Stuck fermentation from aeration

[ghart999]

Hi all. So I brewed a 1.060 ale on Sunday. Made a yeast starter with stirplate as I always do.

Forgot to aerate. I normally use O2 with airstone.

So fermentation started much slow than normal but it was going OK after 36 hours. But I decided to aerate with my airstone. As soon as I did the bubbling completely stepped and has not started again.

Haven't done a FG reading yet. But I have never had a beer stops bubbling before 4-5 days. And especially not stopping within an hour of aerating like this.

Any ideas????

Thanks.

 

[chalkdust41485]

Take a hydro reading. Its the only way...

There might be a chance that the yeast finished fermentation quicker than normal. But the only way to truly know is to take a reading.

Something else to research: Aeration substitute: Olive Oil This is a study done by New Belgium Brewing Company... Check it out.

 

[ghart999]

I know I know. Just afraid of what it will show. I will do so and report back. Also that article looks very interesting. Will DL and read.

 

[Golddiggie]

Very bad idea to oxygenate after ~12 hours (max of 18 hours) intl fermentation. You could end up with the dreaded wet cardboard in your glass.

 

[ghart999]

Well the thing has already dropped down to 1.020 which is very surprising. I suppose it is mostly finished already. Hopefully the oxygen didn't destroy the flavor. We'll see.

 

[BrewKnurd]

Hi all. So I brewed a 1.060 ale on Sunday. Made a yeast starter with stirplate as I always do.

Forgot to aerate. I normally use O2 with airstone.

So fermentation started much slow than normal but it was going OK after 36 hours. But I decided to aerate with my airstone. As soon as I did the bubbling completely stepped and has not started again.

Haven't done a FG reading yet. But I have never had a beer stops bubbling before 4-5 days. And especially not stopping within an hour of aerating like this.

Any ideas????

Thanks.

Running the air through the beer may have helped scrub out the CO2. Replacing the headspace CO2 with O2/N2 would certainly cause more CO2 to come out of solution than would happen with a CO2 blanket. So a combination of these things could have cleared out most of your CO2, which otherwise would have continued coming out of solution and giving you bubbles for a while longer.

And yeah, as was mentioned. Don't do the aerating after fermentation has started thing again.

 

[indianaroller]

Your yeast have stopped fermenting sugar into alcohol because you gave them oxygen. The yeast are now consuming oxygen and sugar, building cell mass and budding new cells. Also, your beer will become oxidized and taste like paper.

 

[Revvy]

If you haven't taken a reading, then how do you know you have a stuck fermentation?

(please don't say "my airlock stopped bubbling.")