Stuck fermentation

[jsbrereton]

I added my wort to the fementer six days ago. I live in Florida, so the temperature was around 80 degrees F at the time. There was activity in the airlock when I woke up the next morning. By the following night, nothing; activity had ceased. I came home from out of town today and took a gravity reading... 1.021. It calls for 1.010 - 1.012. I'm worried it was too warm and I stressed the yeast, or possibly not enough aeration.

I've asked around and have been told a few different (conflicting) things:

- Rack into another fermenter and re-pitch yeast.

- Rack into secondary and don't re-pitch.

- Leave it in primary and re-pitch.

- Bang on the side to resuspend yeast.

- Wait.

This is my first brew and I have no clue what I'm doing. Thoughts?

 

[twistr25]

First thing to know, airlock activity means almost nothing. So don't worry if that stops bubbling. Were you able to get the temp down anymore? If not you'll have additional problems. Might be useful to post your recipe and yeast type. You can lightly swirl the bucket to resuspend the yeast, that may help. What was your OG as well?

 

[Shooter]

AT 80 degrees ambient that thing should have taken off like gang busters. What was your starting gravity? The normal first step is to stir gently and resuspend the yeast and raise the temperature slighlty, although you're already pretty warm.

How did you take your final gravity reading? Hydrometer? If you use a refractometer you need to adjust for the alcohol.

 

[jsbrereton]

It was an Irish Stout Extract. I used a dry yeast (not sure of the brand) that came with the in the recipe kit. It started around a 1.040ish. The temperature has been fairly cool, although I've been out of town so I'm not too sure what the apartment has been at. As far as the recipe:

-Boil grains at 155 for 15-30 min
-Add gypsum & malt extract
-Bring to boil & add 1/2 oz bittering hops (60 min)
-Add 1 oz Willamette aroma hops for last 2-5 min

 

[jsbrereton]

I used a hydrometer. I just turned on the ac in the apartment. Temperature was at 76, I now have it set to 70.

 

[twistr25]

Fermentation is an exothermic process, so it's possible you fermented in the 80s, not usually ideal, still doesn't explain it sticking, as it should have exploded. I would try to rouse the yeast a bit first, give it a couple of days and see if anything happens.

For future brews, a swamp cooler is a cheap investment to help control temp. Just a rubbermaid type container and some frozen water bottles.

 

[Shooter]

Is your hydrometer reading zero in distilled/RO water at the calibration temperature, usually around 60 degrees?

 

[Shooter]

By zero I mean 1.000.

 

[logan3825]

Cooling it down is more likely to actually slow the yeast than leaving it warm. Usually you want to start cooler and raise the temp.

How much and what kind of extract? I have had problems with darker extract not fermenting as well/completely as lighter extracts. I no longer use anything darker than Amber and that is for a stout.

Google curse of 1.020.

 

[jsbrereton]

I used a liquid malt extract. I think it was a half gallon. I turned the air back off, the temperature is now about 75 degrees. Does anyone think that I should pitch some more yeast, or just wait?

 

[logan3825]

What kind of LME? Was it pilsen, amber, gold, Munich, Marris Otter, Dark, Organinc. etc?

 

[jsbrereton]

The LME was Dark.

 

[Ogri]

It was an Irish Stout Extract. I used a dry yeast (not sure of the brand) that came with the in the recipe kit. It started around a 1.040ish. The temperature has been fairly cool, although I've been out of town so I'm not too sure what the apartment has been at. As far as the recipe:

-Boil grains at 155 for 15-30 min
-Add gypsum & malt extract
-Bring to boil & add 1/2 oz bittering hops (60 min)
-Add 1 oz Willamette aroma hops for last 2-5 min

Did you follow the directions, in the recipe above, exactly??

Was the dark extract a liquid malt extract??

If so, I reckon your dark extract got a little over cooked, added at the beginning of the boil and going for 60 minutes, and will have formed a bunch of long chain sugars that were too difficult for the yeast to ferment leading to attenuation of the brew down to only 1.020. As was already pointed out by someone else, brewing with liquid extracts is known to have the possibility of finishing at 1.020, or the 1.020 curse.

Fermenting at the temps you were can lead to off-flavoured/off-smelling fusels and esters and there's not much you can do about those now as they are mostly formed in the first 24 hours after fermentation takes off. The next few days can also see formation of those compounds, but not quite on the same scale. After 6 or 7 days you're not really going to get much in the way of additional off flavours/smells, unless your beer gets infected, so I'd say you're better off keeping the brew as close to a constant temp as it went through in the first week. Chalk it up to the learning process and make sure your next brew is pampered with, at least, a swamp cooler/bottles of frozen water/T shirt or towel draped over fermenter into water of swamp cooler and possibly a fan blowing air at that set up to evaporate vapour from the material which cools down the fermenter and its contents, from lag and during the initial, vigorous, fermentation stage that usually takes from about 3 to 5 or 6 days.