Gravity issue question

[Alabamy]

My initial gravity before pitching was 1.046 at 97 degrees. After 11 days the gravity was 1.045 at 65 degrees. The fermentation went crazy (63-65 degrees) for the first 4-5 days then stopped. I moved the container to a warmer area (68 degrees for the rest of the time.) I am drinking some unconditioned wort over ice and it tastes fine, but I'm curious why the gravity hasn't changed much.


Andy's ABV Calculator
Gravity / ABV Calculator Results:

Here are the results of your calculations with your gravity readings corrected for temperature:
Temp Corrected Scale UnCorrected
Original: 1.051 Specific Gravity 1.046
Final: 1.045 Specific Gravity 1.045
Alcohol By Weight: 0.6 %
Alcohol By Volume: 0.8 %

 

[CBMbrewer]

It's gone down by 6 points. Give it some time, some yeast are slower than others.

 

[dgr]

What do you mean by, "...it tastes fine?" Do you mean it tastes fine like beer should or do you mean it tastes fine like unfermented wort should taste? 1.045 would have a distinctly sweet taste to it.

6 points in 6+ days with active fermentation puts my believability meter into the red zone. Like you, I would be looking for an explanation. Is your container you put the sample in deep enough for your hydrometer? Does your hydrometer read 1.000 in plain water?

 

[Alabamy]

This is a True Brew Nut Brown Ale partial mash kit. I used Danstar Nottingham yeast, rehydrated, instead of the Muntons the kit came with.

By tastes fine I mean it doesn't taste bad. It doesn't taste tainted or anything, no strong ester flavors, no butter, butterscotch, juicyfruit or anything bad. It tastes like coffee and caramel, very nice, I added some coffee beans at flameout. I also added extra hops and some additional grain since the kit was old. About 1/2 lb of Caramel 40l Briess at 165 for 45 minutes. This is my first batch, the taste seems fine over ice, no off flavors or anything but it really doesn't seem to have any alcohol. The directions said to wait 1 week, I read here that was too short but I honestly expected more action by now.


I am concerned I kept it too cold and hurt fermentation or something. I make a lot of fermented products other than beer so I know how important temperature is for the yeast. The final gravity is suppose to be around 1.017 within 1 week. I really think I must have kept it too cold but it's tasty even flat. There is so much conflicting advice about temperature control. I pitched at 76 on July 31st, then let it sit in front of the a/c so it reached about 58, the next day I gently moved it to an area where it fermented at 63, then I moved it gently (to avoid oxidation) on Thursday 8/8 to another area where it reached 68.

 

[KepowOb]

Your fermentation temps were fine. Slowly bringing the temp up over fermentation is usually a good thing as well...

Are you using a refractometer instead of a hydrometer by any chance?

 

[flars]

You may need to allow more time. Temperature drop from 76° to 58° in a short time may have stressed the yeast a bit.

 

[duboman]

You added another 8oz of crystal malt at 165? Is this the temperature that you mashed your grains at?

If so you mashed about 12 degrees too hot and produced a wort that is highly in-fermentable.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,the mash temp should've been more like 152-155F. 165F is def way too high. You'll get more long chain sugars that way. Not to mention conversion wouldn't be as good.

 

[dgr]

It's a PM kit. It isn't a mash per se but an extraction of the colors and already developed starches and sugar from the specialty grain. He could have dumped the grains into boiling water and that wouldn't have affected the fermentability. I see way too many fermentables listed for mash temperatures to explain any of this.

Hopped Light Malt Extract (1 can)
Light Dried Malt Extract (1 lb)
Amber Dried Malt Extract (1 lb)
Special Dark Brown Sugar (1 lb)
Grain Steeping Bag
Grains: Chocolate, Dark Crystal & Roasted Barley

Can you test your hydrometer? 4 oz of sugar dissolved to a quart of solution should give you around 46 gravity points. Pure water should read 1.000. Do you have a friend with a hydrometer you could compare against?
My question on whether the beer is sweet or not was vague. So, Is it sweet? It would be nice to determine if it is a measuring issue or a fermentation issue.

 

[duboman]

It's a PM kit. It isn't a mash per se but an extraction of the colors and already developed starches and sugar from the specialty grain. He could have dumped the grains into boiling water and that wouldn't have affected the fermentability. I see way too many fermentables listed for mash temperatures to explain any of this.

Hopped Light Malt Extract (1 can)
Light Dried Malt Extract (1 lb)
Amber Dried Malt Extract (1 lb)
Special Dark Brown Sugar (1 lb)
Grain Steeping Bag
Grains: Chocolate, Dark Crystal & Roasted Barley

Can you test your hydrometer? 4 oz of sugar dissolved to a quart of solution should give you around 46 gravity points. Pure water should read 1.000. Do you have a friend with a hydrometer you could compare against?
My question on whether the beer is sweet or not was vague. So, Is it sweet? It would be nice to determine if it is a measuring issue or a fermentation issue.

If there was no mash then it's not a partial mash kit, it's an extract kit with steeped specialty grains and there is a big difference between the two.

Now my guess is that since most extract kits involve partial boil with top off of at least two gallons the issue probably is related to a bad mix of wort and water creating an off gravity reading to begin with

Edit: just re-read the Op and there isn't even a FG listed other than what the kit states so I am now confused as to what is being asked? Take a gravity reading to see where the beer is at!

 

[Elijah]

I worked as a computer technician a few years ago and discovered that the most confusing problems are usually caused by and overlooked minor issue (that why is was overlooked)
So from my perspective:

1- Is the hydrometer accurate?
2- Did you write down the SG or remember it? (Maybe you remember the number wrong)
3- Did you make sure no bubbles were causing the hydrometer to float? (spin it before a reading)
4- When you took second reading was the container you used for the hydrometer clean?
5- Was the yeast active for couple of days of just that one instance you sate in your post?

A no in any of the above might lead to a solution.

 

[woozy]

Okay, looked up the recipe here, here and here.

It is *not* what *I* would call a partial mash but what I would call Extract with Grains-- it has 15 oz of grains (8 oz Crystal which doesn't mash-- the rest chocolate and roasted barley {only 1 oz} contribute very few fermentables) 2 lbs LME, 1 lb DME and 1 lb sugar.

Thus my pet theory, that the mash was too high and resulted in 45 points of unfermentable sugar, is out the window.

Somehow fermentation got stalled out way too early.

 

[duboman]

There is no way that after 11 days the gravity dropped .001 points only. The OG reading was probably off due to top off and the FG was taken incorrectly

 

[woozy]

There is no way that after 11 days the gravity dropped .001 points only. The OG reading was probably off due to top off and the FG was taken incorrectly

The o.g. was taken at 95. So adjusting for temperature it'd be 1.051 so it dropped 6 points.

Which still seems impossible. But...

he says it didn't taste alcoholic and he describes it as tasting like "coffee and caramel" which *doesn't* sound like beer at all to me. He didn't mention the all important factor-- did it taste sweet. But considered it is described as "coffee and caramel" and tasting "nice" over ice, I imagine it probably does.

So I'm stumped. Dead yeast? Stalling out? He pitched at 95 which... well, not enough to kill it but ... So... is it hypothetical to kill and stress yeast enough that it *does* ferment just 6 points worth and then poops out? I kind of doubt it... yet here we are...

Or could that "formenting like mad for 4 days" have not been fermentation at all? Could it simply have been airlock bubble as the formenter drops thirty degrees in 4 days? Was there any *other* sign of fermentation. Foam? Ring? Bubbles? Yeast bits swirling around in the murk?

Adjusting for temp is an estimate. And a point here and there as a margin of error makes it *possible* that there was utterly no fermentation.

 

[Alabamy]

I'm a she everyone. I think the most likely explanation is that I didn't that the hydrometer reading correctly yesterday. I may not have added enough wort or maybe there were bubbles or something. I just took another reading, this time filling up the hydrometer more. I am getting the correct reading now at 1.018 at 61 degrees! Thanks so much for helping!

 

[Yooper]

Elijah: The hydrometer is accurate, I wrote down the gravity and initial temperature before pitching the yeast. I spun the thing around a little to get rid of the foam, didn't see any bubbles at the bottom. The fermentation was very active for about a week.

Something is fishy. It's simply NOT possible to have active fermentation for a week, and yet have the beer drop only a few points.

Can you check your hydrometer in water (tap water is fine) and make sure it reads 1.000?

 

[duboman]

I'm a she everyone. I think the most likely explanation is that I didn't that the hydrometer reading correctly yesterday. I may not have added enough wort or maybe there were bubbles or something. I just took another reading, this time filling up the hydrometer more. I am getting the correct reading now! thanks so much for helping!

Glad to hear you figured it out

 

[Elijah]

I'm a she everyone. I think the most likely explanation is that I didn't that the hydrometer reading correctly yesterday. I may not have added enough wort or maybe there were bubbles or something. I just took another reading, this time filling up the hydrometer more. I am getting the correct reading now! thanks so much for helping!

Glad it worked out
As I said before, the most confusing problems are usually caused by and overlooked minor issue
keep us posted