Need advice with my second batch.

[ManuteSwol]

I'm attempting to make the Brewer's Best Pumpkin Spice Porter.

http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1062 Pumpkin Spice.pdf

It calls for a starting gravity of 1.057-1.061, but my gravity (normalized to 60F) was about 1.052.. a little low to begin with. Then again, so was my first brew... and it turned out OK. Can hydrometers be OFF? I know the thermometer I received with the brewer's best kit was WAY off.

Anyhow, I did put the wort away a little warm.. mid 80s. Fermentation was very active at 12 and 36 hours. After coming back from a long weekend where the wort progressively cooled to about 66, the airlock had very few bubbles at 72 hours and is practically void of bubbles at 102 hours. Gravity is now about 1.020 (same as it was about 30 hours ago).. was expecting closer to 1.01. There are suds all over the top of the beer, but no foam.

What should I do now? Did the yeast go dormant? Should I accept the fact that I'm going to have a weak beer? Should I grab some additional yeast?

 

[ManuteSwol]

Anyone? We've got some warmer weather coming.. so I'm thinking it can turn around..

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Try rousing the yeast. If doesn't work you could try pitching some fresh.

 

[Cimerian]

I'm a newb but I would just leave it and let it work for awhile longer. Check the gravity in another week then 3 days after that to make sure it's stopped then bottle it.

 

[imrook]

It calls for a starting gravity of 1.057-1.061, but my gravity (normalized to 60F) was about 1.052.. a little low to begin with. Then again, so was my first brew... and it turned out OK.

How accurate are you measuring your water? If you put 5.5 gallons in the fermenter that would move your O.G. from 1.057 to 1.052.

Can hydrometers be OFF? I know the thermometer I received with the brewer's best kit was WAY off.

Yes hydrometers can be off. The easiest way to check it to put it in plain tap or distilled water. It should read 1.000 (after correction for temperature of course.)

Anyhow, I did put the wort away a little warm.. mid 80s. Fermentation was very active at 12 and 36 hours.

Mid 80's is more than a little warm. S-04 is going to throw quite a bit of fruity esthers at that temp. The bold flavors of the porter should cover a lot of them, so don't sweat it, but you really should be pitching under 70 degrees.

After coming back from a long weekend where the wort progressively cooled to about 66, the airlock had very few bubbles at 72 hours and is practically void of bubbles at 102 hours. Gravity is now about 1.020 (same as it was about 30 hours ago)..

Fermentation does slow down as it nears the end. The yeast are still working and improving the beer--let them work. To determine when primary fermentation is complete you should have 3 identical hydrometer readings over 3 days. Thats 72 hours, not 30.

was expecting closer to 1.01. There are suds all over the top of the beer, but no foam.

I'm not sure why you were expecting 1.01 when the kit instructions say F.G. should be 1.014 - 1.018. You can see you're getting close to the top end of that range now. Give the yeast a little more time.

What should I do now? Did the yeast go dormant? Should I accept the fact that I'm going to have a weak beer? Should I grab some additional yeast?

You may want to try rousing the yeast. Just give the fermenter a gentle swirl. S-04 is highly flocculant and does tend to drop out like crazy when the temp gets low, but as long as the beer is still on the yeast cake, you're good. As is so often the case with beer, patience is the best path forward.

 

[ManuteSwol]

Thanks for the detailed response. Was thinking I'd end up close to (not at) 1.01 since I started at a lower gravity in the first place. It looks like my hydrometer is about .001-.002 off.. So the 1.052 may have been more like 1.053-1.054.

I'll let it sit till the weekend then re-test.