Do I have a stuck fermentation?

[pdietert]

Since temperature (disolved CO2) is also a factor, I would also follow a priming calculator to figure how much sugar to add. Here is one as an example:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

 

[leomnovaes]

Just my 2 cents:
You did not really oxygenate your wort so fermentation at this point is going to be really slow. Cold crashing now will completely stop fermentation but once you bottle, fermentation will probably start again as there will be more oxygen introduced and the process will rouse the yeast. Adding more sugar at bottling will likely over-carbonate your beer. If it were me, I would swirl every day or two and see if you can get any more activity out of the yeast, you got 1 point before. Keep doing this until you can not get any more activity.

i did swirl it every now and then, since that 1 point drop it remained the same for more than 3 days despite being at 23.4C, how do i know for sure that it ended?

thanks

 

[pdietert]

how do i know for sure that it ended?

That is the problem with stuck fermentations, it is not easy to figure out.

Take a gravity sample from the top of your fermenter and see if it is different, it shouldn't be but you have a lot of trub in that sample.

If you do go forward with secondary and bottling, make sure you keep an eye on the bottle carbonation (once bottled) and sample one after 4 or 5 days then another a couple days after that and so on. When it reaches the carbonation level desired, then refrigerate all the bottles. Also, use a priming calculator to determine the amount of priming sugar.

 

[pdietert]

Also, did you adjust your gravity reading for temperature and calibrate your hydrometer?

 

[duboman]

I really don't see how mixing priming solution in bucket is better than putting the exact amount of the same solution inside each bottle...

dissolve 100g of sugar in 200ml of water (boil), then put 1ml of this solution for each 100ml of bottled beer... meaning a 600ml beer will have 6ml of this solution, assuring 5g/l of priming sugar in every bottle

maybe you could tell me the big difference between doing this rather than mixing the solution in the bucket, at my point of view mixing it in the bucket will not assure an even distribution of the priming solution at each ml of beer...
i mean, if you put the solution on the top then mix, maybe beer at the bottom has a little less... and actually it's rather difficult to measure the exact amount of beer that you are bottling, unless your bucket has measurements...

i'm not trying to be stubborn, just will appreciate very much if you could give me more theory in this decision

thanks and cheers!

I'm merely stating a tried and true method to bottling properly. If you elect to simply open the spigot on your primary you will get sediment into your bottles which may or may not be a big deal to you.

You will still need a wand as you need to fill the bottles from the bottom up. If you want to make a solution and measure everything out to the ml and assume you have the exact same amount of beer to the ml in each bottle then your method will work but I'll assume time also is not an issue for you in how long it takes you to bottle

Just trying to make things easy....

 

[leomnovaes]

Also, did you adjust your gravity reading for temperature and calibrate your hydrometer?

hi, yes i did calibrate it, it is set for 20 C and it hits the 1.000 mark on the spot...

 

[leomnovaes]

I'm merely stating a tried and true method to bottling properly. If you elect to simply open the spigot on your primary you will get sediment into your bottles which may or may not be a big deal to you.

You will still need a wand as you need to fill the bottles from the bottom up. If you want to make a solution and measure everything out to the ml and assume you have the exact same amount of beer to the ml in each bottle then your method will work but I'll assume time also is not an issue for you in how long it takes you to bottle

Just trying to make things easy....

thank you for you answer,

i'll be bottling with 3 more people helping sanitation and stuff, we'll make a kind of a assembly line...

i was willing to use a hose since i dont have the wand, but next time i'll sure have it, and also the auto-siphon for racking to the bottling bucket

This time i'll put a little piece of wood below my tapping side of the bucket, tilting it a little making trub slide away from my tap, i'll let it cold-crash like this an then bottle without moving the bucket... once the bucket is below my tap line i remove my piece of wood and carefully bottle the rest of the beer. if i feel trub is starting to touch the spigot i'll stop.

may not be a bottling by the book, but i think it should work. home-brew stores here at brazil are just a few and i need to order my equipment online, which should take a week to be delivered. if i could just go to the corner of my street and buy these thing i'd sure use it sunday (bottling day, if everything goes right today)

today i'll take my last measurement to assure that gravity stayed at 1.019, if it is, it's cold crashing day... will try to fetch something that can remove a sample from the top of my beer, from the airlock hole, than i'll take a picture and show you guys

i'm curious to see how clear it is on the top

cheers

 

[jjw5015]

I know as a new brewer I was excited and impatient as well. The best thing for your beer will be time. Order the right equipment to do it the right way and just wait. Just my .02.

 

[leomnovaes]

Sorry that i couldn't report earlier, here's the pic i took that day from the sample at the top of the fermenter

it looks less yeasty (less white) but still it's not clear as i thought it should be.

May be because of the heavy hopping (220g excluding dry-hopping) with no use of hop bag or something, or something else, i dunno.

either way, gravity maintained itself at 1.019 so i proceeded to cold crashing and finally bottled. I've bought an auto-siphon and racked to a bottling bucket, mixing priming sugar in the bucket, an amount computed by a priming calculator. everything as you guys suggested me

even after cold crashing for 4 days beer was nowhere as clear as i thought it could get, actually it barely changed clearness. should I recirculate more perhaps? I'll try batch sparging instead of fly-sparge next brew, maybe it could help who knows...

I'll be sure to report again when beer is ready.

I'll crack one small bottle open at saturday (5 days of bottling) and see if carbonation is going well... if it's too much i'll be sure to put everything in the freezer. if it is not, well, maybe i post a picture and sit still for more 3 or 4 days and try again

anyways thank you all again, december 6 is my next brew day and i want to be sure that this time i get everything done correctly

 

[leomnovaes]

Just cracked open my first bottle. It is really strange how the color changed. it was orange before bottling. now, it is brown! I have no idea what the hell happened. do someone have a theory?

It is surely too dark for an IPA, and unbalanced. it has 70 IBU and 5.5% ABV. there is a little sweet taste at the end cause my final gravity was too high (1.019) Ill use less special malts next batch. it tastes like an IPA because of the bitterness and hop aroma.

however, it is really strange how the color changed. i would be really interested in any explanations you guys could have

in the end it is good, not as good as i wanted but hey, first beer, and i had issues. but still, better than comercial beer and it is mine...