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Author Topic: fermentation not complete ?  (Read 3146 times)

Offline rodmanxxx

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Re: fermentation not complete ?
« Reply #15 on: March 13, 2014, 08:15:33 pm »
So i brought temp up for 2 days n roused yeast then let temp drop back to 68. Still 1.035. Will bottle on saturday. I think u right erockrph i definitely get a more sweeter sherry as opposed to dry red wine in it. Cant wait till next year to taste this again.
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Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: fermentation not complete ?
« Reply #16 on: March 14, 2014, 08:01:19 am »
I would have given it longer than two days at a higher temp.  IME, the yeast work more slowly at the finish of really big beer particularly if it seems as though it might have stalled.

I brewed a quad about two years ago (Denny's 400th recipe and for my 40th) that seemed to stall at around 1.035, IIRC. It may have been in the high 20s.  Given time, gentle rousing, and some warmth it finished in the teens.  I think it took about two months to get to a steady terminal gravity.

I've only had bottle bombs once, and it was really only one bottle that cracked the rest are just grossly over carbonated, and that came from bottling a big beer when I thought it was done and it was not.  I put most of it into champagne bottles and those are fine but one swing top grolsch bottle broke open at the bottom.
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Offline rodmanxxx

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Re: fermentation not complete ?
« Reply #17 on: March 14, 2014, 06:52:18 pm »
Ya I guess I should have given it more than 2 days at the higher temp. But it did not move down at all, still at 1.035. I misinformed on the estimated final gravity, according to beersmith it should be 1.029, so I am calling it done with the yeast that is in there right now. I don;t really want to add more yeast as others have suggested (good ideas though, including bonjour idea of getting slurry from my local friendly brewery). I would prefer the sweeter taste I am getting now. My new concern is bottling and not getting any carbonation. Since the bottles will be sitting for at least a year, do you think I will get any carbonation? I was planning on 2.2 vols.
If you don't think i will get carbonation, then is the next best thing to add a pinch of dry yeast to each bottle. That scares me. And if so, what yeast, would us5 be better than champagne yeast which would dry it out more?
Oy, thanks man!
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Offline a10t2

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Re: fermentation not complete ?
« Reply #18 on: March 14, 2014, 08:22:13 pm »
A fast ferment test definitely needs to be your first step here. Bottling a beer that may have stalled is just plain dangerous. And with the beer being racked off of most of the yeast, there's little chance that a stalled fermentation could be restarted.

according to beersmith it should be 1.029

FWIW, Beersmith isn't actually estimating an FG. It's just using the attenuation level that you set (or the default if you haven't changed it). The recipe isn't taken into consideration.

And if so, what yeast, would us5 be better than champagne yeast which would dry it out more?

Assuming an FFT shows that it hasn't stalled and can be bottled, I would definitely add fresh yeast. Dry is fine, just rehydrate about one gram and add it to the bottling bucket. Don't throw the dry yeast directly into a high-gravity beer though. Strain doesn't really matter for this, so I'd pick something flocculent like Nottingham or S-04.

And the idea that champagne yeast will dry out a beer is a myth. It can't attenuate any sugars that brewer's yeast can't also ferment. If there's a gravity drop after repitching with champagne yeast, it's because the initial pitch stalled out above the attenuation limit of the wort.
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Offline erockrph

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Re: fermentation not complete ?
« Reply #19 on: March 14, 2014, 08:57:28 pm »
And the idea that champagne yeast will dry out a beer is a myth. It can't attenuate any sugars that brewer's yeast can't also ferment. If there's a gravity drop after repitching with champagne yeast, it's because the initial pitch stalled out above the attenuation limit of the wort.

I think this myth comes from the idea that champagne yeast has a higher listed alcohol tolerance than beer yeast, so if a beer yeast gives up because it has passed its alcohol tolerance, then (theoretically) the champagne yeast can keep going.

I think this idea is flawed because a) most beer strains can go quite a bit higher than their published tolerance if they are taken care of properly - well beyond the alcohol level all but the largest of barleywines and b) unless you pitched a big, healthy, hungry starter, I doubt even champagne yeast are going to be happy when pitched into beer that is already 12-14+% ABV - if that is truly the reason the original yeast gave up the ghost.

If you really thought that you maxed out the alcohol tolerance of your original yeast, then you'd probably be best off with something like eau de vie or distiller's yeast. But even then, I'm not sure if they'd be much help if they're not getting to the party until the beer is already in the double-digits.
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