Stuck batch

[Jerome Sidley]

My wife tried a Bitter recipe on Saturday and it was working fine and had a good Krausen. She checked it yesterday and all bubbling has stopped and the krausen has fallen. I haven't checked the gravity as we did a total of 7 batched over the weekend and this was the first so in the back and I haven't had time to move everything. I did check the fermentation lock and it is tight and filled.
Do we have a problem or is this the way Bitters behave? if a problem any solutions?
Thanks all

 

[dmtaylor]

Some English yeasts will ferment out completely in less than 36 hours. What yeast did you use?

 

[Jerome Sidley]

Safale US.05

 

[GoeHaarden]

US-05 can finish rather quickly with the right conditions and temperature.

Taking a gravity reading is the only true way of knowing the progress of fermentation. Sure, the airlock and krausen MAY indicate fermentation, but they should be used for entertainment purposes only!

 

[NineMileStyle]

Check your gravity...it's probably done. Your US05 will attenuate around 80% provided that you didn't over heat your mash. US05 gets a little particular about what it likes to eat. If you happened to mash above 165* (which is WAY to high) it'll hardly ever finish below 1.030. If this is the situation....well, it's stuck- hopefully it'll still garner you some alcohol to enjoy.

 

[Jerome Sidley]

Just finished taking the readings 1.008 I think it's done. Been brewing at the same temps and yeast and this is the fastest. I'll rack it tonight.

 

[NineMileStyle]

1.008....wow!

 

[dmtaylor]

Yup, that's done. When it's done it's done!

 

[RM-MN]

Just finished taking the readings 1.008 I think it's done. Been brewing at the same temps and yeast and this is the fastest. I'll rack it tonight.

Rack it where and why? It doesn't need a secondary and those offer options for oxidation and infection while giving no real advantages. Skip secondary. It isn't ready for bottling so don't rack it to the bottling bucket either. Give it some time for the yeast and trub to settle out or you will get too much of that in the bottles and end up leaving a lot when you pour.

 

[dmtaylor]

For many years I skipped the secondary. But I hate getting sludge in the bottoms of my bottles. So recently I went back to doing secondary for almost every batch, and have been happier with the results. YMMV.

 

[NineMileStyle]

For many years I skipped the secondary. But I hate getting sludge in the bottoms of my bottles. So recently I went back to doing secondary for almost every batch, and have been happier with the results. YMMV.

I'm with ya'. I'm working my way back to using secondary as well. I've never once had an infection brought on by racking to secondary...and bottling (or kegging) from the secondary offers a much nicer product in my experience.

 

[dmtaylor]

I do think there is a small risk of infection from moving the beer around too much, but I haven't had an infected beer for several years now. Just... be careful, and don't take any shortcuts in sanitization, and it's fine.