Incomplete Beer Fermentation :(

[NoviceFromNewMexico]

Hi,

So recently I have had my last few batches of beer experience incomplete fermentations. First I will quickly discuss my last barley wine and then I want to discuss the beer I am currently brewing.

So I just bottled a 5 gallon barely wine that started 1.102 and finished at 1.038 (supposed to be 1.024). I pitched with a dry ale yeast for 7 days and then threw in a champagne yeast to bring it down past what the dry ale yeast could handle, but to no avail. I primaried for 3 weeks and secondaried for 4 weeks, before bottling. The beer tastes great but I didn't get it to my desired alcohol and dryness level. Fermentation temp was between 58-62.

10 days ago I brewed a IPA and pitched it with Safbrew S-33 (weird choice but it has high attenuation and I decided to give it a try). The beer has been fermenting for those 10 days staying between 60-62 degrees. My OG was 1.078 and I am looking for a 1.018 FG. However, I just took a grav reading and I was only down to 1.028. The beer tastes good even though it's just been 10 days but the gravity is still way too high.

Does anyone have any theories as to why I am experiencing incomplete fermentations?

Thank you for your help!

 

[paperairplane]

How do you aerate
Do you pitch enough yeast
After first few days, move to warmer area and gently shake to rouse yeast

 

[boydster]

So I've used S-33 before and it's been finnicky for me. I've had it stop, clear entirely, then come back to life and finish fermenting 5 days later. With that beer, try warming it up a few degrees and rousing the yeast to get it going again... it might surprise you.

With your barley wine, one thing to keep in mind is that champagne yeast doesn't eat more complex sugars like ale yeast does, and ale yeast prefers to eat simple sugars first. That means when you first pitch the ale yeast, it'll eat all the simple sugars before moving on to the more complex sugars and then it will finally give up when it can no longer tolerate the alcohol content. If you pitch champagne yeast at that point, there won't be any simple sugars left for it to eat. To top it all off, you're pitching the champagne yeast into a low pH alcoholic environment, and that doesn't exactly encourage it to work at peak condition. Your target OG and FG put you at a little over 10% abv - most ale strains should be able to handle that as long as you pitch enough. If you're brewing 5 gallons, that's almost 350 billion cells. Even more if you are brewing a little extra to make sure you have a full 5 gallons to put into a keg or bottles.

 

[benco]

I have no experience with barley wines, but have made lots of IPAs. From what I've learned on here most people don't like or depend on s-33, s - 05 is better, it's clean and quick, assuming you rehydrate and ferment correctly. Also I've learned yo need to aerate bigger beers. I moved up to a o2 bottle and wand, I think it makes a big difference for your yeast.

 

[cjgenever]

Airation and pitch quality/quantity. That's what you need to look at. Also, you say fermentation temp is in the very low sixties? Or is that ambient? I shoot for ~64° INTERNAL fermentation temps.that means I set my temp control(taped to side of FV and covered with insulation) to 60° for initial and raise it in relation to activity.
FWIW...Us-05/1096 has been known to work all the way to 12% abv. With care it can easily handle 10% environments. AND 1099 is available for real high abv beers.

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[NoviceFromNewMexico]

Thank you for the replies everyone! I will increase my pitch amount in future higher gravity beer batches. In regards to aeration I generally just shake the carboys for about ten minutes. I haven't invested in an O2 tank to do that with, but would this be a worthwhile investment?

For the mean time, I will move my carboys into a warmer area and give them a little shake to see if I get them to kick up fermentation again. Thank you for the quick replies everyone!

 

[Gameface]

Thank you for the replies everyone! I will increase my pitch amount in future higher gravity beer batches. In regards to aeration I generally just shake the carboys for about ten minutes. I haven't invested in an O2 tank to do that with, but would this be a worthwhile investment?

For the mean time, I will move my carboys into a warmer area and give them a little shake to see if I get them to kick up fermentation again. Thank you for the quick replies everyone!

If your focus is going to be high gravity, high ABV beers then O2 would be a really good idea. I'd also highly suggest that you check how much yeast you're pitching against mrmalty.com or the like to make sure you're pitching the right amount (going a little over is far better than going a little under). Multiple packs of dry yeast might work for you just fine but I think most people who want to make big beers typically make yeast starters.

That and fermentation temp control. Not sure if you are controlling temps as low as you mention or just because of the time of year you have a spot that maintains those temps, but as summer rolls around you might end up with some very sub-par results if the temps climb into the 70s or higher, especially with big beers...not to mention the possibility of huge krausen blowing the lid off your fermenter after it clogs your airlock.

 

[eastoak]

Hi,

So recently I have had my last few batches of beer experience incomplete fermentations. First I will quickly discuss my last barley wine and then I want to discuss the beer I am currently brewing.

So I just bottled a 5 gallon barely wine that started 1.102 and finished at 1.038 (supposed to be 1.024). I pitched with a dry ale yeast for 7 days and then threw in a champagne yeast to bring it down past what the dry ale yeast could handle, but to no avail. I primaried for 3 weeks and secondaried for 4 weeks, before bottling. The beer tastes great but I didn't get it to my desired alcohol and dryness level. Fermentation temp was between 58-62.

10 days ago I brewed a IPA and pitched it with Safbrew S-33 (weird choice but it has high attenuation and I decided to give it a try). The beer has been fermenting for those 10 days staying between 60-62 degrees. My OG was 1.078 and I am looking for a 1.018 FG. However, I just took a grav reading and I was only down to 1.028. The beer tastes good even though it's just been 10 days but the gravity is still way too high.

Does anyone have any theories as to why I am experiencing incomplete fermentations?

Thank you for your help!

did you move your beer before it had fully attenuated? that might explain the high final gravity. moving a beer off of the yeast that is fermenting makes no sense. don't worry about the number of weeks in the "primary" use a hydrometer to make your decisions.

 

[CraptainWirtz]

use a hydrometer to make your decisions.

Speaking of...are you using a hydrometer or refractometer for your FG readings?