Born-again home brewer - crisis of faith

[Ned Lud]

My second kit as a born again home brewer was a Tom Caxton best bitter, brewed with 1kg beer enhancer and rehydrated S-04 yeast. Fermentation went smoothly, with a final gravity of 1018. I primed 2l PET bottles with 15g sucrose at 20 deg C but have had no secondary fermentation. The beer is flat and tastes horribly sweet (banoffee pie springs to mind), Its tastes as though the yeast has fermented all the maltose and left the glucose/sucrose. The SG is now 1020 and stable. Is there anything I can do? Is it worth pitching a small amount of rehydrated kit yeast into each bottle, or am I destined to pour 5 gallons down the sink? I only brewed the Tom Caxton kit in an attempt to exorcise the demons that haunt me from my experiences of Tom Caxton kits in the 80s - some things never change!

Ned

 

[Wez]

I'd repitch some yeast into that .... do you have a build up of sediment at the bottom? (of the bottle)

 

[Ned Lud]

Hi Wez,

Yes, varying degrees of sediment, but all bottles have got some. I will re - pitch and see what happens (in the garage, just in case they explode!)

 

[Wez]

I don't think PET's will explode - i'd repitch and leave them at 20c for a week or two :thumb:

 

[prolix]

Ned I think you stopped primary too soon SA04 should have walloped the Caxton to 1010 or even lower, and with 1018 as bottling gravity no priming should have been necessary.

just a few things which you may or may not have done.

aerate the wort very vigorously SA04 love oxygen and will go like a good un when set off ( I once got this wrong and had to aerate again the next day(ok if inside 24 hrs.))

keep it at 18 even a drop to 14c can stop it working, don't let it get over 22 it gets funky.

leave it a week anyway even if it's finished in two days as the yeast also clears up stuff in the beer ( I leave mine 10 days mostly but 14+ days have been know if busy with no bad effects if under airlock)

Was it stable hydrometer readings or no bubbles that showed fermentation finished? I have had beers that never seemed to bubble gas somehow sneaked out, still looking for the tunnel, but the hydrometer never lies unless it's in pieces on the floor (dropped two in one day once)

If the fermentation sticks gently rouse the yeast, no splashes, and stir gently.

a few grains of SA04 in each bottle should finish the job but it will take time and leave a fair amount of sediment. drop the yeast in leave somewhere warm for a couple of weeks then cool to finish conditioning.

Caxton kits take me back all my bits pots in the garage are Caxton tins.

 

[Ned Lud]

Thanks for the advice, very useful. It may well have been lack of aeration - I blasted the water into the fermentation vat but did not give it a good shake after that.

I did shake the bin on my knee with my current brew (2 x young's harvest stout kits made up to 23l) and that has gone down to 1015 in three days and is still bubbling away, so it obviously makes a difference.

Getting back to the Tom Caxton bitter, I rehydrated the kit yeast and added 5ml of slurry to each bottle. The yeast kicked in very quickly and the SG has dropped to 1014 since last night (I left the hydrometer in one of the bottles, no explosions yet). I'm not sure what the end product will be like after so much messing around, but fingers crossed it will be drinkable.

Thanks again for the tips, There wasn't much info on the S04 packet so they're really useful. :

Ned

 

[Bribie]

One advantage of 2L pop bottles is that you will never get bottle bombs, because you can feel the softness/hardness of the bottle, and If worried about overcarbonation you can test one by chilling it down and just cracking open the cap. If you don't get a gusher then you can tighten it up again and you'll be ok for the rest.
And if you do get an over fizzy batch you can crack them till the foam rises, reseal and do it a few times till they have been 'bled off'. PITA but it's a better situation than glass bottle bombs