Gravity reading not what I expected

[clemson55]

Brewed my Peanut Butter Stout on 1/3, SG was 1.072, I was hoping to get 6.5% or higher on this so FG of about 1.020 or lower. I took my reading today and was sitting at 1.032. I have had no activity in the air lock for a few days. I used the Muntons 6gm dry yeast that comes with the kit I got, rather than get some different yeast. So my question is can I spark up some activity again with what is in there or do I need to pitch more yeast, what are my options? Thanks

 

[Donasay]

Give your primary fermenter a nice swirl and try to shake some of your yeast up. Then take the gravity sample a few more times over the next few days. If it stays at the same level 3 days in a row, it is as fermented as your yeast will get it. If at that point you want, you can try and repitch some yeast like nottingham which seems to ferment dry.

 

[Joker]

Yep give it a swirl. I made a couple 1.070's recently and had to rouse them a couple times each to get them to finish at 1.020.

 

[clemson55]

Swirled it last night, hope I wasnt to aggressive b/c you dont want to oxygenate the beer by this point right?

 

[TheJadedDog]

You won't oxygenate your wort at this point as there shouldn't be any oxygen left in your fermenter (all that CO2 produced during fermentation has displaced it).

I'd bet your problem is the Muntons yeast. From everything I have heard it tends to be highly flocculent so it doesn't always ferment all the way out. Next time I'd recommend Nottingham or Safale.

 

[clemson55]

This is just my second batch so I havent gotten into to much yeast experimentation, I ordered a few packs of Nottingham today with some other stuff just in case I needed to repitch or to use for next time.

 

[joshpooh]

Yea, I think Muntons is only good for beers that are about 5% maybe 6 at most. The problem I had with it twice is that it ferments real close to the FG you expect or even want, but it continues very slowly. If you bottle this is a problem b/c you could create bottle bombs if there is active fermentation going on. The first time I just let it sit in a carboy a couple months and the beer was actually really good when it finally stopped, but I kegged b/c I was afraid there wouldn't be any yeast left to naturally carbonate. The other time I just crash cooled it to stop fermentation and then kegged. There won't be a next time, I won't be using Muntons yeast again.

 

[clemson55]

The swirling produced nothing so I repitched with Nottingham which after 3 days has also produced nothing. I guess now all I can do is transfer to secondary. The thing I am worried about is that once I transfer it kicks up then I end up having to transfer again after that or that I end up with bottle bombs at the end. There are still plenty of sugars 1.032 isnt much lower than my first beer started at. Any thoughts?

 

[TexLaw]

When you say the swirling and repitching produced nothing, did you check that with a hydrometer or just visually? Even with repitching, I would not expect to see the spectacle of fermentation that happened before.


TL

 

[clemson55]

Checked hydro last night since I hadnt seen any visual activity and no change.

 

[david_42]

Do not rack it!

Leave it in the fermenter on the yeast. Warm it up to 75F and swirl it every day for a week.

 

[clemson55]

I have been swirling it every day. I dont really have a way to get it to 75. Its sitting around 67 right now and has been pretty much the whole time.

 

[jester22151]

I have been swirling it every day. I dont really have a way to get it to 75. Its sitting around 67 right now and has been pretty much the whole time.

JUST OUT OF CURIOSITY, WHY NOT JUST BOTTLE ONE BOTTLE AND LET THE REST SIT FOR A WHILE AND SEE WHAT HAPPNS? MAKE SURE YOU PUT THAT BOTTLE SOMWHERE IT WON'T DO ANY DAMAGE THOUGH.

i'M JUST GUESSING, BUT IT WOULD SEEM THAT IF THAT BOTTLE DOESN'T GO OFF IN FOUR OR FIVE DAYS IT PROBABLY WON'T, RIGHT?

 

[TexLaw]

You don't want to wait around for a bottle to go off, and it might not even do so. It's not like the cap just pops off. Usually, the bottle actually explodes, sending glass shards all over the place.

It doesn't always happen just spontaneously, either. I've seen a bottle explode in a guy's hands as he unwrapped it from bubble paper. The thing has been shipped and didn't blow through all that. We found the bottle neck, cap still attached, about twenty feet from where the guy was, and he caught a glass shard just below his eye. He was fine, but we all just about had to change our shorts.

Even when they do blow spontaneously, it doesn't have to happen quickly. I had a souvenir bottle of beer from an event I went to. I never drank it (as the beer wasn't that good), but I kept the capped bottle. A couple years or so after I got it, the dadgum thing blew while I was in the room. Again, more shorts to change.

The moral of the story: Don't mess around with bottle bombs. They are well named.


TL