Safeale 05 working slow

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TejasBrewing

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I brewed my first all grain biab which the OG was 1.047 so I pitched one packet of safeale 05 dry right on top of the cooled wort (76f). It started fermington in about 5 hours and went slow in the airlock unlike my last brews. It has been 9 days and beer has cleared out pretty but the airlock is still bubbling a bit. Should I pitch more yeast to get this finished up?
 
It's been said all over these forums: your airlock is not a good sign of fermentation.

Fermentation really only takes about a day or two for average OG beers. The rest is yeast clean-up and resultant off-gasing of CO2. CO2 can also be released if you move the fermentation vessel, if the beer raises temperature (gas stays better in cold solutions), and sometimes just because it wants to.

The airlock is a jerk and licks all of your clean dishes while you're not looking.

The absolute only true way of knowing if your fermentation is complete is to take a gravity reading.
 
Personally I would just leave it be until 2 SG readings at 3 days apart are the same. I leave them alone for at least 3 weeks and the normal gravity beers are always done.

*edit: Reno beat me :)
 
Slightly off topic but I use to LOVE US-05 but after a few sluggish fermentation I have looked elsewhere. I would wait and do some consecutive gravity readings.
 
So when you guys are taking gravity readings are you dumping your sample back in? Im using a 6.5 gal ferm and ended up with right at 5 gal so not sure if I can reach it with turkey baster to pull a sample off
 
So when you guys are taking gravity readings are you dumping your sample back in? Im using a 6.5 gal ferm and ended up with right at 5 gal so not sure if I can reach it with turkey baster to pull a sample off

I never return a sample to the fermenter. Too big a risk of infecting the beer.
I use a refractometer to confirm fermentation has ended. (very small samples) When I have a reason to think that it might not be finished. Then I use a hydrometer to get an accurate FG.
 
I prefer low and slow. I hate using a mop on my ceiling.

Agreed, that's why I love US-05. No out of control furious fermentation to heat things up too much, no explosions on the ceiling, it just chugs away, sometimes slowly, but it always gets the job done. I have no temperature control but the ambient 68 in my house so it works great for me. I even used it on a mead, it's at 11.8%abv after 7 weeks and still plugging along, with a tiny bubble every 15 seconds or so.
 
Well here is an update. Beer has been in primary for 16days and transfered to secondary. Pulled a sample off and im sitting at 1.022. Can I pitch yeast again in secondary?

Ps: sample tasted great just a little sweet.
 
I posted in the wrong thread? Im the op and am having some issues with my fermintation.
 
I like 05. I prefer to ferment in the low 60's and yes, it takes a long time to finish. But I always enjoy the beer.
 
Can I pitch more yeast in secondary to get the fg down more?

A pack of 05 for a 1.047 brew should have been plenty of yeast, so I'm not thinking pitching more yeast would do anything. Can you give us some more information, like your recipe, mash temp, etc?
 
TejasBrewing said:
Well here is an update. Beer has been in primary for 16days and transfered to secondary. Pulled a sample off and im sitting at 1.022. Can I pitch yeast again in secondary?

Ps: sample tasted great just a little sweet.

The only thing that is likely to cause is you spending $5. What was your mash temp and at what temp has it been fermenting? Yeast doesn't just quit at 50% for no reason....
 
Here is my data for this brew.

BIAB

6 row 3lbs
Vienna 3lbs
Flaked maize 2.25lbs
2 row 1.0lbs

Mash water
7 gal heated to 168
Put grains in and stired for 10 mins and temp went down to 156

mashed for 50 mins

Pulled grain bag out via hoist

Heated wort to 168 again and dumped grains in slowly then pulled them back out slowly

Let it hang and drip for probably 15mins and lightly squeezed the bag

Boiled 60 mins
1oz Brewers Gold

Cooled to 78 deg with wort chiller

Transfered to primary 6.5 gal carboy

splashed it around for awhile then pitched 1 pack of safeale 05
 
Did your ferment temps go up and down? How much of a yeast cake is there at the bottom?

Sometimes just racking it to a secodary can start fermentation again. (puts yeast back in suspension, adds O2.)

The conventional wisdom is that just dumping in an other packet of dried yeast won't work. Too hostile an environment for the yeasties. Alcohol and ph. But yours isn't that strong in either so maybe.

So again the conventional wisdom is to add active yeast, ie a starter. Or rack it on top of the yeast cake from an other beer.

Still might want to wait a day to see if the racking kicked started things.

Rudeboy
 
I talked with AHS and they pin pointed to too high of mash temps. The ferm temp sat right at 67 the whole time. I ordered another kit and going to try 150deg mash temp. I am going to add some more sugar to this beer and another package of yeast and see if I can get some more abv. The yeast cake and sediment was about 2inches on bottom of primary.
 
I talked with AHS and they pin pointed to too high of mash temps. The ferm temp sat right at 67 the whole time. I ordered another kit and going to try 150deg mash temp. I am going to add some more sugar to this beer and another package of yeast and see if I can get some more abv. The yeast cake and sediment was about 2inches on bottom of primary.

i routinely mash in the high 150s and even the low 160 degrees and have not noticed that affected the fermentation in a negative way. i think they are just giving an answer, any answer.
 
Mashing at 156 would produce less ferment able sugars and a more hearty beer, like a porter or stout. From your ingredients, it doesn't appear that was the type of beer you were shooting for. So maybe that's why your beer tastes sweet. Mashing at lower temps would probably be what you would want for that beer. What style of beer was it and where did you get the 156 from? Sometimes directions that comes with kits are generic and you have to think about what type of a beer your making to see if it all adds up.
 
The directions were for 150 mash temp but my strike water was too high. Live and learn. It should be a blonde.
 
TejasBrewing said:
The directions were for 150 mash temp but my strike water was too high. Live and learn. It should be a blonde.

I think that the mash was too high also. Too much unfermentable sugar, and that leaves a high fg. You could try more yeast but I doubt it would help.
 
Well what I am trying now is I boiled some fermintable sugar with some water, chilled it and dumped it into the ferm and added more yeast. This might at least get my abv higher.
 
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