Stirring up the wort at the end of fermentation

[WortBurpFart]

I'm a total newbie so please forgive my silly question!

Is stirring up the wort at the end of fermentation a terrible idea? The SG was 1050 and at the end of ferm. it is now 1014 which gives it about 4.5% alc. This recipe is supposed to be 6% so I was thinking to give it a gentle stir with the long white spoon (coopers kit) to give the yeast another chance to find some more sugars. I've read that gentle stirring shouldn't oxidize much at all and that some people even like oxidized beer due to the sherry taste.

Also, will more alc be produced during secondary ferm in the bottles? Maybe that's why it is only 4.5%. Thanks !

 

[Gillman]

How long has it been in the primary? I would not stir it with a spoon, if you feel the need to agitate the wort simply swirl the wort around in the carboy.

 

[PT Ray]

If your O.G. was 1.050 you're not going to hit 6% ABV. 1.014 sounds about right but it might drop to 1.012 if you move it somewhere around 22C. I wouldn't swirl it.

Bottle conditioning produces a negligible amount of alcohol. Some instructions with prehopped kits will have add .5% but that is hardly accurate. I'm sure it's a marketing gimmick.

 

[WortBurpFart]

Thanks for the help. It has been in the fermentation container for 8 days now , just checked the gravity again and now it's 1013 (4.78%) , looks like I might get it to 1012 (4.92%) . I have some yeast packs left over from the last two batches, so I have another idea, how about I throw in half a pack of yeast and some sugar to get some more alcohol? By the way I have already moved the tank around quite a bit , and it's a wheat beer with malt extract (Morgans).

 

[mdgagne]

~5% abv is perfectly acceptable FG in my book. I would let it sit for another week, bottle, and enoy You can always brew another higher abv beer!

 

[Hoodweisen]

you dont want to get it too dry a wheat beer is supposed to have some sweetness i believe

 

[frazier]

It's only been going for a week. Gravity is still dropping. Time to relax, move away from the fermenter, and let the yeast (TRUST the yeast!) do its job. Wait AT LEAST another week. Maybe two.

This will never be a 6% beer, but that's ok. It will be a good beer, unless you panic and start to micromanage the process.

 

[PT Ray]

...move away from the fermenter...

+1

If you want something with a 6% ABV I'd suggest looking for a solid recipe for your next brew. If you're brewing with prehopped kits Coopers Sparkling ale is actually designed to be brewed for over a 5.5% ABV. It just requires you to purchase additional extract and dextrose in addition to the kit.

 

[WortBurpFart]

If the gravity tomorrow is the same as today doesn't that mean time to bottle? What is the advantage of waiting another week or two? Can I get more ABV if I can hold myself back? Cheers and thanks again.

 

[Revvy]

If the gravity tomorrow is the same as today doesn't that mean time to bottle? What is the advantage of waiting another week or two?

Better tasting an clearer beer.

To Secondary or Not? John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff Weigh In .

 

[Ogri]

If the gravity tomorrow is the same as today doesn't that mean time to bottle? What is the advantage of waiting another week or two? Can I get more ABV if I can hold myself back? Cheers and thanks again.

technically you are correct in that you COULD bottle as soon as the FG is reached. BUT, if you wait another week or two the yeast will do a bit of a clean up and remove certain amounts of off flavours. Then shooting for a couple of weeks warm conditioning will meld and mellow flavor and aroma. A few days to a week in the fridge after warm conditioning will be of benefit too. Being patient and letting things have a bit of time to mature will produce a better tasting end product.

 

[unionrdr]

My 1st brew,the cooper's OS lager that came with the FV kit came out to 5.33%ABV,starting out at 1.048 by the cooper's formula. & that .5% allows for priming of the whole batch,just to set that one straight.
My whiskely ale was OG 1.050,down to 1.010,for 5.86%.
Their are some 6 to 8 different formulas I've seen one guy used one of his brew's #'s punched into each formula. Evey single one was a different answer,cooper's being at the high end. Judging from the buzz I get,I'd say they're pretty close. Just my 2c...

 

[WortBurpFart]

Dropped another notch down to 1011 giving me just over 5% , even though there is no sign of any activity . But I have a confession to make : I did give it a stir and probably shouldn't have done so. Since I did , regrettably , stir it should I still wait another week before bottling or would it be better to bottle it now to avoid any further oxidization? Thanks, cheers.

 

[Rev2010]

Dropped another notch down to 1011 giving me just over 5% , even though there is no sign of any activity . But I have a confession to make : I did give it a stir and probably shouldn't have done so. Since I did , regrettably , stir it should I still wait another week before bottling or would it be better to bottle it now to avoid any further oxidization? Thanks, cheers.

Well, if you sanitized the entire spoon and stirred very gently don't worry about it. I use the Cooper's fermenters myself and bottle from the spigot. On bottling day I do open it and give it a very gentle stir, I figure just to even out the whole batch. It's really not necessary though unless you are bulk priming and adding the sugar directly to the fermenter. A stir would even the sugar out. Anyhow, don't worry about it and definitely give that beer three weeks in the fermenter! If you bottle it after a week or ten days you WILL be disappointed, trust me.


Rev.

 

[kh54s10]

As stated, when final gravity is reached, the same gravity readings over several days you CAN bottle. But, the yeast will continue to clean things up if you leave it alone. Making the beer more clear and reducing any off flavors there may still be in it.

Be patient and wait it out 3-4 weeks in primary. Bottle, then at least 2 weeks at somewhere around 70 degrees. You can put a bottle in the fridge for a day or two at about 1 week and test it. Wait another week and try another one. This way you can see how the taste changes as the beer finishes.

Stirring it probably did not do anything bad unless you introduced a lot of oxygen doing so. Leaving it alone will not cause any additional oxidation.

 

[WortBurpFart]

Great! Seems like I have not messed up too badly. If I leave it for another 3 or 4 weeks then leave it in bottles for a few more I will run out of beer before I get to drink it! I think I need to get a second fermentation tank to be sure of not running out of beer. Speaking of which, is it cool to use an ordinary 5 gallon water vendor's bottle as a fermentation container ?

 

[Maxkling]

Dropped another notch down to 1011 giving me just over 5% , even though there is no sign of any activity . But I have a confession to make : I did give it a stir and probably shouldn't have done so. Since I did , regrettably , stir it should I still wait another week before bottling or would it be better to bottle it now to avoid any further oxidization? Thanks, cheers.

I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but why would you ask for advice, then do the opposite of what people are telling you, then ask for more advice on the mistake you made by not listening?

You will be fine with oxidation, I highly doubt that if you did oxidize the beer, it wouldn't last for oxidation to take place.

Also with me I don't care about ABV, I rather have a correct good tasting beer then trying to squeeze out something that will in turn ruin my beer.

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

Is a great resource, you need to a good bit of reading and start to learn and understand what is going on with the beer. You cannot brew a good beer by following kit instructions. It took me quite a few batches before I started eliminating small flavors here and there and make a beer that I thought was better than micros and macros.

Your going to make a lot of mistakes here and there, 99% of them wont ruin the beer to the extent of undrinkable (but maybe taste funky or just not right). Id hate to see you waste money, time, and give up on a good hobby just because your too antsy and under-taught.

 

[WortBurpFart]

Thanks, Max. I appreciate your advice and deserve to be called out for jumping the gun.

I don't have any experience so I have to just follow instructions (not in my native language) and hope for the best. I need to get some brewing education and will start with your link. I'm not giving up, the good beer here is very expensive and the cheap stuff is awful.

 

[H-ost]

You cannot brew a good beer by following kit instructions.

whoa whoa whoa.... disagree. But your beers do get a lot better once you understand enough to not have to follow them.

 

[unionrdr]

I have found that some are pretty generic,others read more like stereo instructions,still others are downright cryptic. But many say to rack after no more than a week,etc. Then you come on here to find out just how bad some of them are. Not a big secret...sometimes I think these kits are 1st brewed by someone with access to things a home brewer normally doesn't have. But 1 week primary?...naaaah.

 

[Maxkling]

whoa whoa whoa.... disagree. But your beers do get a lot better once you understand enough to not have to follow them.

Ok true. From all the kit instructions I've messed with, there are much better ways to brew it 1000X better.