Steam Beer

[karlos_1984]

So this beer has been in the FV just over a week. As I said above the OG was only 1039 (unknown why) and for the last couple days the SG has stayed at 1013. 

I fermented at 18 degrees bit turned the temp up to 21 about 3 days ago to finish it off, however it hasn't really dropped any further.

I would have expected it to finish a bit lower.  Would it be worth giving the FV a shake or using a sanitised spoon to stir up the yeast back into suspension, or is it likely to cause oxidising and wreck the beer?

Tastes of the samples are still quite sweet, almost like there's a hint of honey. I know it's green but it doesn't taste like it's finished fermentating to me.

The packet of the wlp810 yeast suggests 18 degrees is fine so I'm not concerned about the temp.

[iBooz2]

@karlos_1984 Hey Karlos,

Did you pitch 2 x sachets of WLP-810 yeast in the first instance or only one?  Or was it the kit yeast along with one sachet of WLP-810?

What I used to do if I did not trust hydro reading toward the end of fermentation was wash the hydro and tube with dish-washing liquid and warm water.  Rinse really well with slightly hotter water then pat the hydro dry with paper towel.  I am lucky enough to have a small air compressor which I use to blow the test tube until it was dry to make sure reading was not watered down. I learned to do this after a while as I had a habit of leaving first sample in hydro until batch had nearly landed but residue from hop oils etc. would coat the test tube & hydro.  I have multiple hydros etc.

Then take a fresh sample, so you can trust it and use this one until batch is done.  This gave me confidence in the numbers at the end.

If you are fermenting under pressure or it’s in a pressure rated FV, I find if you slowly increase or let the pressure increase by itself (around the middle of the ferment) then release some pressure via the PRV, most of the yeast and hop matter will rise up to the top and hence stir itself up without opening or mixing air into it. Let’s say you let it build up to 10-12 psi then released it to make it drop to 2.5 psi )don't want it o suck in air) you would see most of the yeast rise back up in the centre of the brew.  I usually do this the day after dry hopping commando style; certainly gets the blow off tube working again for the next couple of days.

Cheers - AL

[karlos_1984]

2 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

@karlos_1984 Hey Karlos,

Did you pitch 2 x sachets of WLP-810 yeast in the first instance or only one?  Or was it the kit yeast along with one sachet of WLP-810?

What I used to do if I did not trust hydro reading toward the end of fermentation was wash the hydro and tube with dish-washing liquid and warm water.  Rinse really well with slightly hotter water then pat the hydro dry with paper towel.  I am lucky enough to have a small air compressor which I use to blow the test tube until it was dry to make sure reading was not watered down. I learned to do this after a while as I had a habit of leaving first sample in hydro until batch had nearly landed but residue from hop oils etc. would coat the test tube & hydro.  I have multiple hydros etc.

Then take a fresh sample, so you can trust it and use this one until batch is done.  This gave me confidence in the numbers at the end.

If you are fermenting under pressure or it’s in a pressure rated FV, I find if you slowly increase or let the pressure increase by itself (around the middle of the ferment) then release some pressure via the PRV, most of the yeast and hop matter will rise up to the top and hence stir itself up without opening or mixing air into it. Let’s say you let it build up to 10-12 psi then released it to make it drop to 2.5 psi )don't want it o suck in air) you would see most of the yeast rise back up in the centre of the brew.  I usually do this the day after dry hopping commando style; certainly gets the blow off tube working again for the next couple of days.

Cheers - AL

Thanks for that info, it might actually shed some light on this. 

Only pitched 1 X pack of the wlp810. The specs listed on the pack stated that this batch was within the numbers for just a single pack.

Regarding the hydrometer, you might be onto something. 

I just use the basic one that came with my Cooper's DIY kit, so the one with the red base.

I've noticed the tube has a bit of a chalky residue build up on the inside. I haven't cleaned it as thoroughly as what you described above. I usually just rinse it with hot water after a brew and let it dry on the dish drainer. 

I might give that a go and clean it up a bit and take another sample. The sample in the hydrometer has been in there for 3 days and was taken prior to raising the temperature on my fermenting fridge. 

For info, I'm using the Cooper's FV (no Krausen collar) for this brew. I don't have the luxury of pressure FV.

I might actually invest in a new, decent hydrometer as this one I've got is a bit long in the tooth and knocked around.