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stuck fermentation, worried about brew

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Be skeptical about interpreting how your final beer will taste when its done. Warm, uncarbonated, plus just not finished.

How long has the beer been in the fermenter, and what was the hydrometer reading?
 
beer's been fermenting since friday night, OG was 1.042 current SG is 1.020 or there abouts
 
Sounds like then, by what you mean by in your mind "stuck fermentation" you really mean my airlock isn't bubbling, right?

That is NOT the same thing.

The bubbling just means that it is venting excess CO2, nothing more. If it's not bubbling, that only means that it is not producing enough co2 to need to vent.

Nothing else....

If your airlock was bubbling and stopped---It doesn't mean fermentation has stopped.

If you airlock isn't bubbling, it doesn't mean your fermentation hasn't started....

If your airlock starts bubbling, it really doesn't matter.

If your airlock NEVER bubbles, it doesn't mean anything is wrong or right.

Your airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it is a VALVE to release excess co2. And the peak of fermentation has already wound down, so there's simply no need to vent off any excess co2.

Fermentation is not always "dynamic," just because you don't SEE anything happening, doesn't mean that any-thing's wrong,, and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working diligently away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years.

You'll be much happier if you get out of that habit, of equating airlock bubbling with fermentation...you will find that fermentations rarely don't take off, or just Stop...In fact I've never had a beer not ferment. BUT half of my fermentations, spread out across 9 different fermenters, never blip once in the airlock.

What is happening is that fermentation is slowing down, and therefore not producing excess co2, and therefore not NEEDING to bubble.

And fermentation will slow down...it's supposed to. Eventually most of the sugars will get consumed, and there will be less and less for the yeast to do. We want that to happen.

But right now just because it doesn't appear that there's nothing happening there still is a ton of work for the yeast to do, even beyond just fermenting the beer. They like to clean up after themselves if we let them, getting rid of the byproducts of fermentation that lead to off flavors.

Just relax. :mug:
 
So is that reason why the current "beer" tastes watery cause fermentation hasn't completed?
 
So is that reason why the current "beer" tastes watery cause fermentation hasn't completed?

It tastes "watery" because you are tasting it while it is still in the fermenter, it is GREEN and UNCARBED, and is not a true represntation of what the beer will be like when it has carbed and conditioned.

Also, it really is hard to judge a beer until it's been about 6 weeks in the bottle. Just because you taste (or smell) something in primary or secondary DOESN'T mean it will be there when the beer is fully conditioned (that's also the case with kegging too.)

The thing to remember though is that if you are smelling or tasting this during fermentation not to worry. During fermentation all manner of stinky stuff is given off (ask lager brewers about rotten egg/sulphur smells, or Apfelwein makers about "rhino farts,") like we often say, fermentation is often ugly AND stinky and PERFECTLY NORMAL.

It's really only down the line, AFTER the beer has been fermented (and often after it has bottle conditioned even,) that you concern yourself with any flavor issues if they are still there.

I think too many new brewers focus to much on this stuff too early in the beer's journey. And they panic unnecessarily.

A lot of the stuff you smell/taste initially more than likely ends up disappearing either during a long primary/primary & secondary combo, Diacetyl rests and even during bottle conditioning.

If I find a flavor/smell, I usually wait til it's been in the bottle 6 weeks before I try to "diagnose" what went wrong, that way I am sure the beer has passed any window of greenness.

Lagering is a prime example of this. Lager yeast are prone to the production of a lot of byproducts, the most familiar one is sulphur compounds (rhino farts) but in the dark cold of the lagering process, which is at the minimum of a month (I think many homebrewers don't lager long enough) the yeast slowly consumes all those compounds which results in extremely clean tasting beers if done skillfully. Ales have their own version of this, but it's all the same.

Carbonation will go a long way to giving you the perception of flavor, and body, you really can't judge your beer until it's been bottled, carbed and condition. At this stage your beer is uncarbed and green. The presence of co2 alone will go a long way in improving the flavor and mouthfeel of it.

Your beer has a journey to still go on. You really don't need to do anything to fix your beer. More than likely there is nothing wrong. Just bottle it, give it a minimum 3 weeks to carb and condition at 70 degrees, and I betcha you will think you were silly for worry about this at this stage, like just about everyone else who has started a thread like this.

I don't bother to taste my beers anymore until they have been in the bottles for at least 3 weeks, often more. I've found it is a waste, I won't get a true picture of the beer until it's been carbonated and lost the greenness anyway. And there really is nothing I could do to "fix" it anyway if I thought there was something wrong, which there rarely is anyway.

Time is your friend.
 
Hey so Just took a sample of beer and it is the SG according to the recipe, it's only been fermenting a week. SO should I leave it another week. The recipe from Midwest said leave it in the fermenter for two weeks and I think I'm going to leave it for the remaining period.

My question is are those time periods "guidelines" or are they to be strictly adhered too.
 
before you proceed with anything, you need to take hydrometer readings over the span of at least 2-3 days to make sure the reading is no longer dropping & has stabilized. If the gravity is still dropping your'e still fermenting.
 
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