Another stuck fermentation - help please

[GalootUK]

Hey all - not sure if I'm unlucky or doing something wrong.

My first ever brew a while back got stuck at 1.020 and I had to repitch another packet of yeast and only got it down to 1.017 I think this may have been due to low temperatures in my cellar over night and maybe not enough aeration. It's bottled now as after 16 days it wouldn't do anything more.

So I bought an STC1000 and a brew belt as well as one of those paint stirrer things that go on the end of a drill and I'm now brewing my next batch, a Wheat beer. So after aerating it really well and chucking the yeast in it seemed to start of brilliant. The OG was 1.042 and I got lots loads of bubbles and two days later it was down to 1.023, four days it was down to 1.018. After seven days it dropped to 1.016 but then stopped and now it's been stuck at 1.016 for about the last four days.

The Krausen on the beer lasted about four days, now it has all gone and the top is clear. The temperature has been regulated between 20-21c constantly, but over the last four days since its been at 1.016 the brew belt has been struggling to keep the temp up. Is this another sign that the fermentation has stopped? I've tried giving it a gentle swirl but this didn't seem to help so tonight I ended up pitching a new pack of yeast.

Am I not being patient enough? Is 4 days a the same gravity OK? I was expecting it to finish at 1.012 so it's way too early right?

Thanks

Tim

[Manngold]

Tim,

From reading your descriptions you are doing everything right. Sometimes the fermentation is just less vigorous. I would personally adopt the following strategy for your brew. Leave the brew, with the brew belt where it is. Try to leave it for two weeks total (then take a final reading and bottle). I personally do the following for my brews, and they turn out fine:

Mix up brew, put in the FV. Take reading. Leave for two - three weeks completely untouched (no peaking etc). Take a reading on the day of bottling / barrelling. All of my brews have come down to about 1.009 by this. The only exception was the Wherry, which stopped between 1.014 - 1.016.

The reading is also slightly dependent on the amount of water used at the start and whether you brewed short or not.

Hope this helps in some way.

John

[brewnaboinne]

What happened to the first batch, did they turn out ok or were they bottle bombs?

[GalootUK]

Tim,

From reading your descriptions you are doing everything right. Sometimes the fermentation is just less vigorous. I would personally adopt the following strategy for your brew. Leave the brew, with the brew belt where it is. Try to leave it for two weeks total (then take a final reading and bottle). I personally do the following for my brews, and they turn out fine:

Mix up brew, put in the FV. Take reading. Leave for two - three weeks completely untouched (no peaking etc). Take a reading on the day of bottling / barrelling. All of my brews have come down to about 1.009 by this. The only exception was the Wherry, which stopped between 1.014 - 1.016.

The reading is also slightly dependent on the amount of water used at the start and whether you brewed short or not.

Hope this helps in some way.

John

Hey John,

Thanks for your reply - I think because I've read in so many places that if the gravity stays the same for 4 or 5 days its either done or stuck I thought the worst. I've already pitched the yeast, will that affect the flavour if it didn't need it do you know? I rehydrated this yeast by the way (I've never bothered doing that for this brew or the last).

The starting gravity was spot on what it should have been and I brewed it with the amount of water listed. I wasn't expecting the final gravity to be exact at 1.014, but where it's at right now is only 62% attenuation which is a bit low I believe? It's Muntons connoisseur Wheat Beer by the way, and I added 500g of Wheat Spray Malt & 500g of Light Spray Malt. I also boiled up half a litre of boiling water, chucked in the peel of an orange and 1 teaspoon of crushed coriander seeds and left it on a rolling boil for 10 minutes befoe chucking it in the wort. I was hoping this would give it more depth.

Next time I'll maybe just leave it like you said ignoring it for a couple of weeks, I think because I'm new to it I check it too often

Thanks again for your help.

Tim

[GalootUK]

What happened to the first batch, did they turn out ok or were they bottle bombs?

Nope they all ended up fine (so far) after being left in room temp for two week. I drank one tonight in fact after leaving it in the fridge all day and it was carbonated nicely with the right amount of fizz for an ale. Turns out I'm not a massive fan of St Peters Golden Ale though haha! It's quite strong in flavour & I can still taste yeast a little bit I think but not in a good way, I also think the sachet of hop powder has added too much of a strong hop kick for me, but maybe this will mellow while in my cellar.

[brewnaboinne]

Good to hear they turned out fine. The flavours will mellow with time, really needs at least a month in the bottle but that doesn't always happen when you're thirsty. As for maintaining the right fermentation temp, I find insulating the bin with a thin duvet keeps the temp stable enough without a heater most of the time.

[GalootUK]

Well after 17 days the Wheat Beer is still stuck at 1.016 - the gravity hasn't changed in 10 days. So I guess this means it's def not gonna move any more!?

I can live with 3.5% as it'll be a nice easy drinker but I'm a little worried about the fermentables still swimming around that the yeast didn't digest. Do you think I should prime with slightly less sugar? I'm going to use PET 500ml bottles for this brew rather than glass bottles anyway (as the volume of carbonation for Wheat beer is supposed to be high at 2.5-3.5 volumes right? So I didn't want to risk high carbed beer bottle bombs.

Also does anyone have any ideas on how to liven up the taste when I bottle? It tastes OK but it's a bit boring.. maybe once it's had the CO2 built up this will help liven it up?

I'm doing the Wilko Mexican Cerveza next so fingers crossed this won't be my third brew that gets stuck again.

[Manngold]

Hi TIm.

Not done a wheat beer before, so don't take this as Gospel! I would suggest priming with about 100g of sugar. Remember that the new sugar will add to the additional abv very slightly.

I personally always find that the first bottle isn't great (bar the Ditch's stout that I brewed). I would imagine that the flavours will mellow out over time. As for your FG being 1.016, I wouldn't see that as a disappointment. Sometimes spray malt and dme will not ferment down as low as pure sugar due to there not being as much to actually ferment on.

Hope this helps.

[WalesAles]

Galoot,
If you like stronger Beer, next time you do a Wheat Beer, add 1 Can Coopers Wheat Extract and 500Gr BKE. ABV 6.0%

WA

[GalootUK]

When I checked on the various priming calculators they suggested 3 - 4.5 volumes for a Wheat beer. So working on the lower end say 3 volumes of Co2 for 23 litres worked out around 185 grams of standard sugar? Does that sound like too much?

Some calculators went up to 200 grams for 3 volumes not sure why they differ.