Stuck Fermentation? New Brewer!

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Beer-Baron

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Hi guys,

I made a Coopers Beer kit using the Can, and another can of Unhopped Coopers Light Malt Extract.

I had an original gravity of 1.058 and pitched the kit yeast. I've been sitting at 1.020 for the past week. Total time in the fermenter has been 2.5 weeks.

Do I repitch yeast? What do I do?
 
Yes, repitch more yeast. Number 1 rule when brewing with those kits-remove the provided yeast and throw it in the trash before you do anything else.
 
It is unlikely more yeast will help. Extract beer can finish a little higher gravity.
 
Why would extract finish any higher than 'other' beers?

Because you have no control over what is in the extract or the mash temperature the extract was created at. The addition of crystal malt, higher mash temps, lack of nutrients, etc. can all affect the fermentability of your beer.
 
What about rousing the yeast back into suspension? Maybe stirring in a nutrient? What's the beat way to rouse up the yeast cake? Just dig it up off the bottom and stir it around?
 
I've bottled plenty of extract batches that finished at 1.020, that tends to be the finish of many recipes. I'd leave it alone for another week or so then bottle.
 
Because you have no control over what is in the extract or the mash temperature the extract was created at. The addition of crystal malt, higher mash temps, lack of nutrients, etc. can all affect the fermentability of your beer.

That, and a lot of hopped extract kits are formulated to work with a high percentage of plain sugar, and still maintain some semblance of body. Used with more malt extract, they tend to finish high
 
Wow, responses all around. Thanks guys, and gals. I hadn't experienced a batch that finished that high, so I wasn't aware that it was common. You really DO learn something everyday.
 
Well I went over the Coopers Forum to ask them. They said 1.020 is to high and to try rousing the yeast back into suspension.

Here is what I did. If I screwed it up, oh well. Its just a Coopers Kit.

I opened the lid and sprinkled in about 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient, then I sprinkled in little bit of dextrose to give the yeasties something to snack on. Then I took my mash paddle and dug around the bottom of the fermenter to bring the yeast back up and gently stirred the thing.

Its been a few hours and I've got a slowly bubbling air lock. Maybe 1 - 2 bubbles a minute. But the airlock was dead stopped all of last week so I hope this works. It might just be eating up the dextrose and bubbling that up but I will report back in a week with a new gravity reading.

CALL IT AN EXPERIMENT.
 
This is not exactly true. LME has water, DME doesn't. That is the weight difference. DME is dried LME, so other than the water, it doesn't contain something not present in DME.

The 'twang' is up for debate as to whether it's real or not. I tend to believe it's more of a metallic taste from old LME from a can. That and maybe a newbies interpretation of what is in reality green beer (yes I've done that).
 
Hi guys,

I made a Coopers Beer kit using the Can, and another can of Unhopped Coopers Light Malt Extract.

I had an original gravity of 1.058 and pitched the kit yeast. I've been sitting at 1.020 for the past week. Total time in the fermenter has been 2.5 weeks.

Do I repitch yeast? What do I do?

I'm guessing that you're doing the Sparkling Ale. It's likely that the 7 gm sachet of yeast is not enough depending on the age of the sachet. Another sachet should do the trick. The little bit of dextrose recommended with that kit does help to kick the yeast in gear but 7 gm is most likely not enough.
 
Personally I wouldn't put yeast nutrient in a batch like this unless I first put it in a cup of water and boiled then cooled it.
 
The bubbles in the airlock may just be released CO2 that was in solution, and that was released by the agitation. It should have all come out of solution immediately when you were stirring, and so I don't know why the bubbles would have waited... but once again, airlocks are unreliable signs of fermentation. ;)
 
Hey guys!

an update here is that its now down to 1.016. Not quite as low as I was hoping but its lower!

Its not the Sparkling Ale. Its the English Bitter. The recommended extra fermentables by Coopers was 500 Grams of Dry Malt. But I wanted to get a more alcohol out of this beer. So I used a second can of Coopers LME.

Also I don't know if this matters but I made the recipe to 19 Liters instead of 23 Liters.
 
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