Bottling Advice......

[Old_Bob]

Hi Everyone,

Done a few brews from kits before now and I seem to get my fair share of those that seem to get stuck on fermentation.

Latest one is a Woodfordes Admirals Reserve that has got down to 1.020/1.018 and stopped.

I put this down to the fact that I cocked up with the timer attached to the heater and the temp of the brew fell from 24 to 20C. My temperature control on this brew has been appalling, with it cycling +/- 2C at least.

I have got the brew back to 22/23C and given it a stir a few days ago, careful not to introduce air, but nothing is happening.

I was planning on bottling this brew with some going into glass bottles. Do you think the chances of exploding bottles is quite high ???

I could put it all into plastic 2 litre bottles, but keen to use my new toy (bench capping tool).

Any advice gratefully received.

Many thanks.

 

[terrym]

What was the OG of your brew? Usually high OG = high FG, and low FG = low FG since the yeast attenuates roughly the same.
In the end, if it is higher than it should be and you can't get it going again you could go ahead and bottle as planned but use one or two small 500ml PET bottles to monitor to see how things are going, although there's no problem in using 2 litre bottles, since that's what I use plus a jug to serve from.
Personally I avoid Muntons kits unless the yeast is changed, after having suffered the dreaded Wherry stuck fermentation, like many others on this forum.

 

[Old_Bob]

Thanks TerryM,

OG was 1.054.

Oddly enough it's been mainly Woodfordes kits that I have had problems with in the past, interesting observation......:ugeek:

Muntons, only really tried the Smugglers in that range, but never had a problem, always turned out fine.

I was toying with taking a sample of the brew from the FV, warm, add yeast and yeast nutrient and re-pitch. Understand that this can be hit and miss.

 

[terrym]

Thanks TerryM,

OG was 1.054.

Oddly enough it's been mainly Woodfordes kits that I have had problems with in the past, interesting observation......:ugeek:

Muntons, only really tried the Smugglers in that range, but never had a problem, always turned out fine.

I was toying with taking a sample of the brew from the FV, warm, add yeast and yeast nutrient and re-pitch. Understand that this can be hit and miss.

Bob
By way of info I normally brew at 19*C so an excursion to 20*C from 23-24*C shouldn't really be a problem other than yeasties not liking change.
Anyway it's an attenuation of somewhere round 65% which is at the bottom end of whats normally expected. (using this http://fermentationriot.com/abvandattenuation.html).
I would have thought you are unlikely to get it going again, with or without more yeast, unless you add more fermentables.
There's a similar current thread on this which might be worth a look
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=66412
I have bottled brews as high as 1.017, perhaps you could just go for it?!

 

[LarryF]

Just to chuck in my tuppence worth, the Woodfordes Wherry is notorious for sticking. I can't help thinking that it's the same yeast across the range and to be honest it's about time they sorted it out, the Wherry is a great kit, just give it a great yeast. Any time I've done a Wherry I use a Wilko Gervin yeast and it's great, kicks off well, attenuates really nicely, it's a good Nottingham yeast that I can rely on and it's �£1.75. Even re-pitching it, that goes off like a rocket.

 

[Titanic]

Yes, I have also had problems with Muntons kits and learnt the hard way. Good malt extracts, lousy yeast. Change the yeast type. (I tend to use Mango Jacks) and everything should be good. It's about time Muntons got the message.

 

[Old_Bob]

Bob
By way of info I normally brew at 19*C so an excursion to 20*C from 23-24*C shouldn't really be a problem other than yeasties not liking change.
Anyway it's an attenuation of somewhere round 65% which is at the bottom end of whats normally expected. (using this http://fermentationriot.com/abvandattenuation.html).
I would have thought you are unlikely to get it going again, with or without more yeast, unless you add more fermentables.
There's a similar current thread on this which might be worth a look
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=66412
I have bottled brews as high as 1.017, perhaps you could just go for it?!

Thanks to the link on the calculator, got that book marked now and had been reading that thread too.

When I first started doing kits a few years ago I seemed to struggle to get the Woodfordes ones past the line of 1.014, but read a thread where someone fermented them out at a 25C with better results.

Gave it a spin and had better results too although still had problems from time to time with sticky fermentation.

Other beers I tend to do at 20C with not too many issues.

I'm going to bottle this today/tomorrow and see how it goes and share the results here.

Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[Old_Bob]

I bottled this brew tonight and to my amazement when I checked the SG it was at 1.014, where the hell did that come from.

It had stood for a couple of days without being checked seeing that we had visitors.

I do hope it won't affect the glass bottles, I'm sure all will be fine with it.