Fermentation questions

We just transferred our fermented wort into our 2nd fermentation tank after 8 days. We had 5 Ga at the beginning of the first fermentation and we pitch 2 packs of FERMENTIS SAFBREW S 33. Prior to that, we transferred the wort from the boiling pot to the 1st fermentator in taking care of bringing oxygen in the wort. After 8 days, there was ~1,5 inch of yeast in the bottom of the fermentor. We took the final gravity during the transfer and it was 1.038. We had 1.071 after the boiling.

Is everything normal? We target a beer with 8-9% alc/vol, is it possible? Did we put to much yeast? Not enough oxygen?

Also, once our transfer was finished, there were bubbles in wort that we didnt transferred in the 2nd fermentor. What does it mean?

thank you guys!

Hard to say, but attenuation from 1.071 down to 1.038 is only 46%, which is pretty low.  That yeast could've hit 1.020 under typical conditions.  (That would've made a 6.8% ABV beer.)    It would have been hard to reach 8.5% ABV with the wort you made. 

Did you re-hydrate the yeast and aerate the wort?    Were the packages fresh and well-preserved, i.e., re-fridgerated until used? 

Eight days in primary seems short for that big of a beer.  Hopefully the yeast that was in suspension will keep the fermentation going in the secondary. 

When I started the hobby some fifteen years or so ago I thought it was cool that you could make beer that was that potent, but then I discovered why you don't see many 8-9% beers on the market. They just don't taste very good.  That and they're difficult to work with.

Personally I don't shoot for a starting gravity of more than 1.050 anymore.

After 8 days, your final gravity should have been lower than that.    Did you measure using a hydrometer?  At around 68F?

High alcohol beers require a lot of healthy yeast.  For best results, the dry yeast should have been built up in a starter to ensure you had plenty of healthy active yest to tackle the high alcohol wort.  They also have to be well oxygenated so 30 minutes of vigorous shaking or a couple minutes of direct O2 would be recommended.

Sounds like CO2 was being released form the left over wort after you transferred to the secondary.  This is normal as you agitated the wort and CO2 is escaping.  It is less likely that it is still actively fermenting.

I would speculate that you did not have enough healthy active yeast and did not oxygenate thoroughly.  The beer will likely be a somewhat sweet and possibly too sweet.  There is not much you can do to "fix" it.  Usually you just imagine it as a different beer and drink it. 

Please report back and let us know how it turned out.

Cheers!
joe

when you are going over the 1.050 you really need to use an O2 Oxygen Aeration System.  Otherwise it is difficult to add enough O2.  It can be done.  I generally use a 2L starter when I brew a big beer.  Look for yeast that has a high attenuation, this one has an apparent attenuation of 70%.  It has an alcohol tolerance of about 11%.  I would have given it more time in the primary.  Higher ABV beers take longer to ferment.  Like most things brewing give some more time.  Relax & have a homebrew  

Maine Homebrewer said:

When I started the hobby some fifteen years or so ago I thought it was cool that you could make beer that was that potent, but then I discovered why you don't see many 8-9% beers on the market. They just don't taste very good.  That and they're difficult to work with.

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I would dispute that.  Even though a lot of recipes seem to be designed with a high alcohol in mind regardless of the style, you can make a very good beer with 8% or higher alcohol.
They are more work.  Design and fermentation take more work and most the time complex or higher alcohol beers require some time to come into their own, but they can be well worth the extra effort.

Read John Palmer's "How to Brew" at      http://howtobrew.com/

Give the beer some time to finish fermenting.

In the future:
Pitch more yeast (check    http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html).
Aerate the wort a lot; John Palmer covers that.
Have a packet of dry yeast handy in case the initial yeast dies or doesn't finish the job. If you do this do not aerate the wort; aeration is to support yeast growth, dry yeast packets contain enough cells to ferment about 5 gallons of 1.050 yeast without starters or aeration. This might help your problem beer.
Control fermentation temps; hotter fermentation will ferment more enthusiastically, but can cause some unpleasant flavors.
Sometimes swirling the fermenter to rouse the yeast cake into the beer can supposedly improve attenuation. This might help your problem beer.
Leave the beer in the primary fermenter, on the yeast cake, to give the yeast time to eat some of the unwanted flavors produced early in the fermentation, especially if the initial fermentation was a little too warm.

All of the above is my interpretation of what I've read and experienced. It isn't hard science, and is not guaranteed. There's probably someone out there who can offer a convincing argument against all of the suggestions above.

Hi all,

Thanks for taking time to answer our questions. We also think that time will do its work. We might have neglected aeration prior pitching the dry yeast.

We are currently brewing a secong beer and we already feel that its going to be better made.

Until next time,

mopyb