Going nowhere in a hurry

[Moley]

My 5 gallon bucket was empty, I was shopping with the wife on Saturday, in Wilkinson looking for bean canes and other garden type stuff, and a Bitter kit just happened to accidentally fall in the trolly - as they do

I’ve done a Stout and a Dark Ale, which are conditioning nicely, so I thought a Young’s Definitive Bitter kit at just £6.99 had to be worth a try. However, I wondered if a dark sugar might make it a bit more interesting, so used 1kg of dark brown soft sugar plus 250g of demerara.

I mixed it all up on Sunday morning, boiled the sugar in 5 pints of water, added the contents of the tin, all into my bucket plus 33 pints cold water, checked the temperature and pitched the Young’s yeast sachet.

OG was 1.043, by Tuesday evening it was only down to 1.032, yesterday evening it had reached 1.028. Temperature was only 16°C so this morning I’ve moved the bucket from the kitchen to our utility area, which catches the sun during the day but drops cold at night, so I’ll bring it back indoors and throw a quilt over it.

Even at 16°C I’d have expected more than a 15 drop in 3.5 days, so is it the temperature, is it the sugar or could it be the yeast?

I have nothing other than a Harris ‘Super Yeast’ GP (wine) yeast which I could add at the moment, but what’s the difference between beer and wine yeasts, isn’t it all Saccharomyces cerevisiae?

 

[Dunfie]

I have used brown sugar in a dark beer before and it certainly added a richness to the beer. However I think using a whole kg might be a bit excessive. :wha:

I wouldn't think the sugar would be the problem but as with quite a lot of kits, you will probably find that the yeast has given up the ghost. You could use the wine yeast (in Wheelers book he recommends using wine yeast if strong beers don't reach the required FG). If you do go for the wine yeast you will want to put the beer under an air lock like you would with wine.

As for the differences between beer and wine yeast. I think it is simply that certain strains of yeast have been tailored to work best with different types of sugar and conditions to produce different desired results. It might be worth havign a couple packets of Safale or Nottingham hidden away for such occassions.

 

[Moley]

I will be getting some S04 as soon as I can, but for now I think I just need to be patient with this one, it's up to 18°C and down to 1.022, so not given up the ghost just yet.

Any further comments on yeast differences or choice of sugar would be welcome, but I tend to agree that using too much brown seems to have been a poor decision.

I suppose the thing with mistakes is to learn from them and not make the same one twice :hmm:

 

[Brewmarc]

" It all depends"! :wha: There are so many varyables that effect yeast behavior, I could be wrong but I dont think its the sugar you added,though that is rather a lot of brown sugar :hmm: it may well overpower the ale. I have used brown sugar in a recent ale which is really nice (in recipe section) I think you would have done better to add 1kg of DME instead of the brown sugar assuming the kit was 1.5kg tin & 250g of Dark brown sugar to achieve the desired flavour .I think it is most likly to be the yeast. Allthough it wouldnt do any harm, I wouldnt add a wine yeast :nono: I have tasted beer which was pitched with wine yeast in similar circumstanses to yours, very odd :sick: only my opinion but I would just leave it for a couple of weeks or untill you are sure fermentation has completed then if it hasnt achieved your expected FG then rack it & add fresh yeast hope this is of help & good luck :

 

[Moley]

Thanks Brewmarc, spraymalt wasn't an option, didn't have any, couldn't get any, besides which this was an impromptu kit and the intention was to throw down a quick'un, kit + sugar + crown caps = just over nine quid, 23p a bottle, neck it before it's had chance to mature :

It's still getting there, gradually.

 

[Bribie]

I've never used Youngs yeast but you shouldn't have any problems with S-04 or Nottingham. Even though it's been 28 to 30 where I live, I still drop my brews in the brew fridge to around 18 degrees when using the above yeasts and even drop Nottingham brews down to about 14 where they make a good fake lager. They ferment out just fine.

I would hazard a guess that in your case it's the yeast to blame, not the ingredients. Brown sugar - the moist variety - is basically just finely milled white sugar that has had molasses and other goodies blended back into it (Sugar is big business in Queensland, I've been on a couple of factory tours :) ) so I don't think yeast would have too much problems with it.

 

[Moley]

Thanks Bribie, when I'd got the temp up and managed to keep it in the 18 - 20°C range, it's got on with it and finished the job, finally made it to 1.006 and is starting to clear, reckon I'll be bottling tomorrow night.

I don't think I'll bother with any more of their kits, but might have to get another Cooper's Dark on the go while I'm sorting out a boiler and a mash tun.