Stuck brew advice - Coopers Selection IPA

[AlexBB]

Hi,
I would be very grateful of some advice.. I did a Coopers Selection IPA kit with the 1Kg box of Coopers Brew Enhancer 1, made up to 23 Lts and yeast tossed at 24 C.
Wort was well aerated before the yeast was added.
OG was 1.042 and all seemed well for about 4 days, plenty of action and a good Krausen developed.
Then Krausen dropped and all went quiet.

FV was in my kitchen at 18 to 22 C (2 other brews been going on and a wine in same place with no issues).

I left for 3 days and did an SG test, was at 1.016... left two more days, SG still at 1.014 to 1.015.... left 2 more days SG at 1.014 and stayed there, and is very cloudy.
Was expecting it to drop more and also be much clearer.... Checked Stuck Brew thread and spoke to LHBS and gave it a stir on Saturday 15th... let it settle till Monday and still no action and SG still at 1.014 when tested tonight and very cloudy, seems to be lots of CO2 in it as well as bubbles freely when sample taken from FV tap.

Not really sure what to do !!! Bottle it or bin it??

Don't want to waste and tie up 40 bottles to end finding I have a dud beer...

Would be very grateful for any advice?

 

[Spapro]

Doesn't sound like you have done any thing wrong mate and to be fair its not far away at 2014.

If I have totted up correctly its had just over 2 weeks since brewing, yes ?

If so, I wouldn't rush it, I have had a Wilkos Golden Ale and a Woodefordes Wherry which have taken over 3 weeks to get down to 1010 - 1011.

You have a few options, adding a new sachet of yeast would be a suggestion.

I would be inclined, if you have a spare FV (sterilise it) syphon your beer into it - this gets your beer off the trub and I have found the process of syphoning into a seondary FV does seem to invigorate the yeast. Once transferred to this second FV I would leave it another 3-4 days to see if any activity, then put somewhere cooler (like a garage/shed) for 2-3 days to clear and then bottle from there.

It should drop a couple more points fingers crossed, and if not I definately wouldn't bin it, I would bottle anyway - it should still turn into a pleasant pint, currently will be at 3.6% abv (maybe 3.8% if you factor in a small increase for priming in the bottle).

Good luck with it and enjoy !

 

[Cwrw666]

Why does everyone want to pour away their brews everytime it doesn't appear to have gone the way it's meant to. Taste it! If it tastes fine bottle it and drink it, if it tastes foul - that's the time to chuck it away.
Just remember that malt is a very variable natural product which is full of other things other than maltose. Lots of these things don't ferment away so if the particular batch of malt has more than usual in it, then your FG will be a bit high.
I did a recent kit and it too finished at 1014. I was a bit dubious, same as you, but bottled it anyway and it was fine.

 

[AlexBB]

Well having read the advice I am going to rack it off and put in second FV (sterilising as I type)... It was made on the 4th Nov, about 8pm, so has been in the Pri FV for 15/16 days...

I am a little reluctant at this stage to add more yeast, did this many years ago (when I used to brew with my Dad) and remember having issues, though I do understand the yeasts are now much better.. I think next time I may replace the yeast that comes with the kit with a Safale S-04 or US-05.. will mull that proposition over with a beer later lol...

I will see what happens in the secondary FV for a few days and look to bottle it sometime over the weekend...

Cwrw666 - Yes I understand your point, and I have tasted it... should have said that before sorry, it is not foul, but it is not pleasant!! Has a strong yeasty flavour and a few undertones I can't describe... At this stage I was just very reluctant to tie up the 40 bottles I had planned for my Bad Cat Imperial.. But I have bitten the bullet and bought another 2 boxes of the coopers PET bottles to tied me over... actually got them from Tesco and used points with a double voucher offer so they cost me nothing lol...

Anyways... will see how it goes racking over to the Secondary FV... fingers crossed..

 

[Toffee]

I did same kit recently, with BE1 as well. OG was 1039 finished on 1012. Was cloudy as well, and did not taste great out of FV. Bottled it, and left warm conditioning for 2 weeks. Had a first sample then - not great but had cleared totally in bottle. Now in the cold and is improving. Been 10 days, going to leave them for a couple of weeks before sampling again.

 

[chrisstuarthall]

I think your idea of using a sachet of non-kit yeast e.g. S04 or Nottingham, is a good idea for next time.

The quantity of yeast supplied by the kit manufacturers is a bit light at 5 gms for 23 litres.

Getting a good blast going early on usually helps the whole process.

Have you checked the beer kit review threads? Other people might have had similar experiences.

 

[timbrew]

Hi all, I'm new to brewing (and this forum )
I have a standard wilko fermenting tub , which I used and know works . For Christmas I got the wilko pressure barrel..... Can I do all stages of the brewing in the pressure barrel? ( at the moment I'm using kits .
I now know I need the injector cap ( I bought the small 10 pack of Co2 canisters from wilko ) as I thought they'd be useful .

 

[timbrew]

I think I may have added this to the wrong part..

 

[reddibaggie]

No mate ferment in the tub then transfer into the barrel afterwards with 80-100 grams of sugar or dextrose for gassing it up