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stuck fermentation

MRMARTINSALES

Grandmaster Brewer
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Hi All,

Youve probably answered this problem a load of times but im in need of some assistance.

I have brewed a dark bitter. O.G 1.055 with a target FG of 1.017 Yielding a 5% beer.

It is currently at 1.020 and the bubbles out of the airlock are not very frequent, perhaps 1 every 20 Seconds.

Is this still fermenting and if not, why has it not hit my target FG? im using Safale S-04 yeast.

Its taken 3 days only to get to this point.

Any help is greatly received.

Thanks
 
Let it sit and check the gravity every day for 3 days. If you get the same gravity 3 days in a row you're good.
 
Greetings MRMARTINSALES - assuming you're using a hydrometer to measure the SG, (and NOT a refractometer) it appears you have three points to go.  So, my question is:

1) How long has the SG been steady at 1.020?  If it remains at this level for three days, or so, as Oddball suggests, its done.  A number of factors will cause you to fall a bit short of target.  I will typically start checking my SG when the activity in the airlock is about 1 minute between bubbles.
 
Is there any krausen on top still? If you are still seeing airlock activity, then it is probably still fermenting, and if you have krausen then it is definitely still working. I have a beer with WY1332 yeast going now, and it is a slow finisher. It goes rapidly at the start, then slows way down but keeps going. I checked the gravity at day 6 and it was 1.023, which disappointed me because I thought it was going to stop there, but when I checked on day 9 it was 1.015, with the airlock still going every 10 secs and a thin layer of shiny, gooey stuff still covering the surface! That is 8 points in 3 days. If your airlock is going at half that rate, you could still see your gravity drop by a few points before the yeast stops completely.

--GF
 
3 days? Let it go. Let the yeast do its thing. If you want to speed it up, move the carboy to a warmer spot (not too warm obviously).

I've got an ESB in secondary that I thought would be finished by now. It had a very vigorous primary, but it's taking forever to finish. It's slowly (painfully) trailing off. I thought it would only be a week in secondary before kegging, but it's been about 11 days and I'll just let it go to 14 days. The bubbling was once every 20 seconds a few days ago and now it's like once every 28 seconds.  ::) So it's frustrating that it's such a steady pace, but so slow to finish. There's even a very thin layer of foam on top. The gravity is 1.016 so it's pretty much done, but I want to make sure the yeast is quite finished with its business. We even moved the carboy to a spot that's about 5 degrees warmer (from the basement to the kitchen).

It's going to be fine and your beer will be too. And you shouldn't be concerned about a stuck fermentation after only 3 days with it still bubbling. Primary in that style should take 4-5 days and you can even let it go 7 or more. Just wait it out. You'll be fine.
 
I would wait longer, I've had beers start fermenting fast then just slow down. I think the yeast is probably just taking it's time let it sit for 14 days, secondary is pretty useless in beer brewing especially today unless it's a really really high alcohol beer that really needs aging.

I had a beer once that got stuck at 1.028 cause the yeast kept falling out. Maybe give the fermenter a little swirl to get the yeast back into suspension.
 
it has managed to get down to 1020 now which gives it 4.6% ABV. as mentioned previosuly this beer should have finished at 1.017. What i'm trying to achieve is consistency so if it is finished i want to chill and keg and then the next time do it exactly the same way.

It makes me question again, how does a commercial brewery do it? they dont wait that long for the beer to get to FG?

Is the Safale s04 the culprit here or not? I have a ss brewtech chronical with a fermentation temp controller so i know it has nothing to do with the temps fluctuating.

Thanks
 
MRMARTINSALES said:
it has managed to get down to 1020 now which gives it 4.6% ABV. as mentioned previosuly this beer should have finished at 1.017. What i'm trying to achieve is consistency so if it is finished i want to chill and keg and then the next time do it exactly the same way.

It makes me question again, how does a commercial brewery do it? they dont wait that long for the beer to get to FG?

Is the Safale s04 the culprit here or not? I have a ss brewtech chronical with a fermentation temp controller so i know it has nothing to do with the temps fluctuating.

Thanks

I made one beer with S-04 it didn't turn out well and was very slow fermenting so it quite possibly could be the yeast I have no idea as I haven't used it enough.
 
I don't know how commercial brewers do it, and I frankly don't care because I am not one of them and it has essentially no bearing on what I do.

Your concern about consistency is valid, though, and is one of the biggest challenges for homebrewers. Without a big lab it is basically impossible to tell if your malt characteristics, yeast count, hop AA%  or water chemistry change from batch to batch. All you can do is to do your best to control the factors you can by taking good notes and being careful with your process. You have a good fermentation temperature controller, which is essential. You should also try to control your mash temperatures as best you can (that is a lot harder, in my experience).

Having said that, I am not sure that the difference between 1.017 and 1.020 would be very noticeable. It depends on a lot of factors, but I would think that 3 points is about the threshold where you would be able to distinguish two beers. Measurement accuracy is usually only only 1 point or so, anyway.

--GF
 
MRMARTINSALES said:
it has managed to get down to 1020 now which gives it 4.6% ABV. as mentioned previosuly this beer should have finished at 1.017. What i'm trying to achieve is consistency so if it is finished i want to chill and keg and then the next time do it exactly the same way.

It makes me question again, how does a commercial brewery do it? they dont wait that long for the beer to get to FG?

Is the Safale s04 the culprit here or not? I have a ss brewtech chronical with a fermentation temp controller so i know it has nothing to do with the temps fluctuating.

Thanks

There are so many factors which go into the performance of yeast.  Fermentation rate and the ultimate FG can be affected by: (1) mashing temperature, (2) water to grist ratio at mashing temperatures, (3) the quality of the grain used, (4) the specific species of barley used, (5) the degree of modification during the malting process, (6) the amount of time and heat used for halting the germination process, (7) the amount of non-enzymatic grains or adjuncts used in the grist bill, (8) the quality and quantity of the yeast pitch, and (9) fermentation temperatures and duration, among other lesser factors.  I don't worry about hitting the FG exactly every time because I know these factors that I may have very little control over will affect every single batch.  Further, it takes a really, really discriminating taster to discern the difference of a few points of gravity between beers. 

Most mid sized and larger brewers that I have talked to have tight controls on their incoming raw materials.  They make slight changes to adapt their process to take into account the differences of base malts lot to lot and I know a few that purposely blend base malts of the same type from different suppliers to reduce the effect any one lot or supplier has on the outcome of their products.  This is something we, as home brewers or smaller breweries, don't have as much control over.

A prime example of this is the A-B plant in Merrimack, NH which is close to me and I've visited several times.  They get base malt from three different malting companies and blend them from the tank cars and silos into a mix which is determined by the amount of protein, enzyme content, dry basis extraction, and moisture content, among other things of each lot that they receive.  It takes a lot of manipulation and work to make a beer with that little flavor consistently.  Smuttynose in Portsmouth, NH is another which does blending to reduce variations in their base malts.

This is one reason that I made a switch a few years ago to buying base malt in full bags.  I know for a short while what I can expect and can get a full malt analysis sheet from the malting company that gives me the numbers needed to plug into BeerSmith and how that will potentially affect the outcome of my brews.

I would give it another few days to a week to finish off before worrying too much about where it ends up.  I've learned a lot of patience by taking up home brewing and now don't even consider looking at where the gravity of a fermenting wort is until at least 10 to 14 days have passed.

 
S-04 is a highly flocculant English strain of yeast.  It is slow to finish and the yeast will begin dropping out early at cool fermentation temperatures.  Raise the temperature of the beer to 70?F and take another hydrometer sample in a week.

The extra time will also allow some of the sediments suspended by CO2 off gassing to drop out instead of going into the keg.

Final gravity depends upon the fermentability of your wort.  Manufacturers attenuation figures are for a standard wort to be used to only compare yeasts.

 
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