Your experiences on stuck fernentation

[Norwaybrewer]

This could actually answer all the stuck fermentation-threads floating around.

So,

ive just set an ipa batch and airlock actvity went from crazy to nothing i 2.5 days. Wlp0007 at around 18-1
20celsius.

I am reading about all these "stuck" fermentations on the forums and all of them come from people that have had it in the primary for ±4 days. The answer is always to leave it for ±2 weeks and check gravity again.

My question:

- Is stuck fermentation often misinterpreted by less experienced brewers that rely solely on airlock activity?

- Have you ever had a hault in airlock activity in less than a week, and then reached desired FG from just waiting it out?

Or is no airlock activity after few days really an alarming signal?

Your experiences, please!

Sent from my HUAWEI P6-U06 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[masskrug]

Lately I have been having little to no activity in my airlock. I suspect my lids are old and leaking. After 3 weeks I still get down to my final numbers, so I am not too worried about it. I pop the the top after a couple of weeks to dry hop. I look for a krausen ring. That is one indicator of activity. Dropping in a hydrometer at this time will also ease your fears.

 

[Norwaybrewer]

Thats exactly what i suspected in many cases, incl my own. This could just be a question to which RDWHAHB is the best solution.

More of you with the same experiences as masskrug??

Sent from my HUAWEI P6-U06 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Yooper]

Usually, active fermentation in a warm environment (and 20C is warm, on the verge of too warm actually.) will finish up in 1-3 days. That's not stuck, that's normal.

Stuck is when the SG stops at something too high, like 1.030, and won't budge. That's pretty rare, and most people who think they have "stuck fermentations" just didn't take a SG and don't know how to recognize a finished beer.

A krausen ring around the top of the beer in the fermenter is a sign that the beer has finished active fermentation, but only an SG reading will tell you if the fermentation is stuck vs finished.

 

[m1batt1]

Some people also take the reduced airlock activity(assuming there's no leak) and lack of krausen on the beer surface as it being done after a few days so they take a gravity reading and its mostly but not all the way there. They automatically assume because the main signs have dissipated that its stuck when its still slowly chugging along. Of all the threads I've read this usually happens with a new brewer who has a instruction manual saying it should be ready to bottle in a week.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Home Brew mobile app