Festival kit instruction confusion

moderate order · Sep 23, 2022

I'm brewing the Festival Belgian Pale ale, and the instructions for kegging / bottling are confusing to me as a relative newb.

The instructions say that if I'm kegging I should transfer into the keg after a specific amount of time, irrespective of the SG. It also assumes using the included priming sugar in the keg. Otherwise, if bottling the instructions have a specific target SG to hit before transferring.

The situation I'm in is that

I've reached the time period specified (10 days)
I'm kegging (but only partially because 19L < 23L)
I normally (I've only done this twice) force carb in the keg and add priming sugar to bottles
My current SG is 1.016, whereas the target is 1.007 (measured using a traditional floating glass hydrometer)
Visibly at least, fermentation seems to have stopped.
I've controlled the temperature very precisely during fermentation at between 22.1 and 23.0

My instinct is to wait some more days, then proceed as I would have done without the instructions. ie measure SG in 4 days (ie after 2 weeks), measure the next day, if they are the same then keg without sugar and bottle the balance with sugar. If the SG isn't stable, wait longer.

Assuming the above is a reasonable course of action, should I do anything if the SG still isn't near 1.007 (but is stable) after 15 days?

Also do I risk changing the expected flavour of the beer by ignoring the priming sugar in the keg?

MrRook · Sep 23, 2022

What was your original gravity?
All-grain or extract?

moderate order · Sep 23, 2022

Festival Belgian pale ale kit (liquid malt extract) Festival World Beer Kits – Belgian Pale Ale - The Malt Miller

OG was 1.047

Graz · Sep 26, 2022

For the most part I don't really pay much attention to the kit instructions these days.

My typical method is two weeks fermenting in the brew fridge at 20°C, I have a quick peek after a couple of days just to ensure it has got going then ignore it after that. At two weeks have another look, if it's still visibly fermenting leave a few more days, if not check the gravity. If it's where I expect it to be for the particular kit type then if it has a dry hop addition add that, if not I'll plan to keg it either that day or the next. If there are additional hops I then leave it with those in for another 2-3 days then cold crash for a day or two, then keg.

I also keg and force carb so 19L into the keg, the rest into 500ml bottles with ~half a teaspoon of the supplied priming sugar in each. Incidentally as they give you a bag of priming sugar sufficient for the whole batch one usually lasts me for several brews so for the kits where I don't need a new sachet of sugar I just lob it in at the beginning, you get another 0.1-0.2 of ABV for free then!

If yours is reading 1.016 then it's not done yet, leave it a few days and take another reading, if its gone down then keep waiting and taking periodic readings until it is stable and hopefully near the expected gravity. If it doesn't change then unfortunately you might have a stuck fermentation. It's possible to try to revive things but it doesn't always work, you can try a gentle stir to rouse the yeast, perhaps add some nutrient and just hope it carries on fermenting.

If it really doesn't come down you could keg and force carb at 1.016 but the end product won't be as nice and will taste sweet. If putting any into bottles I'd leave out the priming sugar as if it does get going again you'll have some potential gushers / bottle bombs on your hands.

Always hard to know why a fermentation may stick, they supply a decent sized sachet of yeast with these kits so that should not be the problem. I tend to check the temperature now before adding the yeast as if it's too warm (i.e. over 25°) it can kill a lot of the yeast cells before they have a chance to get going. Your fermentation temperature is also perhaps a little on the high side though not unreasonable. I tend to stick at 20° for most stuff I'm brewing.

Your final question about changing the flavour of the beer by not adding the priming sugar, no it won't make a difference. Sugar doesn't really add much to the flavour just increases the alcohol content.

I also made this kit recently and it turned out very well, didn't have any issues with it getting to the final gravity. Good luck.

moderate order · Sep 27, 2022

Thanks for the advice.

I pitched when I got the temperature below 25c, its possible that some of the wort was hotter, but probably not by much. If I had to guess, then I suspect this is where the problem lies.

I'm fermenting at 22-23 because the instructions said keep between 20c and 25c, perhaps I will aim a bit lower in future.

I checked again just now and unfortunately its still at 1.016. For completness I checked my hydrometer in tap water and it read 1.000 (honestly surprised to get that exact result).

I'll try a stir. You also suggested 'nutrient', what did you mean by that?

Graz · Sep 28, 2022

moderate order said:
Thanks for the advice.

I pitched when I got the temperature below 25c, its possible that some of the wort was hotter, but probably not by much. If I had to guess, then I suspect this is where the problem lies.

I'm fermenting at 22-23 because the instructions said keep between 20c and 25c, perhaps I will aim a bit lower in future.

I checked again just now and unfortunately its still at 1.016. For completness I checked my hydrometer in tap water and it read 1.000 (honestly surprised to get that exact result).

I'll try a stir. You also suggested 'nutrient', what did you mean by that?

Yeast nutrient. It's generally used in wine making, added before pitching the yeast, as the wine tends to have less of what yeast needs to grow big and strong at the outset. Beer wort is already fairly nutrient rich so it's not typically added at the start of fermentation. This is the sort of stuff: Wine Yeast Nutrient 100g It may help with restarting a stuck fermentation though.

Personally I've never had much luck getting one restarted nut you never know.