Specific Gravity

TheMoodieBrews

Help please! Am brewing a Brew Ferm Grand Cru kit, using 500g of light spray malt rather than sugar. Followed all instructions to the letter, everything was going well but after about 10 days in the fermenter the SG seems to have stuck at 1020 (should be 1010) and has been there for about 5 days. Temperature etc is spot on, can't understand why it won't budge. Have even given it a little swirl to try and get things going again but it still won't drop. Everything looks and smells ok, can I do anything else or should I risk bottling it now?

HBO_Staff

This does sometimes happen, keeping the temperature right as you have done really helps, give it a good stir to re-suspend the yeast and it will then finish off any last bit of fermentation if it has any further to go. If after another few days once it has re-settled the hydrometer reading is the same then go ahead and bottle it, and prime each bottle with a little sugar (around a level teaspoon per 500ml bottle)

TheMoodieBrews

thanks guys! I spoke to my local brewing shop and they suggested taking a proper temperature reading of the actual liquid, not just to trust the temperature strip on the side of the vessel, especially for the brew ferm kits that only make 9L. Sometimes the strip will give an indication of the temperature of the room, not necessarily the liquid, a good tip I thought. They also suggested adding another sachet of yeast to kick start things again. I have since checked the temp and it is a steady 20.9. I shall give it a good stir today but if the situation remains do you think it is worth adding the second sachet of yeast or just to go ahead and bottle in a couple of days if still no change??

HBO_Staff

It would be unusual for a brew to ferment nearly all the way and then stop, so it is likely it has gone about as far as it will if a stir doesn't get it going. If you are going to add more yeast then add it at the same time as you stir it all up, adding more yeast wont do it any harm. If after a good stir and more yeast the reading goes no lower then in a few days once it has re-settled it can then be bottled

TheMoodieBrews

thank you, stirred and yeast added. After a lot of research into this type of beer and making sure I followed the instructions to the letter I had high hopes, still do (ever the eternal optimist), hope it all turns out ok. I shall keep you posted ,and thanks for the swift and easy to follow advice.

TheMoodieBrews

Happy to announce that after a stir and pitching some more yeast the SG got down to target and is now in the bottle. Thanks for the help, will let you know how it tastes in about 5 months time!

BUDFORCE

TheMoodieBrews said:

thanks guys! I spoke to my local brewing shop and they suggested taking a proper temperature reading of the actual liquid, not just to trust the temperature strip on the side of the vessel, especially for the brew ferm kits that only make 9L.

I put three strips on the side of my brweing vessel, one at the bottom, one in the middle and one at the top, then average the termperature between the 3.

I have also in previous years tested with electronic and glass termometers and I've found in my experience the little LCD stick on guages are actually pretty accurate, as accurate as they will ever need to be for the purposes of home brewing.

TheMoodieBrews

cheers Budforce, good tips, and I always appreciate any sort of advice