Is It Stuck?

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
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Lewie
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Is It Stuck?

Post by Lewie » Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:08 am

Hey all.
New Zealand Brewers Series IPA.
Bubbled for two days. Stopped.
Left for nearly two weeks.
Hydro seems stuck at 1.014 over 3 days.
Supposed to finish at 1.006.
Any advice on how to rescue it?
Some say stir, others say never stir, blah blah.
Cheers.

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MashBag
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Re: Is It Stuck?

Post by MashBag » Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:13 pm

To stir or not to stir is a matter of when & why.

For a stuck fermentation I would raise temp 2c and give it a trashing with a balloon whisk.. Is the easy answer.

Lewie
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Re: Is It Stuck?

Post by Lewie » Mon Jun 07, 2021 5:36 pm

Ok.
I haven't got a balloon whisk that long so it will have to be my spoon.
Cheers

WalesAles
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Re: Is It Stuck?

Post by WalesAles » Mon Jun 07, 2021 7:54 pm

Lewie,
What was your SG?
Lots of kits finish at 1010 - 1012, never seen one finish at 1006.
Maybe yours is finished at 1014.

WA

Lewie
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Re: Is It Stuck?

Post by Lewie » Mon Jun 07, 2021 8:14 pm

Didn't do one WA.
I followed the kit instructions so I assumed, unless you tweak, then what it states on the box is what the FG should be?
I read somewhere not to bottle any beer above 1.006 else bottle bombs are likely?
Edit: Had a peek about on here and like you state WA there are plenty stating 1.010-12.
Mine may be lower than 1.014, a tad hard to be exact.
Bottles, here it comes!!

Lewie
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Re: Is It Stuck?

Post by Lewie » Sun Jun 20, 2021 5:53 pm

Well, bottled it two days later.
100gms (ish) of sugar boiled for 10 minutes in around 200ml of water.
Added to bucket at the start of syphoning.
Bottled the same day as racking off and bulk priming.
It's been in the warm for nigh on two weeks, it's pretty clear.
I opened one and got a faint hiss and it was quite flat.
I tried another one that looked like it had a slight head forming at the top in the bottle.
By crikey, this one certainly wasn'r flat, it went up like Vesuvious!!
Never seen anything quite like it.
Beer everywhere.
I'm assuming this one was about to become a bottle bomb.
How the devil can two that I've opened be almost flat and this one be so carbonated??

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MashBag
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Re: Is It Stuck?

Post by MashBag » Sun Jun 20, 2021 6:49 pm

Mixing?

I find it more accurate to dose the bottles.

Lewie
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Re: Is It Stuck?

Post by Lewie » Sun Jun 20, 2021 7:24 pm

Well, that’s how I did my first brew, dosed individually.
Then I batch primed my second brew stirring it well.
I was told, on here I think, that it was a bad idea to stir the sugar solution into the brew as it introduces air?
So this time I just let it mix in while filling the fermenter.
Gave it a gentle stir.
Looks like I’ve got a hit and miss batch.

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MashBag
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Re: Is It Stuck?

Post by MashBag » Mon Jun 21, 2021 7:37 am

Different strokes different folks.

If you stir it without splashing you can still mix it throughly. Tbh the "introducing air" argument is a bit thin imo as the yeast will scavenge it in the bottle conditioning.

I dose caster sugar to each bottle, fill, cap, then invert and shake gently. To check the seal and mix the sugar. That mixes in the top 1/2 inch of air. Never had an issue.

Lewie
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Re: Is It Stuck?

Post by Lewie » Mon Jun 21, 2021 3:49 pm

I was wondering about the air thing.
It gets transferred from one fementer to another, then into the bottles.
If you're not causing frothing when you stir I don't see how air can get in.
And if you're not causing froth then there is no air getting in as it's the air that forms the bubbles.
Ah well, I'll have to wait and see what happens.
I'm guessing, as the flat ish beer is a tad sweet that it was a stuck ferment and I should have given it a jolt.

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