Slow Fermentation

[TGro]

Working on my first batch which is an Irish Stout and haven't reached the desired FG reading yet.

My OG was 1.044, and in the first 36 hours I saw a lot of activity in the airlock. After that it died down almost entirely. After 1 week I took a reading and it was showing 1.032. Now it has been 2 weeks fermenting in my plastic bucket and is at 1.02, the instructions say FG should be 1.01-1.012.

I just moved it to a different room that is a little warmer (bucket reading on side is now showing 66F), and spun it around a little to try and wake up the yeast. When I put the lid on there was a decent amount of activity in the airlock for about 5min.

Am I freaking out or should I be getting ready to re-pitch yeast? If so will there be a big impact on the results of the beer? And is it bad to ferment in plastic for ~4weeks?

 

[joftinac]

First - don't freak out.
Re-pitching yeast is probably not your answer.
You may have a stuck fermentation - or your fermentation may be complete and there is nothing to worry about, unless you were really hung up on a specific ABV as a measure of your success.
This batch will probably turn out better than most of the stuff you buy in stores, so let's hope for that and focus on possible troubleshooting.
-----
I'll ask a few questions here that should help us help you.
- How did you aerate your wort?
- What kind of yeast did you use?
- How did you pitch your yeast? (temps, rehydration, etc...)
- At what temp did you ferment for those active 36 hours?

Let us know about some of those variables and we can chime in with some more applicable advice. 8^)

 

[Piratwolf]

No worries with a plastic bucket. I bet about half the people here use them all the time!

It sounds to me that your fermentation may have been a bit in the cold side, which tends to make yeast sleepy. Moving to a warmer room was a wise idea, and I expect that with a little patience you'll find your beer finishing nicely.

If you brewed an extract kit, there seems to be a phenomenon where beer will simply not drop below 1.020 for some reason. Haven't seen it personally, but read about it here from skilled & reliable brewers. If that's the case, not to worry. 1.020 is not ideal, but it's okay--especially for a stout. Personally, I wouldn't pitch more yeast, but ymmv.

Good luck!

 

[RM-MN]

My best beer was a stout that sat in the plastic bucket fermenter for 4 1/2 weeks. Don't worry about the plastic bucket.

 

[unionrdr]

Sounds like it's just not done yet. Warming it was a good thing to do. Give it another week & check it again. I've had dark beers take longer to finish that weren't more than mid gravity. I think the darker malts have something to do with it.

 

[Brewnoob1]

As others have said, plastic is fine. If you go longer than a few months, you may want to think of a secondary, but nothing wrong with plastic. People go a month all the time in their primaries and report no issues.

If you moved the bucket to a warmer spot and it now reads 66, how cool was it before? A gentle swirl to get yeast back in suspension with warmer temps should help. I'd check after a few days of doing those 2 things and take it from there. Being close to your FG, I wouldn't repitch and would just say that it's done. Who knows, you may have stumbled but found that you made it exactly the way it should taste to your liking.

 

[TGro]

Thanks for all the info everyone.....hopefully I will see some improvements in the next couple of days with a little warmer temperature.

@joftinac - I aerated the wort by pouring it rather viciously through a strainer and into the fermenter (maybe could have passed it back and forth a little more). I used Muntons dry yeast which I rehydrated following the steps on the packaging, and pitched it when the wort was down to 70F. In the first 36 hours the ambient temp was around 70 and the temp on my bucket was reading around 80. After that my room cooled down quite a bit and my bucket readings were then closer to 62-65.

@Piratwolf - I used a kit from MidwestSupplies that was grains and included malt extract.

Guess I will wait and see.....Thanks!

 

[Brewnoob1]

How long did the bucket read 80? Fermenting that warm could produce some off flavors. Hopefully it wasn't too long however and you'll be fine.

 

[TGro]

I'm guessing it was at 80 for maybe 12 hours. Once I saw that I moved it to a colder room to bring it down to mid/low 60s in a couple hours.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

If you brewed an extract kit, there seems to be a phenomenon where beer will simply not drop below 1.020 for some reason. Haven't seen it personally, but read about it here from skilled & reliable brewers. If that's the case, not to worry. 1.020 is not ideal, but it's okay--especially for a stout. Personally, I wouldn't pitch more yeast, but ymmv.

Good luck!

i'm guessing it's this. especially if it used some darker extracts, as many stout kits do. it may just be done at 1.020.