I think my ferment stopped

[homebrewertodd]

I have a question. I think my ferment stalled and the temp dropped. Since I don't have a brew belt, would it be ok to do a warm bath to try to restart the yeast? I can't repitch because this yeast is only made once a year and I only got one vial. Thanks for any help

 

[andy6026]

How long has it been in the primary and what makes you think it is stalled? What yeast are you using and how cold did it get? I'm assuming that the airlock activity has subsided and that's causing your worry?

Chances are overwhelmingly in favor of everything being fine.

Initial fermentation (first 1-3 days) is by far the most active and its no surprise to see the airlock bubbling like crazy. After that the fermentation slows to a crawl and the chances are good that you won't see any activity at all. The best way to tell, if you absolutely are dying to know, is to take a gravity reading several days apart to see if it's changing. If it's changed then fermentation is still happening, albeit very slowly as it creeps down to FG.

If you do have a stalled fermentation then yes, raise the temp a bit, if you can, and also give the fermenter some gentle jiggling. Also start with a whipser and say, "wakey wakey yeasties, wakey wakey" and then get progressively louder.

Chances are the best thing to do is leave it alone.

 

[brewguyver]

+1 for leave it. With the lower temperatures more CO2 can dissolve so you won't see as much of an airlock activity. Airlock activity isn't a good indicator of what's happening anyway. If it was moving well before and it's over 5 days take a hydro reading and see if there is a problem.

 

[homebrewertodd]

i did this batch on sat afternoon. i never did get the activity i normally do with this beer. day one, the temp went from 68 to 72 and things looked fine, decent activity. yesterday, things started to slow down already, and today, nothing. now, i know airlock activity,(i have a blowoff tube on this one) is no indicator of activity, as i have been reading/posting on here for almost two years now and you guys have that drilled into my head, but for it to stop after less than 48 hours, it makes me a little concerned, and with what it costs to make this one, as well as the time it takes to bottle age it, i want to make sure everything goes right. this will sit almost a year before i can drink it, and costs about $80 a batch. see why im concerned?? lol oh, and its a holiday ale with an og of 1.100 and im using wlp545 belgian strong. i also did a starter on it. 2l water, 1 cup dme

 

[hilts]

i did this batch on sat afternoon. i never did get the activity i normally do with this beer. day one, the temp went from 68 to 72 and things looked fine, decent activity. yesterday, things started to slow down already, and today, nothing. now, i know airlock activity,(i have a blowoff tube on this one) is no indicator of activity, as i have been reading/posting on here for almost two years now and you guys have that drilled into my head, but for it to stop after less than 48 hours, it makes me a little concerned, and with what it costs to make this one, as well as the time it takes to bottle age it, i want to make sure everything goes right. this will sit almost a year before i can drink it, and costs about $80 a batch. see why im concerned?? lol oh, and its a holiday ale with an og of 1.100 and im using wlp545 belgian strong. i also did a starter on it. 2l water, 1 cup dme

What is your OG, yeast strain? 68-72 is not cold at all, but an ideal temp. I assume you have it in a carboy where you can see it, and there are no visible signs of yeast swirling around. Did you aerate? Is this an all grain batch or extract?

 

[hilts]

What is your OG, yeast strain? 68-72 is not cold at all, but an ideal temp. I assume you have it in a carboy where you can see it, and there are no visible signs of yeast swirling around. Did you aerate? Is this an all grain batch or extract?

sorry, didn't see your OG and yeast strain at first. Anyway, wait a week and take a hydrometer reading.

 

[unionrdr]

It could be that initial fermentation is already done. It'll then slowly & uneventfully dreep down to FG from there. Maybe wait till this Saturday to check it again if you really need to. That'll tell you if it's going or not.

 

[andy6026]

Hmm, I'd still say that it's fine. 1.100 is a big beer though so I looked at the yeast profile. It seems that your temp range is fine. I wondered if it was perhaps even too big of a beer for the yeast, but this comment on the yeast thread suggests that this shouldn't be a problem:

This yeast is very impressive. I pitched 2 vials in a 2000ml yeast starter (on stir plate) and pitched this starter 24 hrs later into an OG1.103 at 62 degrees with pure O2 for 2min. Fermentation started within 6 hrs at 60 degrees due to a malfunction of my fermentation chamber. Fermentation was vigorous at 62 Degrees. I let the beer come up to and held the beer a 68 for 3 days and ramped up to 75 after fermentation began to slow. SG 1.015 in 5 days. The spiciness and esters are quite balanced but definitely there. Less spiciness than WLP568. I will be using this for all my dark strong and triple ales. Glad this is available year-round because I love this yeast!

So I would still lean to an assessment that it's fine... but some gentle agitation of the fermentor wouldn't cause any problems, and if you're still worried take some readings a few days apart and see what's going on.

 

[homebrewertodd]

ill let it go for now, i hope i didnt stress the yeast out. i did a starter to make sure i was pitching a good amount. ill take a reading in about a week. i typically leave it in the primary for two weeks before moving it to the secondary with the fruit.

 

[homebrewertodd]

since ive got you guys, do you know of any program that will let me print bottle top labels? had one, but i reformatted and forgot to save it. thanks

 

[unionrdr]

I'm currently using Beer Labelizer. He said once that he was working on top labels,but doesn't have'em yet. But I haven't messed with it in a month or so either.

 

[andy6026]

I used to make them using the free program paint.net. I made my own template that would fit 9 on a page. Then I'd just print them off on a color printer, cut them out and glue-stick them on. I've heard milk works fine too for sticking them on but I have yet to try that.

I'm guessing if you google search what you're looking for, using the 'image' tab then you can get a template for various styles.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,I have the paint.net program as well. It replaces microsoft paint with one that has some photoshop features. It works,but everything has to be done manually ime.

 

[brewguyver]

If it's a big batch and you've only had it going since sat, you may want to consider aerating again and adding some more yeast nutrient. Those yeast will have to work hard on a beer that big. Look up the procedure for a dogfish 120 clone (sans adding sugar).

Just make sure to be VERY sanitary.

 

[homebrewertodd]

Re-aerating, isn't that a bad thing? I was always taught that once you put the yeast in, not to introduce any more O2. If its ok at this point ill try it. Now, I have yeast nutrient in already and I used it in the starter, i also added 2 pounds of honey. Should I add more nutrient? How do I do it? Put some in water and boil? Or can I just add some? I've never had this happen before. Lastly, I was planning on waiting a week and checking gravity, if I do, and its still really high, is it to late to aerate again? Sorry for all the questions.

 

[Yooper]

Re-aerating, isn't that a bad thing? I was always taught that once you put the yeast in, not to introduce any more O2. If its ok at this point ill try it. Now, I have yeast nutrient in already and I used it in the starter, i also added 2 pounds of honey. Should I add more nutrient? How do I do it? Put some in water and boil? Or can I just add some? I've never had this happen before. Lastly, I was planning on waiting a week and checking gravity, if I do, and its still really high, is it to late to aerate again? Sorry for all the questions.

Take a SG reading before doing anything. I would certainly NOT aerate at this point, unless the fermentation was stuck at a high SG.

 

[homebrewertodd]

Ok. Got home and checked sg. I pitched the yeast sat around 3:30 pm. As of 4 pm today, my sg went from 1.100 to 1.060. I think I'm going to let it go for two weeks and check it again. Sound ok?

 

[homebrewertodd]

Update. We went out for a while, came home and I checked it again and there was activity!! Its still going so I'm going to gI've it the two weeks and check it again. Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[homebrewertodd]

Day 7 and its still churning away! Its a slow ferment but its getting done.

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