Noobish question RE: final gravity

[clayof2day]

So I'm a new brewer and I am in the midst of my second brew. I don't have a secondary, so after about 10 or so days in the primary I have been bottline. My question is regarding my final gravity, it seems a little high for the first two batches. The first was a pale and the second is an amber, and I followed pretty similar recipes for each (1 can liquid extract, 2 lbs. dried extract, 1 lb. crystal malt) The orginal gravities were 1.046 and 1.049 respectively (corrected for temp.) and the final of the first was about 1.018. The second looks like it is going to be about the same as well and this seems a little on the high side. I was just looking for some input from you guys, any ideas why (fermentation temp. is about 70 F, and both were really fast, only observed airlock activity the first 2 days). What are the advantages of moving to a secondary? Will this help? Any input?

Thanks and sorry for the long noob post.

Matt

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I would have guessed your FG's would have been in 1010-1014 range. Two things that may help if you're not already doing them are:
1) Aerating your wort when you pitch. This can be as simple as pouring the cooled wort between two buckets to introduce air or even shaking your fermenter. Only do this after your wort has cooled and before fermentation starts.
2) Making a starter. Search on the forum for lots of information on these, but basically it's a mini batch of beer used to build up your initial yeast cell count.

Secondary won't really help...secondary fermentation is kind of a misnomer as the beer goes through very little actual fermentation activity...it's more for aging to improve flavors and allow the beer to clarify a bit.

Generally speaking, a fast fermentation isn't intrinsically a bad thing and 2-3 days is fine.

 

[drengel]

like beegee said, aeration and a starter are important for a fast and full fermentation. but i wouldn't discount the secondary for helping achieve a full fermentation. although very little fermentation happens, some does. whhen i rack my beers to the secondary they are often in the 1.018 range. after two weeks in the 2ndary they will have gotten down to 1.012-14. so don't think that a secondary can't help this problem somewhat, but the two most important things are aeration and pitching a large enough amount of yeast so the yeast doesn't waaste all its energy (which it gets from aeration) on multiplying, instead using that valuable energy on fermenting.

 

[clayof2day]

Thanks guys, I will attempt a starter on my next batch. However, for the first two I used Muntons dry yeast and the fermentation started very quickly and was very strong and fast (two days of airlock activity). Given this, would you still think that there weren't enough yeast cells to reach a full attenuation?

Maybe for Christmas I can get a secondary fermenter!!

 

[drengel]

the dry yeast has more yeast cells than a liquid yeast tube, so they generally start faster. however using a starter is still better. how fully it attenuates is a matter of whether it gets enough oxygen for energy to convert all the sugars, and the attenuation level of the yeast strain. one of the benefits of dry yeast is the large cell count.

 

[Genghis77]

Anyone using oxygen injection to the fermentation?

 

[El Pistolero]

Anyone using oxygen injection to the fermentation?

Yes, a lot of us do that.

c2d, you say you're bottling at ten days...are you sure your fermentation is finished?

 

[clayof2day]

I think so. I take a hydrometer reading on day 7, 9, and then usually 10 or 11 and so far neither batch has dropped from 1.018. That makes 3 readings at 2 day intervals.

 

[El Pistolero]

I think so. I take a hydrometer reading on day 7, 9, and then usually 10 or 11 and so far neither batch has dropped from 1.018. That makes 3 readings at 2 day intervals.

Given that, your batches are done...you're probably just getting a little more un-fermentable stuff out of your steeped grain than the recipe is taking into account. The beer will probably be a little sweeter than the target, but still good.