Question about FG being off

[STEVESKI]

Hey everyone. I was planning on bottling my first batch tonight. It's an Irish Red Ale kit from Midwest. The FG is supposed to read 1.010-1.012 according to the directions, but it's currently at 1.017/1.018. I took a reading a few days ago and it was the same. The first thing I didn't do which I should have, was take a SG reading. My kit came a day before I had planned to brew and I didn't have a thief to use the hydrometer in. I did some research and decided it was best to just skip the reading rather than avoid contamination or breaking the hydrometer by doing the reading in the fermenter.

Now the 2nd and biggest issue is that the room that it has been in has been pretty cold. My kit came with Munton dry yeast and I read online that 64-70 is the best temperature range. The temperature in my basement has been ranging from 57-61. I had a very active initial fermentation (first 48 hours) and after that haven't really seen too much. It's my first time, so not exactly sure what I should/shouldn't be seeing.

Now my big question is, am I safe to bottle or should I leave it to ferment longer? It has been fermenting for 18 days. The FG has stayed the same over a 3 day period, but I don't know if that's because the yeast is hibernating due to cold temps? I'll be out of town this weekend so if I don't bottle tonight, the next available time will be Monday (another 5 days). My goal was to have some ready by St. Patty's day, so waiting until Monday might put that in jeopardy.

I did a taste test and since it was my first one, I can't really tell what I should/shouldn't be looking for. It looks like a red ale and tastes like a red ale that is flat (should be) and just not that good (maybe not finished? or maybe just needs bottle conditioning?). It does taste better than when I tried it a few days ago when I did my gravity reading though.

 

[lakedawgs]

Let it go a couple of more days, if it has not moved (gravity wise) in a week, you are good to bottle. Your basement is a bit cold, be better if you could bet to low-mid 60s. High 60s are ok even.

 

[kblankenship11]

If it was me I would move it up to a warmer area. You want to avoid large temperature fluctuations, but you want it warmer than that to give it a chance to finish up (67-70). Wrap it in a big blanket and set it in your kitchen or some area without ton of heat vents that will promote temp swings. Let it sit for 3-5 more days at that higher temp, if it doesn't drop at all after that, I would feel comfortable bottling.

Since St. pattys day is 2 weeks and some change away, you want to make sure that when you do bottle you have those babies in a much warmer area than your basement. If the aren't, you wont have any carb before that magical day...

 

[TopherM]

57-61 would be on the very low end of most ale yeast's optimum range. At those temps, I would expect fermentation to be pretty slow after the inital active period. Most fermentations have that visual, active period where the wort perculates and airlocks bubble, but that period is only about 80-85% of the overall fermentation. After the active period, those last 15-20% of gravity points often happen without any visual cues. In fermenting on the lower end of the yeast's range, it would be expected for that final 15% or so to take several days without any visual cues, and even move so slowly that hydrometer readings may look pretty much the same over any given 24-36 hour period.

Something like an Irish Red can only benefit from additional time in the primary. After the actual fermentation, if you give the yeast enough time they will actually eat many of the compounds that lead to off flavors, and will also eat dead yeast. Following that process, beer starts to effectively batch condition.

Since you are past the period of active fermentation, you are really out of the woods when it comes to off-flavor production. For this particular brew, I'd move it upstairs and let it sit at room temp for about another week. That'll finish it off!

 

[STEVESKI]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'll move it upstairs and check back in about a week and hopefully it will be dropped down. I'll also move my other batch I have fermenting (brewed 4 days ago) up there as well. Just like everyone else brewing their first batch, I'd love to have it sooner rather than later, but I think it will pay off waiting on it a little longer.


Meanwhile, I'll continue to scour craigslist in search of a decent chest freezer to build into a fermentation chamber so I don't have to deal with this anymore.

 

[TopherM]

Make sure the one that is 4 days old is done with the most active part of fermentation before you move it. You don't want the most active part of fermentation to take place at room temp, that's asking for off-flavors.

What I do for most average ale fermentations is leave it on temp control right at 60F with a -3 differential (so it stays between 57-60) for 7 days, then move it to room temp for a couple more weeks. My temp controlled fridge only fits one carboy/bucket at a time, so this is a good way to use temp control when it is most vital, then wax off the final few gravity points and other vital processes when temp isn't as vital, and open up a spot in my fermentation chamber for another brew

 

[STEVESKI]

Make sure the one that is 4 days old is done with the most active part of fermentation before you move it. You don't want the most active part of fermentation to take place at room temp, that's asking for off-flavors.

What I do for most average ale fermentations is leave it on temp control right at 60F with a -3 differential (so it stays between 57-60) for 7 days, then move it to room temp for a couple more weeks. My temp controlled fridge only fits one carboy/bucket at a time, so this is a good way to use temp control when it is most vital, then wax off the final few gravity points and other vital processes when temp isn't as vital.

Thanks, I didn't know that. I figured the initial active fermentation was the most important but I didn't know that people did different stages at different temperatures. Makes sense since the initial phase probably produces a lot of it's own heat. Makes me feel a little more confident that I didn't ruin my first 2 batches.

The batch I brewed 4 days ago appears to be past the 1st stage so I moved it upstairs. The room is at 66 right now and that's about as high as it gets so it might be perfect. My thermometer I use keeps the high and low for the day displayed so ill keep an eye on it.

 

[stvo]

Like everyone else warmer for sure. About your SG assuming this is an extract kit this is from midwest:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/downloads/54/Irish Red Ale instructions 2008.pdf
and it should be right on... you'd really have to screw up horribly for it to not be.... (leave out some DME/LME) and Muntons dry yeast if I can remember correctly has about a 65-70% attenuation rate, so if you go middle of the range 1.044... your looking at 1.013 to 1.015 FG per the attenuation rate for your yeasties. So your not far off..... give her a swirl and warm it up a bit you may drop those last few points.