Fermentation temp drop

Mal1841

I'm brewing a batch of golden stag summer ale from the festival range. I've started my brew last Sunday and the hydrometer reading was 1.040 at 18 degrees. I had to add the hop pellets this afternoon and I did another test and it's only 1.030. I know the temp gripped to about 16 or 17 degrees during the night last week and I was wondering if the yeast had stopped working?. I know I still have another week left to go but I can't see the readings getting much lower would you think?.

HBO_Staff

Cooler temperatures can increase fermenting times, in another week the hydrometer reading will continue to lower, if you wanted to speed it up we would recommend increasing the temperature if possible to more around 20 degrees C, this will give the yeast a little more help. A slow ferment is not a bad thing, the flavours can properly develop, but you may have to wait longer for it to get a nice and low reading before moving on to bottling or kegging, and it is important it is finished fermenting before moving on to the next stage

Mal1841

It's sitting constant now at 20-22 degrees now and the hydrometer reading was 1.020. The instructions say I should be barreling it today but I think I'll give it another 5 days and see what the reading is. According to the box I should be looking at 1.008 to get 4.5% abv but I can't see it getting that low!

HBO_Staff

It may be worth giving it a gentle stir to re-suspend the yeast and give it a few more days to see if the reading will drop any lower. Readings wont always go as low as the instructions say, sometimes affected by the amount of liquid or sugars used, or even a dodgy hydrometer reading, but if you stir and leave for a few more days at that nice warm temperature that will then probably be as low as this one will go

Mal1841

I did give it a stir a few days back before the second gravity reading. Hopefully it'll be a little stronger in a day or two !