Crazy Chicken Man Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I went on a Brewery tour while on holiday, and decided that I would try a brew without any brewing sugar or enhancer type things. I thought this would would produce a purer brew. I also wanted a beer that wasn't that bitter but would be good and strong, 6.5% ish (bottled) I used Coopers Real Ale and Coopers Origianl Lager with one sachet of yeast. I took the liquid level to 18 lites at about 1055 to 1060 the foam made it tricky to be exact. After the most energetic 2 days of air lock activity I have seen (this is 8th brew) things have stopped more or less. The SG is at 1018 and has been for 2 days. (now been in the fermenter for 10 days at about 24/22 C) I gave the fermenter a few shakes to try and get things going at 1020 no considerable activity has occurred. What would you do? Cheers CCM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Eh!L Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 hey crazy c. man,[biggrin] i think you were a bit cheap on the yeast. i might consider rehydrating another packet in 250ml of warm water and pitch it in and give a stir with a sterile spoon. making sure everything is sanitary. chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Yep, I reckon adding both yeasts would have been the thing to do but that horse has bolted. Give it a stir a pitch another yeast is what I'd do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Chicken Man Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 OK Cheers! From a trying to get my head around it point of view, the yeast will die when the SG gets to low for it to survive? Or will there be a risk of the FG being really low? Does the yeast need a certain level of sugar to live? Cheers. CCM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 The yeast will just basically go to sleep after it has motabolised all the amount it can. Depending on the fermentable it may all be eated up. Seeing as might be a tad higher then normal. After the yeast go to sleep and fall out of the solution you bottle your brew with more sugar which then wakes the yeast back up and thats how your beer is carbed. So after all my ramblings basically the yeast goes to sleep instead of dying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Chicken Man Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 So, the yeast can only metabolise so much sugar before it nods off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trusty1 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 So' date=' the yeast can only metabolise so much sugar before it nods off?[/quote'] No. The yeast 'consumes' all available fermentables (to a certain extent - attenuation varies, but stay with me on this one). Once the available food has been consumed and the yeast can't find 'food' (sugar/fermentables) they drop out of suspension, not straight away, but over a period of days. So it's not they have eaten their lot, rather there is nothing left for them. when you add more sugar, you give it more 'food'. when bottling/kegging you are shaking it from it's place of repose and also adding more fermentables, limited to just enough to create the right amount of CO2 to carb up your beer without blowing it up. When this 'sugar' has been 'consumed' the yeast then drops out of suspension again, into the sediment in the bottom of the bottle, again over a period of days. While there is a limit to how much each mirco organism can consume it is also a yeast farm in there, each producing more and more little yeasties all the time. the right temp has to be maintained, if too cold it will stop and drop. Too hot it will do the same, but if it does handle the heat, it will produce 'bad' flavours/odours in the beer (often described as funky flavours/odours). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Chicken Man Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 Thanks for your patience! So as the SG is 1018 ish ie lots of fermentables left the yeast must have been knocked on the head by low temperature or some other variable. The temp is good now but if the particles have dropped then they've dropped and more needs adding. Either way, adding more yeast will get me to a satisfactory FG before I bottle. Cheers CCM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Always a good idea to throw in both sachets of yeast when doing a toucan brew. FG is not so critical if you plan to bottle into PET or keg the brew. [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 If you only did a toucan without any sugars then there is a chance that the yeast may have finished its job as there is no food left for them to ferment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 A SG of 1018 indicates there is approximately 4.5% sugars remaining in the brew - we just don't know if they are all complex sugars or simple suagrs as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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