Final Gravity Not Quite There Yet!

[emdiesse]

Hi,

I'm on my second kit now; having had a successful brew of a milestones crusader I'm now onto the Woodfordes Wherry.

I have a quick question around the final gravity.

My starting gravity, I believe was a little low but doesn't sound disastrous at about 1039. My brew has been sat there in the fermentation barrel for about 3 weeks now and it seems to have settled at around the 1018 mark which seems a little high :) meaning I have a beer at about 2.7%

I'm really hoping I can get it to reach the 1014 mark so it's at least above 3% but it just seems to be sat there now at 1018 and not progressing any further.

Thoughts, solutions?

I presume I can just add brewing sugar or spray malt to edge it along a bit, but I wouldn't know where to begin in working out how much to add.

Otherwise, I'll just barrel it and accept it as it is.

As for the starting gravity, I understand mine is a little low, I did stir thoroughly but I think I maybe added too much water as I simply followed the kit instructions and topped up to 23 litres rather than like the crusader kit which told me to stop a few liters before to check the gravity and get it spot on - I presume this is a better approach if you are aiming for the 'standard' starting gravity

 

[Redron]

Hi, done a few Wherry's now. I usually brew them short to 21 litres, and as you will find if you look through this forum it is notorious for sticking at 1020 or so, possibly something to do with the poultry 6g of yeast it comes with. Try giving it a gentle stir to disturb the trub (sediment) at the bottom a bit, gentle stir mind, you don't want to be introducing any more oxygen at this stage, and then leave for a few more days and check your Fg again.
Looking back through my notes I see the og at 1042/1044 and the Fg at 1010/1008 giving me an abv of 4.4%, sometimes in the fv for over three weeks....
Lovely beer mind, but does take a while to come to its best.
Good luck

 

[emdiesse]

Cheers for the advice, I'll do that tomorrow and keep my fingers crossed :)

Sorry for posting the thread in the wrong forum, didn't notice there was 'beer brewing discussions' and 'general beer discussion' forums... I can't even blame it on my paltry 2.7% wherry...

 

[bearwoodbrewer]

+1 for the gentle stir, has got me out of a few scrapes. I've also transferred to a secondary and that helped get me a few more points down. Assume your temps are appropriate? Lower temps can slow or even stop fermentation.

 

[LarryF]

Maybe stir in 1tsp of yeast nutrient when you do stir, it never hurts with a stuck brew.

 

[Twostage]

I wouldn't worry too much about being gentle. If it was me I'd want to get air in there as it could be stuck because of under aeration at the start so a bit of a splash would be ok. The yeast will absorb the oxygen almost immediately so your brew will be fine.

 

[Spapro]

Just a thought, worth testing your hydrometer for accuracy as well. It should read 1000 when floating in normal water.

The little paper scale inside can slip a bit which means the reading is inaccurate. For example, if you float it in water and it reads 1006 then its out by 6 points and you need to adjust your reading in beer by those 6 points to arrive at an accurate reading.