Two weeks in, at what point do I repitch?

[geoffm33]

Midwest Irish Stout OG of 1.042. It's been fermenting at 65 degrees ambient temp pretty consistently.

Never saw any airlock activity but when I peaked after a few days there was a ring about 1/2 inch above the wort level so I assumed I just missed active fermentation.

Just took a gravity sample at two weeks and its only 1.020. The kit has a FG range of 1.010 - 1.012

At what point do I consider repitching yeast?

Anything else I should try, or just RDWHAHB.

Edit: I meant OG not SG of 1.042

 

[Surly]

Midwest Irish Stout SG of 1.042. It's been fermenting at 65 degrees ambient temp pretty consistently.

Never saw any airlock activity but when I peaked after a few days there was a ring about 1/2 inch above the wort level so I assumed I just missed active fermentation.

Just took a gravity sample at two weeks and its only 1.020. The kit has a FG range of 1.010 - 1.012

At what point do I consider repitching yeast?

Anything else I should try, or just RDWHAHB.

I brew in westcentral WI. In the summer I ferment in a dedicated frig at around 62F for mid level beer pitching Safale 05 or Nottingham.

During the winter I pitch the same yeast to a wort that will maybe get as high as 60F as it sits in my garage.

I make good beer but find I must be patient.

What are your conditions? What yeast are you using? and. what type of beer are you brewing with an OG of what?

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

If its extract it could be finished. Alot of brews I made with extract finished close to 1.020. The process of making the extract can lead to more unfeemtable sugars then an all grain batch will. So you might be done at 1.020.

 

[geoffm33]

I brew in westcentral WI. In the summer I ferment in a dedicated frig at around 62F for mid level beer pitching Safale 05 or Nottingham.

During the winter I pitch the same yeast to a wort that will maybe get as high as 60F as it sits in my garage.

I make good beer but find I must be patient.

What are your conditions? What yeast are you using? and. what type of beer are you brewing with an OG of what?

I ferment in the basement, northeast US (in Boston). It's been 65 in the basement day and nite for the last few months.

It's a Midwest Irish Stout (extract, left that out of original post). Muntons dry yeast.

 

[Surly]

Also, if you are fermenting in buckets, many users report little sign of fermentation through the stopper.

Rather, the CO 2 leaves via the bucket rim.

You may want to research this more. I have no experience with buckets.

 

[geoffm33]

If its extract it could be finished. Alot of brews I made with extract finished close to 1.020. The process of making the extract can lead to more unfeemtable sugars then an all grain batch will. So you might be done at 1.020.

That would suck it actually tastes great right now a tad sweet but like a flat Guinness. Would like to get to the higher ABV.

 

[Yooper]

That would suck it actually tastes great right now a tad sweet but like a flat Guinness. Would like to get to the higher ABV.

That Munton's dry yeast is not a very good quality yeast (don't use it anymore!) but I don't think that's the problem.

I had plenty of extract beers finish at 1.020. Extract is approximately 75% fermentable usually, but darker grains and crystal malt can impact the fermentability of the wort, resulting in a FG that just stays at 1.020 without budging.

The beer will taste less sweet when carbed up, so it will still taste good. But I'd call it done.

 

[geoffm33]

That Munton's dry yeast is not a very good quality yeast (don't use it anymore!) but I don't think that's the problem.

I had plenty of extract beers finish at 1.020. Extract is approximately 75% fermentable usually, but darker grains and crystal malt can impact the fermentability of the wort, resulting in a FG that just stays at 1.020 without budging.

The beer will taste less sweet when carbed up, so it will still taste good. But I'd call it done.

Thanks for the info Yooper et al. That makes sense. I'll check again in a few days and bottle if nothing changes.

 

[daksin]

One think I think many recipes don't account for is the fact that when you're making extract beer, the specialty and character malts aren't exposed to amylases. When they're mashed with some base malt, it's not just the base malt that has its starches converted into sugar- a large portion of the starches in the specialty malts get converted by enzymes from the base malt. That means that if you take an all grain recipe and simply replace all the base malt with extract, the resulting worts will be fundamentally different in their fermentability.