Recultured Coopers Yeast - Stalled

[Biermoasta]

I put down a Coopers Pale Ale on the 22/11. The recipe was:

 

Coopers Pale Ale can

500g Light Dry Malt

400g Dextrose

Made up to 23 litres and fermented using recultured Coopers commercial yeast.

 

The brew had a respectable krausen 24 hours after pitching, on the 24/11 I had a specific gravity reading of 1.021, and it has stayed the same until today. The brew has been sitting at around 18-19C. I tried yesterday to gently rouse the yeast with a sanitised spoon, however from the gravity reading today and the appearance of the brew it seems that fermentation has not restarted.

 

Any ideas to get it going again?

[Beerlust]

Hi Biermoasta.

 

Knowing how many stubbies worth you used, what your technique was from start to finish of reactivating the yeast, & was the re-activating of the yeast successful, why you chose to take a gravity reading 2 days into fermentation, are all grey areas as to perhaps why the yeast seems to have stalled @ 1.021. That's all for another conversation though. [wink]

 

From where I see it, you have 2 options.

 

1). Re-aerate the wort & pitch the yeast from the Pale Ale kit tin.

 

or...

 

2). If you wish to stick with the authentic route, take a load off your mind, go down to your local bottleshop & pick yourself up another 6 pack of Coopers Pale Ale. Decant off the recommended amount of the lovely liquid into a few frosty glasses across the afternoon, & then set about re-activating 4 stubbies worth for a second pitch in 2 or so days time. [biggrin]

 

The choice is completely yours.

 

Cheers & good luck,

 

Anthony.

[Hairy]

Both are good options and personally I would go with option 1, just to get it going. I wouldn't worry about aerating the wort though.

 

Knowing how many stubbies worth you used' date=' what your technique was from start to finish of reactivating the yeast, & was the re-activating of the yeast successful, why you chose to take a gravity reading 2 days into fermentation, are all grey areas as to perhaps why the yeast seems to have stalled @ 1.021. That's all for another conversation though[/quote']

I know it is a conversation for another time but I can't see how taking a gravity reading on day 2 will stall the yeast.

 

Or am I reading that incorrectly [unsure]

[Biermoasta]

1). Re-aerate the wort

 

 

I'm very curious as to why you mention this? This would almost certainly cause a heap of oxidation. The beer has already fermented probably around 20 gravity points.

 

I'm also curious as to how taking a gravity reading on day 2 could cause the brew to stall?

 

I used yeast from two longnecks and the yeast was stepped up 3 times to a 2 litre starter. There was an ample amount of yeast for fermentation to take place.

 

If there is no gravity change by tomorrow I will pitch the kit yeast.

[Beerlust]

Gentleman, not taking the actual gravity reading as being a cause. [roll]

 

Opening the fermenter early on to do this may have allowed an outside nasty to enter the FV, was my way of thinking there. I'm a firm believer in leaving the brew completely alone once fermentation has begun, & not opening & closing the fermenter for (what I believe) are unimportant gravity readings early in the cycle.

 

By my calculations your brew has come down about 16 points from an O.G near 1.037. As far as oxidation goes, I have always been under the impression that oxidation can become an issue to a carbonated beer or a beer ready to be carbonated, not one that is still in a state of primary fermentation where the C02 being produced is not retained in the wort.

 

All I've offered is my opinion, & as the head brewer at your brewery, you can choose to do whatever you like regarding that opinion.

 

As I said previously, good luck with the brew.

 

Anthony.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I agree with Lusty's first paragraph there. However I daresay an outside nasty would cause the brew to ferment a lot more than it normally would rather than stall it, or at least that's what they usually tend to do.

Anyway, I usually take a gravity reading on day 3, not that I care what the gravity is, but I use it as a sort of "fast ferment test"; basically I leave the sample tube out in the ambient temps to see how low it goes, which gives me a rough idea of what to expect in the main brew. [cool]