Possible stalled brew?

[Steelbacks]

Started brewing a batch of beer (kit) and after five days of the brew bubbling nicely I went to add the hops last night. The bubbling seemed to have stopped dead. Added the hops (pellets) anyway and have checked it a couple of times in the last 24 hours, but there's no sign of any action. Could the yeast have just died suddenly? Could the brew just have finished fermenting? I've checked the container, and the seal round the lid is good. The temperature has been pretty consistent (around 24 Celcius).

Does anyone have any idea what the problem is, or isn't there one, and I should just go ahead and follow the instructions as per the kit? Any help would be much appreciated!

Dave.

 

[crowcrow]

I'd just leave it. The few kits I've done I've brewed out for two weeks. Some have had nothing visible for the first few days and then got going, some foamed away and then stopped abruptly, and others never really visibly seemed to do anything but still turned out OK.

24c is pretty warm though I'd say, which is likely why it's all done fast I guess?

 

[Steelbacks]

Yeah, I did wonder if that was the case (a bit warm). I started it off in the kitchen. Was doing fine, then moved it to a cooler corner after a couple of days and it slowed right down, so I moved it again to our top landing. It's fairly warm and was bubbling quite vigorously, so I did wonder if after 5 days the yeast had munched its way through most of the available sugar. Like I said,move added the hops as per the instructions and was going to just hope for the best, but wondered if there was anything obvious that I was doing wrong to a more experienced brewer.

Thanks for the advice though. Just out of interest, at what temperature does yeast get killed off in a brew? The kit suggested 20-25 Celcius range, but surely over 25 celcius doesn't lead to sudden death for the yeast?

 

[crowcrow]

No, but I believe 27c is the highest you want it. That said I wasn't paying attention last night when brewing and added my yeast to a cup with 34c water in. It was in there for a good few mins before I realised I'd not cooled it before adding the yeast. Anyway, added to the mix and bubbling and foaming away fine today.

I understand that you want to keep the temp as stable as possible during the brew to avoid stressing it - fluctuations are 'bad' - but I wouldn't worry too, I'm sure you'll have something very drinkable.

 

[Steelbacks]

Just out of interest, what water do you use? Straight out of the tap? There's a thread on water for brewing, but I've not felt able to wade through the 20 pages or so of comments. It seems to me the best way to get good, consistent water for brewing is to distill the water needed for a brew, then add minerals and adjust the pH as required... or is water out the tap usually ok?

 

[crowcrow]

I'm no expert so some else might wade in. I brewed my first couple of kits with tesco value still water as the water here (north norfolk) is terrible. But last few brews I've just used tap water. I've not done a blind taste test, but they've turned out OK. I might try and test making the same beer twice with different water, but have messed with the recipes so far and haven't made the same thing twice.

It's only a couple of quid to use bottled, but I think I'll carry on with tap for now - though brew before last I did use 5 litres of bottled but that was only as I wanted to try the bottle out as a mini keg with my handpull pump. (worked perfectly and held the pressure well though bottle deformed a little in shape)

 

[Steelbacks]

I'm in Stansted (Essex/Hertfordshire border) and the water is quite hard. I'm not sure how much the alkalinity affects the taste of brews. Like you, I was thinking of making 2 batches, one with tap water and another with bottled (or distilled) and see what difference it makes. Distilled water would need to have some gypsum or something similar added to it to make it more alkaline. There's a small local brewery that has its own bore hole. I'd be interested to know what they have to do, it anything, to make the water suitable for brewing. I'm hoping to contact them soon and just hope that they're friendly!

 

[crowcrow]

Let us know how you get on! I think it is the alkaline that affects things - water here is damn hard, I lived in London previously and while crap, the water there was so much better than here. Hard and so much chlorine in the water. I guess that's what things are like when there are no hills around and they have to recycle even more than London! I miss Sheffield Water.

 

[Steelbacks]

I'll let you know how I get on when the brew gets to a point where I can taste test it. Give me a prod sometime in a few weeks if I don't get round to posting anything. I'm away in February for 3 weeks so I hope to get the batch put in a plastic cask and with any luck it will be conditioned by the time I get back at the end of February and I'll be able to taste test it on my return.

I'd also like to try to brew some cider. I've spoken to a local greengrocer who's said that I can have any unsaleable apples. I may have to store them for a while until I have enough to make a whole batch. Maybe I can just freeze the juice until I have enough? Every time I have an answer it seems to create 2 more questions! :0)

 

[dan125]

Distilled water would need to have some gypsum or something similar added to it to make it more alkaline. There's a small local brewery that has its own bore hole. I'd be interested to know what they have to do, it anything, to make the water suitable for brewing. I'm hoping to contact them soon and just hope that they're friendly!

Gypsum will acidify the water, rather than make it more alkaline.
I don't brew kits myself, and someone may correct me, but I believe you can use straight distilled or RO water for kit brewing as you already have all the minerals that were in the original wort concentrated in the malt extract.

 

[Covrich]

24 for most kits is too warm, In general unless you are using a spcific type of yeast I would main for around 19-20ºc for most ale brews.

As for whether it has stalled the best way to find out what is going on would be to take a hydrometer reading.. you might find its simply finished (quicker than expected due to higher ambient temp)

 

[terrym]

Just out of interest, what water do you use? Straight out of the tap? There's a thread on water for brewing, but I've not felt able to wade through the 20 pages or so of comments. It seems to me the best way to get good, consistent water for brewing is to distill the water needed for a brew, then add minerals and adjust the pH as required... or is water out the tap usually ok?

If your tap water tastes and smells fine and you drink it straight from the mains tap without a second thought then its OK for brewing. If your water has chloramines present you can treat with camden tablets. If you brew AG then you might consider water treatment, otherwise its not necessary. If your water is not very nice then cheap bottled water is the next option. Distilling water and then backtreating is not necessary at all.

 

[terrym]

+1 with @Covrich for the hydrometer reading.

 

[Steelbacks]

Thanks for the advice. I'm no chemist and assumed (wrongly) that gypsum was alkaline like limestone. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction with that one!

My tap water is fine to drink. I think any additives such as chlorine are minimal, thankfully.

As for the stalled brew, I think I'm going to wait the prescribed 5 days after adding the hop tablets, then take a measurement with the hydrometer. I'll then look for a constant/unchanged reading and if it's stable go on to transferring into a keg. Whilst the brew isn't bubbling as it was the first few days, there does seem to be some positive pressure in the brewing vessel judging by the water level in the trap, so maybe the ferment has just slowed down to a crawl and is just fine. I'm resisting the temptation to rush ahead and do some tasting! ;0)

 

[Steelbacks]

Update:

Air trap hasn't moved at all in the last few days. I'm guessing that there's no yeast activity at all, so this afternoon I took a hydrometer reading and it was spot on the kit's 1.014 SG at the end of fermenting. Siphoned off the brew into a keg and added the sugar ready for conditioning. I've kept a small glass in the fridge to settle a bit and see what it tastes like. In 14 days I need to get the keg moved from somewhere warm to somewhere cool to clear for a few weeks. Fingers crossed I get something drinkable at the end of the process!

 

[Ciaran12s]

I'm sure you will mate! It gets easier honestly! You'll be worrying about something else, but the worries you have at the minute will seem tedious and you'll not really give them another thought 2 or 3 brews in.

Enjoy your beer! And get another one ASAP!

 

[terrym]

Siphoned off the brew into a keg and added the sugar ready for conditioning. In 14 days I need to get the keg moved from somewhere warm to somewhere cool to clear for a few weeks.

If you are using a standard PB don't forget to draw off a small amount after a few days of carbing to test that the PB and it's seals are not leaking, so you can sort it out early on. Folks sometimes tell us that they have left their beer for weeks to carb and condition and then find it's flat because of a leak.

 

[Steelbacks]

Thanks for the advice. I'm using someone else's keg, so to speak, as I bought it second hand. However, I've already brewed one beer which seemed to carb up reasonably well, and I've done all I can to ensure the cap has a good seal, but like you say, always good to test it after a few days to see if there're any leaks.

Just out of interest, if the worst happens and you get a leak, is it possible to re-carbonate with a second dose of sugar? Not ideal, I know. I'm assuming the second carbing would raise the abv a bit, but would it really make that much difference? Just thinking out loud.

 

[terrym]

Try this
Guide to a Standard Home Brew Pressure Barrel
No problem about repriming. You just have to use your judgement about how much sugar to put in which might be difficult. So if you leave it six weeks and it's flat you will have to completely reprime, and if its only 3/4 days you might just have to put in about 40-50g. It's not an exact science and the back stop is if you put in too much sugar and the PB is leak free the relief device should vent, although this is not ideal. And a full charge of sugar will raise the ABV by about 0.5% if I remember correctly.

 

[Steelbacks]

Thanks for that. Great to know that one can reprime (I'm assuming there's no need to add more yeast). Obviously raising the ABV by the odd half a percent if you have to reprime is a real tragedy though!