Stuck Ferment - J.W.Lees Bitter

[Bertie Doe]

Couple of weeks ago, put my old Electrim Mashing Bin into retirement, burned the plastic and bought a new Bulldog Master Brewer and Sparger. My first brew was an overambitious (G Wheeler) Black Sheep Riggwelter. Target was 6% and I got 5%. Possible issues with control box. Couldn't get a rolling boil, got a full boil and had to top up with 2 litres of water to get the recipe 19 litres. Taste is pretty good. Got the control box replaced - eventually.

Thursday I started another GW recipe, J.W.Lees Bitter. Target is 3.7% ABV, this time a 23 litre recipe with 3740g of pale, no choc but added 100g of terrified. Golding hops at start and Irish Moss near finish. Similar issues with control box but spoke to David at Hambledon Bard and got a nice rolling boil, hot break, for the last 70 mins.

Used the same Nottingham Yeast that started the Black but it's now stuck for 36 hours and won't budge. Temperature in the bathroom is 25 c. Any ideas please.

 

[MyQul]

I'm surprised that it stuck. Notty will usually batter it's way through a brick wall, let alone a small OG like this at 25C. What's the OG? If you havent taken an OG it may well have finished already. If it is stuck give it a rouse with a sanitised paddle/spoon/etc

 

[Bertie Doe]

Thanks MQ, I'll give it a quick paddle now. SG was 1035, which is 2 clicks below the recipe. I'll test the SG again.

 

[Bertie Doe]

Good grief you're correct. It's been working and not one 'bubble' has come through the trap. I didn't give it a paddle but took the sg and it's now 1011 which gives 3.2% instead of 3.7%. It's possible that it's still working? It's got a muddy, milky colour. Taste is not vinegar. Won't get to 3.7 due to the low start sg but I'll be happy with 3.5% in say, a couple of days time.

I used a clear fermenter for the earlier Black Sheep Riggwelter and you can see what's going on. I used a Youngs opaque fermenter for the JW Lees because it has larger capacity. It's a puzzle where the leak is. I did use a bit of petroleum jelly as per Young's instruction. Let's hope no nasty's get in :)

 

[Bertie Doe]

A few adjustments to bung, cap and trap and I'm getting a gurgle every 6 seconds. I'll post the final sg in a couple of days - thanks.

 

[Dutto]

About 20% of my brews manage to ferment out without a single bubble coming out of the Blow Off tube!

The only indication is that the level of trub in the bottom increases as the days go by! :thumb:

 

[Bertie Doe]

Thanks Dutto, it's difficult to spot the trub thru' the opaque fermenter. Things are slowing down with one bubble every 2 minutes. Maybe Youngs are having sealing issues with the new models. There's stick-on cautionary label, writ in large friendly letters :-

 

[Dutto]

I use Wilco FV's as per the photo ...

As you say, seeing through it ain't easy but note the krausen on this one.

It didn't leave the FV to try and come visit but when I opened it up it had hit the lid!

 

[Slid]

Couple of weeks ago, put my old Electrim Mashing Bin into retirement, burned the plastic and bought a new Bulldog Master Brewer and Sparger. My first brew was an overambitious (G Wheeler) Black Sheep Riggwelter. Target was 6% and I got 5%. Possible issues with control box. Couldn't get a rolling boil, got a full boil and had to top up with 2 litres of water to get the recipe 19 litres. Taste is pretty good. Got the control box replaced - eventually.

Thursday I started another GW recipe, J.W.Lees Bitter. Target is 3.7% ABV, this time a 23 litre recipe with 3740g of pale, no choc but added 100g of terrified. Golding hops at start and Irish Moss near finish. Similar issues with control box but spoke to David at Hambledon Bard and got a nice rolling boil, hot break, for the last 70 mins.

Used the same Nottingham Yeast that started the Black but it's now stuck for 36 hours and won't budge. Temperature in the bathroom is 25 c. Any ideas please.

I really like the Riggwelter clone, but am concerned if you have bottled at 7-8 points too high.

Have you bottled with crown caps? May be issues later with very carbonated beer.

If it is kegged, then no doubt any excess CO2 will blow off.

PET bottles are easy, in that just loosening the cap a bit allows out the excess gas.

 

[Bertie Doe]

Not sure what you mean Slid. I use the swing cage bottles. The Riggwelter tastes ok but hardly a 'pop' when opening. It was 1% short of Graham Wheelers target of 6%.

I haven't taken the final sg for the G.W. Lees' yet, as it's still (slowly) fermenting but the initial sg was 1035 instead of the target 1037.

I used 100g of brewing sugar to bulk prime in both cases. I don't think excess CO2 will be an issue. Where did you get the "7 - 8 points too high" from. Some of my figures may be awry, I've had a 4 year gap from homebrewing and it's taking a while to get back into the swing ..

 

[Bertie Doe]

Here's the stick-on label from youngs :

 

[Slid]

Not sure what you mean Slid. I use the swing cage bottles. The Riggwelter tastes ok but hardly a 'pop' when opening. It was 1% short of Graham Wheelers target of 6%.

I haven't taken the final sg for the G.W. Lees' yet, as it's still (slowly) fermenting but the initial sg was 1035 instead of the target 1037.

I used 100g of brewing sugar to bulk prime in both cases. I don't think excess CO2 will be an issue. Where did you get the "7 - 8 points too high" from. Some of my figures may be awry, I've had a 4 year gap from homebrewing and it's taking a while to get back into the swing ..

1% alcohol equates to roughly a 7.5 drop in SG readings. If the Riggwelter has had 2 weeks to carbonate, it should not over carbonate, right enough. A swing top bottle is fairly easy to deal with if it gets over carbonated.

A homebrewing hydrometer is not sensitive enough to be accurate to more than plus or minus 1 gravity point and the calibration and reading errors can be much more than this, so I would not regard the values as much more than a guess.

The weather at the moment is so warm that English yeasts will struggle to perform as they usually do, leading to under-attenuation and possibly more "by-products" from fermentation that are not desirable.

 

[Zephyr259]

Here's the stick-on label from youngs :View attachment 14806

I use the same fermenter, rigid and seals well. I greased it the first twice I used it but haven't needed to since so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[Bertie Doe]

Thanks Zephyr, that's reassuring. My initial concern was that I had a stuck ferment. I'm now down to one bubble every 5 minutes, so all is well again. Haven't tried the J.W. Lees before, looking forward to it in 3 to 4 weeks time.

By then, the B.S. Riggwelter will be finished, so I may try something of a similar strength say, Theakston OP, which I like. Another Graham Wheeler recipe that's got my attention is Hop Back Summer Lightning at 5%. Anyone tried it? Looks very straightforward : Pale malt, Challenger and Golding hops.

 

[Slid]

Thanks Zephyr, that's reassuring. My initial concern was that I had a stuck ferment. I'm now down to one bubble every 5 minutes, so all is well again. Haven't tried the J.W. Lees before, looking forward to it in 3 to 4 weeks time.

By then, the B.S. Riggwelter will be finished, so I may try something of a similar strength say, Theakston OP, which I like. Another Graham Wheeler recipe that's got my attention is Hop Back Summer Lightning at 5%. Anyone tried it? Looks very straightforward : Pale malt, Challenger and Golding hops.

The GW Summer Lightning is a great recipe. Very simple and very good. It is also attractive in that it drinks well quite young and improves for several months.

 

[Slid]

Thanks Zephyr, that's reassuring. My initial concern was that I had a stuck ferment. I'm now down to one bubble every 5 minutes, so all is well again. Haven't tried the J.W. Lees before, looking forward to it in 3 to 4 weeks time.

By then, the B.S. Riggwelter will be finished, so I may try something of a similar strength say, Theakston OP, which I like. Another Graham Wheeler recipe that's got my attention is Hop Back Summer Lightning at 5%. Anyone tried it? Looks very straightforward : Pale malt, Challenger and Golding hops.

I can also heartily recommend the Theakston's OP clone. It is a sort of Autumn or Winter sort of a beer, so I suggest the Summer Lightning first.

 

[marshbrewer]

The GW Summer Lightning is a great recipe. Very simple and very good. It is also attractive in that it drinks well quite young and improves for several months.

+1 for GW's Summer Lightening ~ very drinkable, which for a 5.7% ale can be very dangerous.

 

[Zephyr259]

I can also heartily recommend the Theakston's OP clone. It is a sort of Autumn or Winter sort of a beer, so I suggest the Summer Lightning first.

Out of interest, which yeasts have you used for these beers?

 

[Slid]

Out of interest, which yeasts have you used for these beers?

Theakstons OP was Safale S04 and the Summer Lightening US 05.

 

[Bertie Doe]

Ah, thanks for the tips Slid, jjsh and Zephyr. The Summer Lightning is now favourite for next week. The fact that it's a 5% beer that can be drank young-ish is a plus. I'll probably use the Nottingham, it seems ok in this hot weather.

Some of JW's recipes (Felinfoel, Evarards, Jennings etc) uses torrified wheat. I guess it's added to improve the head. I like to add a 100g or so but it's not included in his Summer Lightning. Does this beer have a naturally good head or is he concerned about changing the authentic taste profile?