and still no airlock activity and gravity reading of 1.026. So I figured that maybe there were some unfermentable sugars and went ahead and racked the beer after three days into secondary.

When racking the beer I saw some yeast rafts floating on top that weren't there before. After racking I took a gravity reading and it was 1.021! And now in the secondary I've got airlock activity maybe twice or more in minute.

I guess I should wait before I bottle? The kit instructions state that one should bottle the beer at 1.020 without priming sugar. I assume that the gravity could drop lower than 1.020?

Cheers! :mug:
 
I think the kit bottling advise is not just bad, but unsafe. Unless you check and find that the gravity is stable, you don't really know how low it will go. It's just not that predictable. A mistake could result in bottle bombs.

Check the gravity 3 days before you plan to bottle. Then check it on bottling day. It it's stable and fairly clear, then you can bottle.

Good luck.
 
Thank you for advice! Should I add priming sugar if I wait for the fermentation to end?

Best regards!
 
Yes - use priming sugar. This calculator http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/ can help calculate the sugar required, but I have some concerns about going over about 2.7 volumes because the pressure might be too much for whatever bottles you're using. I've read some things about needing extra strong bottles for the higher pressure.

You'll find different opinions about the type of sugar, but I use ordinary table sugar (cane sugar). I can't tell any difference from when I used corn sugar, and it's a lot more convenient. I make up a priming solution and boil it for 10 minutes - then cool.
 
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