True Brew Pale Ale FG too high

[mcmeador]

I brewed a True Brew Pale Ale kit about 3 weeks ago and hit the high end of the estimated starting gravity (1.045). The wort went into my fermenting bucket sitting in a swamp cooler that kept the temperature in the mid- to upper-60s. The airlock was bubbling vigorously the next morning. I took a gravity reading about a week and a half later and came up with 1.017. The target FG was 1.010-1.012. I pulled the fermenter out of the swamp cooler for a few days and let it sit at 73 degrees thinking maybe the yeast would get more active if it warmed up a bit.

When I was ready to bottle four days later, I took another reading and got 1.017 again. I went ahead and bottled the beer thinking it was as done as it was going to be (maybe a bad idea) and used about 3 ounces of priming sugar. Outside of my hydrometer being off, what could have caused the fermentation to be incomplete? I guess it's not really off by that much, but now I'm wondering two things:

1) If it was a problem with the yeast, can I expect the yeast to be able to ferment the priming sugar and thus carbonate my beer?

2) If the yeast is fine, am I at risk of having exploding bottles as the yeast ferments the priming sugar and the remainder of the fermentable sugars in the beer?

Any insight would be appreciated. I'm also open to advice on what to do if I encounter a problem like this in the future assuming my decision to bottle was not a good one.

 

[jonnyp1980]

After three weeks. And you have a low abv beer. It's done. Gravity readings stayed the same. Sometimes it's just done. Extracts do that sometimes. You made beer though. Congrats. I'm sure it will taste great.

 

[IL1kebeer]

I brewed a True Brew Pale Ale kit about 3 weeks ago and hit the high end of the estimated starting gravity (1.045). The wort went into my fermenting bucket sitting in a swamp cooler that kept the temperature in the mid- to upper-60s. The airlock was bubbling vigorously the next morning. I took a gravity reading about a week and a half later and came up with 1.017. The target FG was 1.010-1.012. I pulled the fermenter out of the swamp cooler for a few days and let it sit at 73 degrees thinking maybe the yeast would get more active if it warmed up a bit. When I was ready to bottle four days later, I took another reading and got 1.017 again. I went ahead and bottled the beer thinking it was as done as it was going to be (maybe a bad idea) and used about 3 ounces of priming sugar. Outside of my hydrometer being off, what could have caused the fermentation to be incomplete? I guess it's not really off by that much, but now I'm wondering two things: 1) If it was a problem with the yeast, can I expect the yeast to be able to ferment the priming sugar and thus carbonate my beer? 2) If the yeast is fine, am I at risk of having exploding bottles as the yeast ferments the priming sugar and the remainder of the fermentable sugars in the beer? Any insight would be appreciated. I'm also open to advice on what to do if I encounter a problem like this in the future assuming my decision to bottle was not a good one.

What kind of yeast did you use?
When was the manufacture date of the yeast?
If liquid yeast: Did you make a starter (your low OG brew might not need one depending in how old the yeast is)? And did you properly oxygenate/aerate prior to pitching?
If dry yeast: Did you rehydrate?
What specialty grains were in this recipe? And what amounts?
Did you make any changes to the recipe like add additional specialty grains?
Are you sure that your hydrometer is calibrated to read 0 in distilled water at its calibration temperature?
Are you sure that you took the readings at your hydrometers calibrated temp? If not did you make the corrections?

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

When I saw the first 1.017 reading I would have given the fermentor a good swirl you rouse the yeast.

You could always pitch some Lallemand 1118 (a Champagne Yeast and King of stalled fermentation restarters) and see if that will ferment it out any further.

 

[mcmeador]

Well next time I run into that problem, I will try swirling it around a bit and see what happens. I think my hydrometer may be off a bit anyway because it reads cold water from the tap at 1.003. To answer some of the questions from the second reply, there were 6 ounces of crystal malt and I did not make any changes to the recipe. Not sure about the yeast expiration date, but it was dry.

Thanks for the replies. We will see how it turns out!

 

[ballsy]

Well next time I run into that problem, I will try swirling it around a bit and see what happens. I think my hydrometer may be off a bit anyway because it reads cold water from the tap at 1.003. To answer some of the questions from the second reply, there were 6 ounces of crystal malt and I did not make any changes to the recipe. Not sure about the yeast expiration date, but it was dry.

Thanks for the replies. We will see how it turns out!

Buy distilled water to test your hydrometer. Should read 1.000