Fermentation Stalled?

[evildave9000]

I've recently started home brewing and I'm on my 3rd kit. It is a Pennine Peak Yorkshire Bitter from Bulldog Brews. I'm brewing in a standard 23 litre plastic bucket with a tap on the side and an air trap in the top. I've stuck a strip thermometer on the side and added an emersion heater (looks exactly like the fish tank kind) attached to the lid with a rubber bung that I have glued into place. The previous two kits went smoothly and as expected: they were Cwtch from Tiny Rebel and a Chocolate Stout from Wilkos own brand. I was particularly pleased with the chocolate stout.

This 3rd kit, which I began on 9th March, has behaved a little unexpectedly. Firstly, the instructions say that "Bulldog Brews premium beer kits contain genuine slow fermenting varietal brewers beer yeast which does require 8 - 15 days to ferment out fully", so I was quite surprised how vigorously the ferment went just hours after finishing the wort and adding the yeast. The temperature at the time of adding the yeast was between 18 - 22°C. The emersion heater is set to 20°C (or thereabouts) and the strip thermometer seems to indicate the temp is pretty steady around 20°C. The air trap started bubbling around 3 or 4 hours after pitching the yeast and the following day was bubbling like crazy - several bubbles per second. By that evening it had noticeably slowed and by the next day it had appeared to stop by the evening. It has been pretty much dead in terms of bubbles since then, although a few mornings it has been going very slowly and then stops again by the afternoon. I know that using the air trap is not the best measure for gauging fermentation, but it is an indicator surely?

Gravity reading have been as follows:

9th (initial reading) - 1049
12th - 1024
17th - 1022

Instruction say it should reach 1008 - 1010, so it's still a fair way off. If it stays at 1022 over the next 2 or 3 days, should I consider adding more yeast? I have a packet of Wilko Gervin English ale yeast - would that be suitable? Or is there something else I could try? Do I just need to wait another week before I start worrying?

 

[damienair]

I’ve also only done a few kits so far. My current one is a Blonde Ale, my 5th. Just like you there was a busy airlock for a couple of days, then nothing. Absolutely nothing. I left it for a week. Took a reading and it was fermenting, but just slowly. I added the hops today, day 11 and it was at 1.008 so perfect. Yours might do the same, might maybe need an extra few days. I thought mine had stalled too.

 

[chris-s]

Interesting!

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/bulldog-premium-evil-dog-double-ipa.92030/post-997509

 

[chris-s]

Don't worry yet, time can be your friend.

If it is still the same after a couple of days and the beer is noticeably clearer it has surely stopped.

Come back then.

 

[evildave9000]

Just taken a gravity reading and it has barely moved, at 1021. I'll keep measuring every few days. Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[chris-s]

Looks like it is behaving like mine did.

I put a, 15ml spoonful of sugar in and fairly soon there were lots of bubbles which then slowed/stopped after a day or so. Proving the yeast ok and the fermentation finished.

I reckoned it couldn't have been something I did but something amiss with the kit.

 

[evildave9000]

So I've just taken a reading now and it hasn't moved from 1021. It's only at 3.68% and the kit says it should finish on 4.7%. Should I add more sugar? It still has the odd bubble in the morning, so I presume the same as you that the yeast is ok, but it's run out of fermentable sugar for some reason.

I could bottle it now, but I do prefer a stronger beer. How much does priming the bottles add to the %ABV?

 

[chris-s]

I would do the small amount of sugar just to be absolutely certain the yeast is ok, then up to you whether to add sugar to up the ABV or bottle straight away.

The priming sugar won't make much difference.

There are plenty of calculators around for sugar addition.

 

[evildave9000]

So I've put in 300g of light spray malt and it has bubbled away nicely for a day and a night. I think I'll let it sit in the FV for another 5 - 7 days and then bottle. I plan to add 1 carbonation drop for each 500ml bottle.

Now, how do I go about measuring the ABV? I can't just go from the original gravity now that I've added more sugar, can I? I can't seem to find a calculator that allows for late sugar addition, can you recommend one? Or is there a simple way I can just add an amount to the OG?

Edit: Forgot to say, I did find a calculator that told me 300g of sugar would add 0.8% to the ABV, but can I measure the gravity to make sure it has used all the sugar?

 

[chris-s]

Sounds great.

If you took a reading after you added the spray malt you can add it on to the original. Otherwise I think spray malt adds about 15 points per kg. A bit less than sugar. I'll have to check that though.

Or someone else will be along with a link.

I wonder what was wrong with the kits as we both had the same problem.

I hope yours ends up tasting better than mine.

 

[evildave9000]

It actually tasted reasonable the last gravity reading I took on the 22nd, so I hope so! Seems like the malt extract in the kit didn't have the correct amount of sugars in?

I wrote an email to Bulldog Brews asking for advice, and while they haven't yet given me any or an explanation, they have very kindly sent me a different kit free of charge. So I'm pleased with their customer support!

Edit: (If I was of a cynical mind, I would think that their response shows that they know there is a problem with some of their kits!)

 

[chris-s]

Ha. Well done. Might have to try getting on to them. I fear I may be joining a long queue now. :)

I should have said 15 points per kg in 23L.