Homebrew has defeated me :(

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Are you local to any other member? I am sure someone wouldn't mind a personal chat over a beer to discuss your issues.

Don't give up

Sounds like you could use a mentor. Check about the forum to find a member in your area. Invite him/her over on a scheduled brew day and see if your "normal" way of doing things aligns with "normal'. A second set of eyes can do wonders in ironing out problems.

These are good suggestions!

 

[Clint]

As for wind ups...I'm the wind up merchant round here.

 

[MashBag]

My apologies for asking for help.

Please don't apologise, I am sure you can understand this has happened before. No offence meant it was.

 

[An Ankoù]

Yes, the instructions said add pure liquid malt extract or sugar and I went for the extract.

Could you tell us where you got your malt extract from and whether it was a "brand name" extract.

I made a pure extract brew using a major HB supplier's "light malt extract". OG 1046, FG 1018 using MJ-M54.
I use M54 all the time and the 10L batch of beer went onto a partial yeast cake from another brew (gen 1). I consistently get it out an FG of 1006 using this yeast.
The extract is awful.
It's dark and the beer tastes strongly of 1980s kits. Luckily it was only a brew to test some hops. I'll keep the rest of the sachet for culturing yeast.

 

[An Ankoù]

My apologies for asking for help.

No need to apologise, but we're not mind readers. The photo of the box, above, is very helpful even though the instructions are not particularly so. Remember, a lot of us here haven't used extract kits for quite a while.
So. Let's assume that the kit manufacturer wants you to be successful and buy his kits again (and M J is a reputable company) and that the instructions are as uncomplicated as possible so that complete beginners can make decent beer, following the instructions to the letter should give you good beer. And it will.
But look at the second photo where it tells you to add 1.2 kg of extract or 1kg of dextrose. At the top of the photo it tells you to expect an FG of 1006 using dextrose, but you didn't, you used extract. Dextrose fermentis completely and thins the beer, but extract does not. I'd be expecting an FG around 1012 (a guess) using extract. See my comment in my earlier post about my experience with extract.
So if your beer's FG is stable for a few days then prime and bottle it. Use a PET bottle for one sample, so you can judge how the pressure is building up in the others.

Do you see, now, how precise and detailed information can get better answers.
I certainly didn't mean to upset you.