Extra-Smooth-Bitter Stuck Fermentation

[FraserC2]

Hi All,

 

I've been reading the forums regarding stuck fermentation and was looking for abit of help/suggestions. I started a Extra Smooth Bitter as per the directions on the website. It was fermenting at about 21C and SG of 1040. My Brews typically take about a week and I leave them for another two.

 

This brew seemed to be foaming and bubbling along just fine for the first week. I was leaving for a couple of weeks so the temp dropped to about 16-17C; I thought the temperature would still be okay. When I came back and measured it was around 1023 and looked like it was stuck. I tried to rouse the yeast and raised the temperature but I'm not really seeing much activity to suggest that it has restarted fermentation.

 

Would it be worth pitching a new packet of yeast and what's the best practice for this situation. The forums and internets all list different best practices as far as moving to a second fermenter and sometiems using a yeast nutrient.

 

Cheers

 

Fraser

[Hairy]

The only time I had a stuck fermentation that I couldn't restart, I just sprinkled in some dry yeast and it seemed to work fine.

 

Mine was sitting at 1020 so it didn't have much further to go.

 

I'm not sure if this was 'best practice' but it worked.

[PB2]

As Hairy said, pitching another yeast that is in date, is probably the least intrusive approach.

 

 

Some other points to consider:

How does it smell and taste?

 

Do you have the BB details of the beer kit or the code on the yeast sachet, assuming you used the yeast that came with the kit?

 

What does you hydro read in plain water?

 

What type of vessels do you plan to secondary ferment in?

[FraserC2]

Thanks for the Info Guys I'll pitch a new packet tomorrow unless the info I give below raises any other issues.

 

The smell has abit of the molasses odour to it and the taste doesn't taste overly off in any way; tastes like a flat beer.

 

Can best before date was 06/06/13 and the yeast code was 12511.

 

Hydro reads 1001 in regular water. In the past I haven't used a secondary vessel and just racked off and then bottled. Do you suggest using one? This is only my fifth brew so I'm still abit of a newbie.

 

Thanks

 

Fraser

 

[Hairy]

It all sounds good to me, I would pitch the yeast.

 

With regards to secondary fermentation vessels, I think PB2 was referring to kegs vs glass bottles vs PET bottles. But if you pitch the yeast and reach your FG then it shouldn't matter.

 

Have another smell and taste before bottling to make sure it still seems OK.

[FraserC2]

Oh I got yah... I bulk prime and then bottle into PET bottles.

Waiting for a deal on a Kegerator:-)

[PB2]

Cool!!

 

If it tastes like there is little to no residual sweetness, bottle off.

 

Prime with about half your normal priming rate.

 

Check the bottles for fizz level at the two week mark. If, at any stage, you think the bottles are holding too much pressure, simply open the caps slightly to release pressure - might take 3 or so times to normalise back down to the pressure you prefer. [biggrin]

 

One other thing: brews at cooler temperatures are more likely to hold CO2 gas in solution. CO2 bubbles can cling to the hydro and give a false high reading. Get around this by degassing the sample - toss it back and forth between two cups about 20 or so times. Simple recipes with BE1 usually finish around the 1012 to 1016 mark.

[FraserC2]

Thanks both for the quick replies. I'll give it a shot and let you know in a few weeks... PB2 thanks for the tip on the F.G. for recipes with BE1 ... I would of been banging my head trying to get below 1010 as most of mine seem to finish there when I use dextrose.

[Otto Von Blotto]

That's because dextrose pretty much completely ferments out. BE1 is 40% maltodextrin which doesn't really ferment, leaving a higher FG