St Peters Golden Ale Problems

[Geordieboy]

Afternoon all.
After having (fantastic) success with Festival kits, I thought I would give a St Peters kit a try. I followed the instructions and it is now sat (trying to) ferment in the airing cupboard at a steady 21 deg c. However after 3 days, nothing has occurred and the Hydrometer proves this.

I never added any sugars to the barrel and it stipulates that you don't need to do that.

Can anybody tell me how I can rescue it please?

Many thanks

 

[Sandimas]

Must be the yeast. The kit may have been stored too warm/long by the shop and the yeast degraded.

Put another packet of yeast in, the Wilko Gervin yeast is a good option if you have a shop near you.

 

[Geordieboy]

Must be the yeast. The kit may have been stored too warm/long by the shop and the yeast degraded.

Put another packet of yeast in, the Wilko Gervin yeast is a good option if you have a shop near you.

Fantastic. I will go and get some of that then. We do have a Wilko's nearby!
Awesome response. Thanks for your help.

 

[micklupulo]

B

Fantastic. I will go and get some of that then. We do have a Wilko's nearby!
Awesome response. Thanks for your help.

Best of luck in getting yeast at Wilkos. Their stock is down and most branches near me have no yeast and very little else!

 

[Geordieboy]

Must be the yeast. The kit may have been stored too warm/long by the shop and the yeast degraded.

Put another packet of yeast in, the Wilko Gervin yeast is a good option if you have a shop near you.

I've bought a tub of Youngs Brew yeast. It says a level teaspoon per gallon which is about 5.5 teaspoons.
Does that sound right?

 

[Sandimas]

Not used that before but that sounds right, give it a go. Worth giving it a gentle stir and keeping it on the warm side, try to get it to 21/22C.

 

[Sven]

I currently have a St Peters golden ale in the FV. I started it 7 days ago & the SG was 1046. Checked it this morning & it was 1014. I didn’t check it between this time so can’t help you by saying how much it changed after the first 3 days though!
Will prob give it another 3 more days & re-check it.

 

[Geordieboy]

I put in 12grams of yeast yesterday.
Temp is now a steady 22deg in the airing cupboard.

I'll check to see if its bubbling and check the S.G. and report out.

 

[Geordieboy]

I currently have a St Peters golden ale in the FV. I started it 7 days ago & the SG was 1046. Checked it this morning & it was 1014. I didn’t check it between this time so can’t help you by saying how much it changed after the first 3 days though!
Will prob give it another 3 more days & re-check it.

So then, my original gravity was 1044, my gravity today is 1010.
So, it's converted the sugars. But there's no evidence of any brewing?

I'll barrel it shortly and keep it in the warm for a while.

 

[micklupulo]

So then, my original gravity was 1044, my gravity today is 1010.
So, it's converted the sugars. But there's no evidence of any brewing?

I'll barrel it shortly and keep it in the warm for a while.

Lack of bubbling in the airlock does not necessarily indicate no fermentation. Gases escape around the lid and anyway at this stage of fermentation the bubbling is much less vigorous.

 

[allotment_fox]

Would agree lack of bubbling could be fermenter lid not sealing some plastic lids do push up with the co2 building up to a point then leak around the edge. I place two one ltr plastic bottles filled with water to weight the lid down on one of my fermenters to hold the lid in place.

Also its good to keep notes on gravity numbers when testing as well as smells when the cupboard door is opened should indicate activity
Good luck with your brew

 

[GhostShip]

I put in 12grams of yeast yesterday.
Temp is now a steady 22deg in the airing cupboard.

I'll check to see if its bubbling and check the S.G. and report out.

If you have any gaffer tape it might be worth sealing the join between the lid and the vessel. If you then see bubbling, the lid is leaking which is not unusual and nothing to worry about, but a visual sign of activity is always good!

 

[Sven]

Mine is showing little signs of producing much gas! The lid isn’t bulging (as it sometimes does). The airlock is level on both sides (where as normally by this time it’s showing signs of expelling gas). But given the hydrometer readings it’s obvious fermenting. So maybe just how this kit is! All part of the fun of homebrewing

 

[Geordieboy]

Would agree lack of bubbling could be fermenter lid not sealing some plastic lids do push up with the co2 building up to a point then leak around the edge. I place two one ltr plastic bottles filled with water to weight the lid down on one of my fermenters to hold the lid in place.

Also its good to keep notes on gravity numbers when testing as well as smells when the cupboard door is opened should indicate activity
Good luck with your brew

I'll tell you what i had done previously. I vaselined the lid in place on all of my brews.
However, on this one I cleaned it all off so my seal wasn't there anymore.

I'll give it a couple more days and then get it in the pressure vessel.

 

[allotment_fox]

Never had to do that, to get a good seal for my corny kegs I use food grade keg seal

 

[Sven]

Put mine in the barrel today - it has stuck at 1014 for the last 4 days, which is slightly higher than i like. Prefer them to be 1010 or under before bottling/barreling. This meant that its about 4.3% instead of the 4.7% that it should have been. The beer was already very clear, with a thick & hard trub! First time ive made this kit but does seem a slightly odd one. But I suppose at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is how it tastes. Time will tell…

 

[allotment_fox]

Put mine in the barrel today - it has stuck at 1014 for the last 4 days, which is slightly higher than i like. Prefer them to be 1010 or under before bottling/barreling. This meant that its about 4.3% instead of the 4.7% that it should have been. The beer was already very clear, with a thick & hard trub! First time ive made this kit but does seem a slightly odd one. But I suppose at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is how it tastes. Time will tell…

spot on how it tastes what matters

 

[welly3]

Sounds like you've got it sorted now, I made this as a sacrificial brew to test out my canning machine and can filler. Actually turned out quite tasty. I don't do many kits but when I do, the yeast that it comes with goes in the bin straight away. You don't know what the yeast is and as such you don't know anything about it - what temperature range it can handle, attenuation and so on.

I ended up using a packet of Mangrove Jack's Hophead ale yeast as it was available at the local home brew shop. Fermented it at 19c for a week, gave it a diacytel rest for a couple of days at 22c, cold crashed it for a few days at 2c and canned it. It's pretty tasty! Not the most exciting beer ever but it's quite tasty.

But seriously, chuck the yeast you get with kit beers in the bin and get some proper yeast that you at least know a bit about.

 

[Geordieboy]

Sounds like you've got it sorted now, I made this as a sacrificial brew to test out my canning machine and can filler. Actually turned out quite tasty. I don't do many kits but when I do, the yeast that it comes with goes in the bin straight away. You don't know what the yeast is and as such you don't know anything about it - what temperature range it can handle, attenuation and so on.

I ended up using a packet of Mangrove Jack's Hophead ale yeast as it was available at the local home brew shop. Fermented it at 19c for a week, gave it a diacytel rest for a couple of days at 22c, cold crashed it for a few days at 2c and canned it. It's pretty tasty! Not the most exciting beer ever but it's quite tasty.

But seriously, chuck the yeast you get with kit beers in the bin and get some proper yeast that you at least know a bit about.

Hi and many thanks for your advice. My last beer came out at 2%. It also barely fermented but I fear the yeast embassy to blame.
I'll take your advice and throw the yeast in the bin for sure.
Many thanks

 

[welly3]

Hi and many thanks for your advice. My last beer came out at 2%. It also barely fermented but I fear the yeast embassy to blame.
I'll take your advice and throw the yeast in the bin for sure.
Many thanks

You can't really go wrong with US05 for hoppy/pale ales and S04 for maltier/darker beers. Given the right environment, those yeasts will behave themselves very well.