Should i bottle?

[scaffologist]

I'm brewing a brewhouse pale wheat ale beer kit. Not sure what the OG was, but the kit says it should be around 1.045. Now, I followed the kit instructions and transferred to secondary after day 3. The SG at that time was 1.019. The kit said if it was 1.020 or lower to transfer over. I joined this forum after that and see now that this was way to quick in the primary, but there's nothing I can do about that now. So after 13 days in secondary I checked the SG today and it hasn't budged. The beer was bubbly in the test beaker and tasted a little fizzy as well. I've been fermenting on the lower side of temp at 17 Celsius. Do you think I should bottle it or should I throw a heat belt on and hope it drops some more

 

[twistr25]

You can try to warm it up a little to see if you can knock off a point or 2, but I'd say it's not very likely.

Something should really be done about these kit instructions, they are just begging to turn off beginning brewers with their piss-poor directions.

 

[unionrdr]

17C equalling 62.6F is on the low side for an ale ferment temp,but cool. 18-20C (64.4-68F) might help it get going again. If there's any yeast settled out,gently swirl the fermenter to stir some of it back into solution. You can count on at least a day before you see any meaningfull activity.

 

[scaffologist]

So going ahead and bottling it wouldn't be a good idea then? I cleaned and sanitized my bottles today with anticipation of bottling tomorrow. This kinda has me bummed. I won't make this mistake again though. I have a dark lager that's been in primary 10 days now and I want to transfer it to the glass carbouy the the wheat ale is in. I do have a plastic one, but I'd much rather use glass

 

[unionrdr]

Cleaning the bottles a day or days beforehand is fine. But sanitizing a day early is def a bad idea. Always sanitize right before filling. If the beer isn't at a stable FG,then bottled,you could have some serious bottle bombs on your hands that can seriously hurt people. so make sure it's done fermenting first.
After only 3 days with no action after the transfer you can bet it's just stalled. you need to get it to finish fermenting first.

 

[kh54s10]

1) I suggest that you throw the directions that come with your kits away. 3 days is not a good way to determine when to transfer to secondary. Depending on variables you might have just STARTED fermentation at 3 days. It is generally advised to take a gravity reading after visible signs have stopped then wait 2 days and take another if they are the same, then transfer.

2) Agreed that 17c is low and would make fermentation take longer. Warm it up at least for a few hours to see if you get any signs of further fermentation. You should not need any mechanical heating, room temperature should be fine unless you live in the Arctic Circle.

3) Depending on what plastic your other vessel is made it is perfectly fine to use it. I do not and will not own glass carboys because they are too heavy and too dangerous for me to risk using. I have done 43 batches of all styles all of them in plastic fermenters.

4) Ditto on not sanitizing a day ahead of bottling. After they dry out they will only be sanitary for a very short time.

 

[scaffologist]

Thanks for the tips guys. I put a heat belt on the carboy to raise the temp. The reason I use the heat belt is because I don't want to lug it all the way up the stairs from the basement. I swirled it, but the yeast looks like its caked pretty good on the bottom. The kit didn't just say after 3 days transfer. It said after the foam drops and the specific gravity reads below 1.020. 3-5 days was the time. I know I transferred way to early, and I'll never make that mistake again. The reason for the low temperature was advise from the owner of the local brew shop. When I described to him the type of beer I like to drink, he suggested the low temp to keep it on the crisp side. I brewed a Canadian light lager the same way and it turned out fine. That one was in primary for 7 days though. But it was running out, and I tried to rush things along so I'd have beer in the fridge again. My bad. Once I got on this forum and learned more about what I was doing, I went out and bought the dark Munich lager kit, and I intend to leave that in primary for a full 14 days. Hopefully this beer won't be ruined, that would be a shame

 

[scaffologist]

One more thing. I used the heat belt for the first day until the foam rose, then i removed it, as per the brew shops suggestion

 

[twistr25]

Its actually best for the beers to start off fermenting on the cold side and let them warm up towards the end to finish and clean up.

 

[scaffologist]

Its actually best for the beers to start off fermenting on the cold side and let them warm up towards the end to finish and clean up.

When you say that do you mean durning secondary fermentation?

 

[twistr25]

No, I'd venture to say the majority of beers don't really need secondary. Secondary fermentation is a bit of a misnomer. Firstly, it should be done fermenting before it is transferred anywhere. It doesn't really continue to ferment in the secondary. Typically secondary is reserved for long term aging, (sitting on the yeast cake for extended periods, read months, can have some ill-effects), adding fruits, oak chips, etc, or for dry hopping. I even now dry hop in primary.

So start the beer off in temps towards the lower end of the yeast, I'm usually low to mid 60s, then after about 7-10 days you can let it warm up to upper 60s/low 70s to help the yeast finish up and clean up.

 

[KepowOb]

When you say that do you mean durning secondary fermentation?

A lot of people here (myself included) don't bother with secondaries...
But if you are going to use a secondary, I'm guessing it's over the course of time in the primary you'd raise the temp.

Say you pitch at 17, then let it raise 1 degree a day until you hit 20. I use a swamp cooler, so I don't have complete control like that, but I'll get my wort down to 16-17 and then pitch in that. After 2 days I slow down how often I change my ice, and the temp starts to creep up to about 19-20, where I'll hold it until I bottle. If I was going to secondary, I'd probably let it hit 20 and hold it there for a few week or so before moving it to a secondary, which I'd try to keep at that temp as well, though at that point temp control is less important, unless you introduce something like fruit which might start off another fermentation (I think).

 

[scaffologist]

So I checked the SG on the dark lager that was in primary for 10 days and it was at 1.020 as well. I would imagine that that one stalled out too if the wheat ale hit that number in 3 days. I gave that one a swish and threw a heat belt on that one too. I picked up a honey blonde ale and another primary bucket at set that one going in a closet instead of the basement. It's at room temp, so that one shouldn't have any troubles

 

[twistr25]

Be careful just using warmer temps, depending on the yeast, you could get some unwanted flavors. Is there anything else in your process that could be causing your fermentations to stick? Are you doing extract, can't remember?

 

[scaffologist]

The kits I use are pre made wort kits that come in a box just like a wine kit. They're all grain, but pre made. So there is no chance for error anywhere in the wort, unless they messed it up from the factory, which I highly doubt.

 

[scaffologist]

The yeast in these kits is coopers ale yeast.


Do I have a better chance of reviving the dark ale since it is still sitting on the yeast cake,

 

[kh54s10]

If you are brewing extract recipes, 1.020 is a common sticking point. The are done and will not go lower but you must be sure they are truly done before bottling.

IMO 10 days is minimum before starting to take gravity readings.

Also you talked about doing a lager. Read up on them because they are fermented at very different temperature schedules than ales.

Room temperature for the start of fermentation may or may not be a good idea. You want to control the wort temperature. Each yeast has it's preferred range and most people shoot for the mid to low end of that range. Fermentation creates internal heat and the wort may get 5-10 degrees warmer than ambient and could lead to producing fusel alcohols which will give the beer an unwanted "bite".

Racking to secondary before fermentation is finished is an old outdated procedure which is no longer considered best practice.

 

[scaffologist]

I'm not making extract kits. It's pre made packaged all grain wort. I asked the guy at the brew shop and he says they should come out at around 1.010.

 

[scaffologist]

And I know I said lager, but technically I'm not making lager. I guess their lager recipes with ale yeast. All the kits come with coopers ale yeast.

 

[mChavez]

I'd also suggest throwing the kit instructions away. They've never done me any good.

Primary fermentation: 3-4 weeks; Ageing in the bottles: at least 3 weeks (except wheat beers or very hoppy beers imho - they are fine once they are carbed).

The only way I learned to wait for so long was to buy 2 extra fermenting buckets

 

[kh54s10]

I'm not making extract kits. It's pre made packaged all grain wort. I asked the guy at the brew shop and he says they should come out at around 1.010.

This pre packaged all grain wort is Dry Malt Extract.

It "should" finish at 1.010 but for some reason extracts often will stop at 1.020. They are done but you need to be sure it is not stalled before bottling. If fermentation continues after bottled the pressure build up could cause the bottles to explode.

It is unlikely it will stall but it could happen.

If you don't try to rush things and do the next step at the minimum amount of time you should be good and will likely produce a better beer.

 

[scaffologist]

Well, I think the reason it may have stalled is due to temperature. I was tip toeing on the lower limit of the yeast with no temperature control. Do you think the temp dropping too low could cause the yeast to stall?

 

[twistr25]

Theoretically yes, but I don't think you were that low to have stalled it. Did the heat belt not really help? Sometimes a gentle rocking to get some yeast back in suspension can help.

 

[scaffologist]

I checked it this morning and it looks like its back going again. There are small bubbles rising to the surface. Thanks for the tips. My beer is alive!