Stuck Brew or needs more time?

[Aarondapastyman]

I'm brewing a coopers draught at the minute, and it's been in the FV for about 11-12 days now, yet the hydrometer readings have it around 1.020 the last two days.

It might have been 1.018 today when I checked, but I may have read wrong! I'm wondering if adding 500g DME on top of 1kg BE would make fermentation take longer? The FV has been a consistent 22 degrees the whole time.

I've given the FV a stir to see if helps, just unsure if it would take longer to reach FG or not given the extra fermenables?

Cheers!

 

[MyQul]

Yes, it does take longer to reach terminal gravity the more fermentables you put in. I'd give it at least two weeks. I usually leave my beers in the FV for three weeks because I can't be bothered to take three gravity readings on conscutive days so I know three weeks almost guarentee's my brews will have fermented out

 

[Aarondapastyman]

Still stuck at 1.018 after two weeks, gave another stir with the spoon this time, rather than just spinning the FV.

Any other techniques to get it going again? Or should I just bottle with less priming sugar? Was hoping for a 5% brew rather than the 4.2. It'd be at this point... :/

 

[Duffman]

Still stuck at 1.018 after two weeks, gave another stir with the spoon this time, rather than just spinning the FV.

Any other techniques to get it going again? Or should I just bottle with less priming sugar? Was hoping for a 5% brew rather than the 4.2. It'd be at this point... :/

To get an ABV of 4.2 you would have needed to start with a OG of 1.050 ! if the OG was 1.040 your looking at 2.8% if you bottle at FG of 1.018 - Thats almost alcohol free ;-)

Not sure about stirring up as it will create oxidation, however i might be wrong about that.

 

[Racinsnake]

If it's still at 22' and you've given it a stir there's not that much more you can do (it defo won't rust lol) take a couple of hydro readings, if it's still steady bottle it with recommended priming amount 4.2 is reasonable. Kit blurb can be optimistic at best, although you didn't state your OG.

 

[Aarondapastyman]

Ah sorry OG was 1.050 so approx 4.2% :)

 

[Cwrw666]

If your temperature has dropped too much the yeast can go dormant, especially in the later stages of fermentation. You could try raising the temperature to about 24C for a bit and giving the brew a gentle stir with a sterilised rod or something (I use a strip of aluminium from B&Q - easy to sterilise with boiling water.) Don't splash though as that will introduce oxygen which would be a bad thing.

 

[Spapro]

Luckily never had a stuck brew since stopped using the kit yeasts.

Some good advice from Cwrw666. Also I have read on here of people adding a small amount of brew sugar to wake the yeast up (a table spoonful or thereabouts). Not tried that myself but it can't do any harm.