This question probably gets asked here a lot, but...

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:39 pm

Is my batch ruined????

I may not have fermented it enough. Recap: one fermentation for almost two weeks, and it's been conditioning for about 5 days...OG was .055, and I just checked it and it was still almost at 20!!! It's still flat, and I sampled a little and it tastes sweet and cloying...

What are the odds it will do a good amount of fermenting in the bottle? And drop 10 gravity points...Should I dump it or just wait it out?

phat matt · Post by **phat matt** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 7:08 am

This is where you will learn about aeration and yeast starters. I have had the exact same problem before and a yeast starter fixed it. Just put about 1/2 cup dried malt extract for every .5L water. Be sure to prepare it the at least 24 hours before you brew. Than just pitch the whole thing in your carbouy.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 7:50 am

Do NOT bottle that. You are risking serious bottle bombs.

Aerate the hell out of it (swirl the carboy around) and consider adding more yeast, or yeast nutrient as per the discussion above.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 9:15 am

I'd me more enclined to pitching more yeast rather than aerating an already partly-fermented beer.

Wouldnt aerating cause oxydation and carboard-like astringent flavours in the beer?

This never happened to me and I'm curious to see what you guys think.

The bottle-bomb comment is very important. Remember yeasts are living (you hope) organisms. Sometimes they dont work as you'd expect. I had a barleywine seem to stop fermenting at 1.023, and after a couple months ended up 1.010. If you bottle it now and the yeast wakes up, the pressure will build up in the bottle, and will either pop the cap right off and gush, or simply explode... which can lead to a domino effect depending on how you store your bottles.

If you were all-grain, I'd ask for your mash temperatures, but since its a DME-based beer, you KNOW its packed full of fermentable sugars. So dont worry.

Did you rack to secondary or are you still in the primary fermentor?.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 10:01 am

Guys, he already did bottle.

Jeff, I believe you made a brown ale from Coopers extract. Did you follow the directions and dump in a bunch of sugar? Did you use the Coopers yeast?

I'm personally not that worried about a Coopers kit finishing at 1.020.

As for not having carbonation after 5 days... I'm not worried about that either.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 10:44 am

iguenard wrote:Wouldnt aerating cause oxydation and carboard-like astringent flavours in the beer?

I usually find gving the carboy a swirl without opening the airlock can rouse the yeast a bit. "Aerating" may be the wrong word for that.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 10:55 am

JerCraigs wrote:
iguenard wrote:Wouldnt aerating cause oxydation and carboard-like astringent flavours in the beer?
I usually find gving the carboy a swirl without opening the airlock can rouse the yeast a bit. "Aerating" may be the wrong word for that.

Well, I tried it once and the pressure difference sucked in a lot of the water in my airlock so I quickly stopped. Wonder if it sucks in some air while you do that.

bufordsbest · Post by **bufordsbest** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 11:26 am

yeah don't aerate that long after pitching, i think what you're describing is rousing the yeast back into suspension.

no carb after 5 days is not a big deal but here is probably where you went wrong:

1. did not pitch enough healthy yeast.
a) did you use liquid yeast and not make a starter?
b) did you use dry yeast and not rehydrate?
c) did you aerate the wort at all?

2. you bottled and then checked the final gravity days later. you should be doing this while it's still in the carboy. once it's in bottles, you're done, not much you can do.

3. refermentation in the bottle's main purpose is to carbonate the beer and scavenge oxygen that was introduced during the bottling stage. (and possibly future aging) you are not going to get significant fermentation at this point (nor do you want to because your bottles would explode) I wouldn't expect an ale pitched with only ale yeast to go down more than 1 point of gravity in the bottle. (brettanomyces is a different story)

4. now that i think of it, i believe if your yeast died out at 1.020 there is probably not enough healthy yeast left in suspension to eat the sugar you added at bottling to carbonate. i'd be surprised if this beer ends up carbonating but you could warm it up a bit by moving it to a warmer area of the house.

hope that helps,

tg

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 11:58 am

markaberrant wrote:Guys, he already did bottle.

Jeff, I believe you made a brown ale from Coopers extract. Did you follow the directions and dump in a bunch of sugar? Did you use the Coopers yeast?

I'm personally not that worried about a Coopers kit finishing at 1.020.

As for not having carbonation after 5 days... I'm not worried about that either.

Yes I followed the instructions with the sugar, and also with the coopers yeast... didn't do to the letter (and you're going to think I'm really stupid here) is because I didn't use as much water (17 litres vs 23) I thought "Oh, I don't need as much priming sugar...So I only used about 3/4 of the pack.

No I never aerated the wort and only used one fermenter...I also (stupid me) sprinkled the yeast rather than re-hydrating...

So my thought is...There's probably enough fermentables in the bottles, but not enough yeast to ferment it out...

Well, I should've known that my first batch would be kind of like this, but it just makes me want to go get some more extract and do it right...

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:01 pm

Thanks BB - I'm pretty sure that is where I went wrong...

Next batch I follow the John Palmer instructions To. The. Letter.

Jeff

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:50 pm

JeffPorter wrote:Yes I followed the instructions with the sugar, and also with the coopers yeast... didn't do to the letter (and you're going to think I'm really stupid here) is because I didn't use as much water (17 litres vs 23) I thought "Oh, I don't need as much priming sugar...So I only used about 3/4 of the pack.

No I never aerated the wort and only used one fermenter...I also (stupid me) sprinkled the yeast rather than re-hydrating...

So my thought is...There's probably enough fermentables in the bottles, but not enough yeast to ferment it out...

Well, I should've known that my first batch would be kind of like this, but it just makes me want to go get some more extract and do it right...

Again, I am not surprised it finished at 1.020 based on your "recipe," but I can pretty much guarantee it will eventually carbonate. Do you see any sediment in the bottom of the bottles? What temp are the bottles currently at? Gently roll/shake each bottle to ensure the yeast is in suspension, and store them for another week or two at 20 - 24C.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 1:47 pm

And kif one of the bottles ends up with ok carbonation, instantly store all bottles in a cool (4'C) place to try to limit fermentation.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 1:49 pm

Thanks Mark - they are sitting at about 23 degress C right now. So we'll see what a couple of more weeks does