It's been 10 days...

[Wright]

And I still have not hit my FG. Starting was 1.060 and I just checked it and its only at 1.028 and i'm trying to get to 1.012. It took at least 4 days for the yeast to start fermenting. I did a 10 gallon batch of Dale's Pale Ale and its fermenting at 66F in a half barrel speidel in a temperature controled fridge.
Question is if it's done and not going to go any further or should I give it more time? Help this new guy out.

 

[Sourz4life]

Give it more time. Not all beers are equal and depending on many factors can take longer then others. Some of my ales take 6 days, some take 3-4 weeks to hit OG. What kind of yeast did you use?

 

[Wright]

Give it more time. Not all beers are equal and depending on many factors can take longer then others. Some of my ales take 6 days, some take 3-4 weeks to hit OG. What kind of yeast did you use?

American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272)
And I did not make a starter but I have built a stir plate and will be making a starter from now on.

 

[oujens]

Can you provide your grain bill?

What Yeast? If liquid, did you use a starter? Enough yeast for 10 gallon batch of 1.060 OG beer?

How did you oxygenate the wort?

What was the mash temp?

These are some things that could factor into your FG.

 

[Sourz4life]

If you only used one of the packs for Wyeast for the whole 10 gallons then it would have been an under pitch of yeast. Each of those are designed to ferment only up to 5 gallons under OG's for 1.079. So for 10 gallons you'd either want to pitch both or build up the starter on a stir plate. If you did only pitch one that you could just pitch another one in.

 

[kh54s10]

Since you pitched less than 1/4 the yeast you should have you will need to wait it out. Raise the temperature of the wort to 68 or 70 degrees, swirl up the trub and hope for the best. If it doesn't go lower you will need to repitch.

Assuming that you are measuring the FG with a hydrometer and not a refractometer.

 

[Wright]

Well Crap, looks like I under pitched...
So is there any issue with pitching again now? I haven't had to re-pitch before.

 

[Wright]

Since you pitched less than 1/4 the yeast you should have you will need to wait it out. Raise the temperature of the wort to 68 or 70 degrees, swirl up the trub and hope for the best. If it doesn't go lower you will need to repitch.

Assuming that you are measuring the FG with a hydrometer and not a refractometer.

Yes I did measure with a hydrometer.

 

[Wright]

Can you provide your grain bill?

What Yeast? If liquid, did you use a starter? Enough yeast for 10 gallon batch of 1.060 OG beer?

How did you oxygenate the wort?

What was the mash temp?

These are some things that could factor into your FG.

Grain bill:
16 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 66.7 %
7 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 2 29.2 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.2 %

Wort was 156.
I did not oxygenate...I have never done this other than running it through the chiller and into my fermentor. I pitch yeast and then shake it with the lid on.

 

[kh54s10]

Read up on yeast, starters and pitching rates.

Two calculators that I use:
http://www.yeastcalculator.com/
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

The yeast should reproduce to cell counts required to ferment the beer all the way. Off flavors are created from stressed yeast while this process occurs. If they are unable to finish the fermentation you will need to pitch more yeast. I would wait at least another week before deciding on this step though.

 

[Wright]

Read up on yeast, starters and pitching rates.

Two calculators that I use:
http://www.yeastcalculator.com/
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

The yeast should reproduce to cell counts required to ferment the beer all the way. Off flavors are created from stressed yeast while this process occurs. If they are unable to finish the fermentation you will need to pitch more yeast. I would wait at least another week before deciding on this step though.

Thanks for the information. I will read up on this.

 

[dwhite60]

I agree with kh54S10. Warm it up some. Give it another week. Stop worrying, the yeast can sense it.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[dallasdb]

Warm it up, disturb the trub and wake the yeast up.

Don't even look at it again for another week. You'll probably be fine.

 

[jonny24]

I lately don't even bother checking for two weeks. Some rip right through, probably four days, but I don't get around to it.

More time never hurts.

 

[Tribe Fan]

I lately don't even bother checking for two weeks. Some rip right through, probably four days, but I don't get around to it.

More time never hurts.

This. I just did a pretty standard pale ale. Pitched a white labs 001 tube straight into it. It was going strong within 5 hours. Within 24 hours it blew the airlock off with krausen running down the sides. After 10 days I transferred to secondary, and it bubbled away for another week, at least 17 days total.

I just bottled it's sister batch that I pitched with 056 yesterday and it was pretty tasty. No worries.

 

[ViciousFishes]

I'd:
1. Build a small starter of another smack pack of yeast.
2. Pitch the starter at high krausen after 12-18hrs, or so, at current temps
3. Let that ferment out for 3-5 days, and then
4. Ramp to 72* to allow yeast to clean up after themselves.

 

[Wright]

I will be checking in on my beer today. I made a starter two days ago and it's been on my stir plate since. I'm going to pitch again today unless my FG has been hit when I check it.

 

[Wright]

Checked my gravity again and I was still at 1.028. I repitched it and bumped the temp up to 72 and it was working away when I checked today.

 

[dallasdb]

More time never hurts.

Well technically... generally yes but I've let some go too long and the FG was lower than called for. It left the beer tasting "dry" is the best I could describe it.

 

[beergolf]

Well technically... generally yes but I've let some go too long and the FG was lower than called for. It left the beer tasting "dry" is the best I could describe it.

Leaving a beer for longer has nothing to do with the FG. Once the fermentables are used up the yeast stops. A FG predicted by brew software is just an estimate. If your beer ended up at a lower than predicted FG then it was just eating the available sugars. If you would have bottled it when you hit the predicted FG , it would have continued to ferment and you would have had gushers at best, and bottle bombs at the worst. Time has nothing to do with FG.

To the OP.. You way underpitched. The yeast was severely stressed and may or may not finish out. If it does there may he off flavors. One pack without a starter for a 5 gallon batch would have been underpitching. One pack for a 10 gallon batch is way underpitching. Your pitching more yeast may help but any off flavors may have already been set.

Good luck.

 

[Wright]

Leaving a beer for longer has nothing to do with the FG. Once the fermentables are used up the yeast stops. A FG predicted by brew software is just an estimate. If your beer ended up at a lower than predicted FG then it was just eating the available sugars. If you would have bottled it when you hit the predicted FG , it would have continued to ferment and you would have had gushers at best, and bottle bombs at the worst. Time has nothing to do with FG.

To the OP.. You way underpitched. The yeast was severely stressed and may or may not finish out. If it does there may he off flavors. One pack without a starter for a 5 gallon batch would have been underpitching. One pack for a 10 gallon batch is way underpitching. Your pitching more yeast may help but any off flavors may have already been set.

Good luck.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've underpitched all my batches(10 or so). I will make sure I pitch enough now.

 

[dallasdb]

beergolf,

You have a good point about bottle bombs and gushers but this wouldn't be the case when kegging, correct?

It was years ago and it was a simple blonde ale I brewed frequently. I don't remember what was different that time around besides I left it for a few months before kegging and was shocked at the FG.

That and it tasted "dry" which is the best way I could describe it. Which is from tannins I believe. Don't know if it had anything to do with how long it sat or what.

It's been awhile since I "knew my stuff" when it came to brewing. I've been out of the game for years and am just starting back up.

 

[ViciousFishes]

What temperature did you repitch at? Best would have been within the normal temp guidelines for your yeast. Then ramp the temp after a few days.

I'd expect some off flavors in this batch, between stressed yeast from the initial under pitch and then repitching at elevated temps. But you never know... yeast can be incredibly hardy creatures. Be sure to post tasting notes when you get to that point!!

 

[Wright]

What temperature did you repitch at? Best would have been within the normal temp guidelines for your yeast. Then ramp the temp after a few days.

I'd expect some off flavors in this batch, between stressed yeast from the initial under pitch and then repitching at elevated temps. But you never know... yeast can be incredibly hardy creatures. Be sure to post tasting notes when you get to that point!!

Just warmed it up about two degrees when I repitched. We just got an AC unit in out brew room so I was able to pull the batch out of the fermentation chamber(temp controlled fridge) and leave it in the room as it is holding steady at 70.
I will certainly post my uneducated tasting notes.

 

[Wright]

It's been 6 days since I pitched again and i tested the gravity today and it was only at 1.026 where it was 1.028 last Friday. I guess I'm just going to let it sit another two weeks and see what happens.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Take the yeast cake from this batch and pour it into a mason jar or two for the next batch.Its free yeast and you wont need a starter. look up reusing yeast.Skip the washing part you made read about,not needed

 

[Wright]

Take the yeast cake from this batch and pour it into a mason jar or two for the next batch.Its free yeast and you wont need a starter. look up reusing yeast.Skip the washing part you made read about,not needed

How do you know how much yeast you actually have? I'd hate to under pitch again.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

How do you know how much yeast you actually have? I'd hate to under pitch again.

The yeast calculator under "slurry" I think they call for around 250ML for 5 gallons.I usually just go around 450-500 ML Its near impossible to overpitch.The mason jars have ML marking making it real easy

 

[Wright]

Just check my gravity again and it hasn't budged. Also tasted the beer and it seems to has soured... Any thoughts?

Edit, I think my taste buds may be playing a tricks on me. I'm on some anti biotics and I'm afraid that may be the problem.