why do my brewferm beers keep stopping

[martin22]

Am on my second brewferm kit, the Abbey beer. First kit was the Diabolo. Both of them have started off like crazy then stopped after about ten days. Hydrometer reading was still high so gave it a stir, and it bubbled steadily for a few days, checked again a week later after no airlock activity and still only 1.020 so have just given it a gentle stir again. The first kit did pretty much the same.

It's at 20 degrees so should be warm enough, any idea why it's stopping?

 

[czechneck]

Generally with kit beers, the yeast supplied is not that great. Sometimes they don't supply enough of it either. So I would try a commercial dried yeast like an 11g packet of S-04 and see if that makes any difference.

 

[mickthetrick]

their pretty high gravity beers so the finished reading will be higher too i would say. the one i've done( abdij ) finished at 1018 and was awsome.

 

[winelight]

With modern kit beers, the yeasts seem to be fine. Certainly I'd expect a decent yeast with a Brewferm kit.

I've stopped buying yeasts because I can't distinguish the results between kit yeasts and expensive ones.

 

[morethanworts]

3 abdij kits, every one finished at 1.018. You're not far off. You'll be ok to stir and raise the temperature a few degrees to make sure.

Did you rehydrate the yeast?

 

[martin22]

didnt rehydrate the yeast will do that next time.

I'll aim for 1.018 then and bottle at that. Am using coopers plastic bottles so at least the shouldnt explode!

 

[winelight]

Never rehydrated yeast in 27 years of home brewing... actually I do, I rehydrate it in the wort... like, what's the difference!

 

[Slid]

Never rehydrated yeast in 27 years of home brewing... actually I do, I rehydrate it in the wort... like, what's the difference!

I have never done anything other than "pitch and go" either. Never had any problems with non starters or stickers, beer or wine. So actually, the question is - like, what, really is the difference?

Does a yeast cell prefer a test tube to a full glass or to a whole FV full of food? A yeast cell is, like, really small and there is large number in even one gram. Far more of them than anything else floating around in the one cubic metre of air the wort is going to come into contact with. SO:

If the wort is at the correct temperature range, then actually, what is the difference?

 

[nobyipa]

to rehydrate yeast

QUOTE

Firstly you need to use the correct amount of water, not wort or a sugar solution but normal tap water . . . preferably water with a medium to high mineral content. The reason for this is simple, when you add a dehydrated yeast cell into a solution it rapidly absorbs liquid, but the yeast membrane is not selective at this stage and allows 'everything' and 'anything' across the membrane, including all those sugars and minerals. This can cause extreme osmotic stress to the poor yeast cell as it tries to wake up, and it will either end up poorly or could even explode and die, not a good result really, so just medium to high mineral content water.

Secondly the right amount of liquid should be used . . . Fermentis suggest using 10 times the weight of water as yeast, so an 11g sachet of yeast needs 110g of water (which is as near as dammit 110ml), 100g of yeast needs 1000ml

Thirdly, the water, after boiling to ensure sterilization, needs to be at the correct temperature, and this varies for variety to variety. Nottingham for example needs to be at 36C . . . Fermentis Saflager W34/70 needs 21-25C, . . . SO4 needs 25-29C. Lallemand report a 20% loss in viability compared with rehydrating at 30C instead of 36C . . . and if you are close the limit for under pitching this could be an important factor. DO NOT guess the temperature! Use a thermometer! This is one of the easiest things to do, and guessing wrong will almost certainly kill your yeast.

Fourthly, Sprinkle the yeast onto the surface of the cooled water and stir gently to mix it in . . . I know it just says sprinkle it on and leave it . . . but you need to stir it to mix it in, (I actually use my stir plate while pouring the yeast into the sterile conical flask), and then leave it to stand (covered) to rehydrate usually 15-30 minutes depending on variety, (Lallemand say 15, Fermentis 30).

Fifthly, as you are filling the FV with cooled wort, give the yeast another stir, and pour it into the Fermenter.
UNQUOTE

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html


:drink:

 

[winelight]

So, basically... as long as you put enough in, pitching straight into the wort is fine.

 

[morethanworts]

So, basically... as long as you put enough in, pitching straight into the wort is fine.

Possibly, though I don't know how you'd estimate the viability of the sprinkled yeast after the osmotic shock. Good aeration/oxidation is a big factor too. There's enough we can't control already. Dry pitching just introduces another for me.

To avoid duplication, my thoughts on this are on this thread, trundling along at the moment. There's a good link to some science stuff on there.

 

[calumscott]

Generally with kit beers, the yeast supplied is not that great. Sometimes they don't supply enough of it either. So I would try a commercial dried yeast like an 11g packet of S-04 and see if that makes any difference.

Brewferm are one of the many exceptions to this "rule".

On the whole their yeast is a bit of a beast. I would suggest going trying rehydrating in tepid (28C or thereabouts) water 30mins before pitching. That should get you more viable cells in the wort.

But the other suggestions about Brewferms being high gravity is also true - their Christmas one says to bottle at 1.020 with no additional sugar, that suggests that for a good carbonation it would drop 2-3 points in the bottle, finishing at 1.017-18.

(FWIW, the three Brewferms I did, 2 Christmas and one Grand Cru, were all just dry sprinkled and left to get on with it and they were fine. Christmasses went perfectly according to the instructions being bottled at 1.020 and the GC finished at 1.016)

 

[serum]

I had this happen with the first two I did (Oud Bruin and Diabolo) but the Triple and Ambiorix I did after finished bang on target.

Both the ones that went to plan were fermented in a warmer room but all with the standard kit yeast.

As well as the lower temperature, I used some DME in the Oud Bruin which I've heard can affect the final gravity but not sure whether this is true or not. I've read it on a few forums.

 

[Steve]

So, basically... as long as you put enough in, pitching straight into the wort is fine.

Yes. On the other hand and in particularly for AG brewers for all the time and effort that goes into a brew day treating the grains and enzymes correctly why isn't the yeast also cared for when all it is asking for is some luke warm water to soak up?


EDIT: On topic...

If you are relatively new to brewing let me try and explain this high FG to you. Yeast has an apparent attenuation % which varies between strains and fermentation conditions. It can be calculated by AA% = ((OG-FG)/OG)*100 where the OG and FG are the gravity points 1.0##. So as your OG increases for a stronger brew your FG will also increase as the AA% is constant(ish). Taking 75% AA as a common example an OG of 1.080 it would be expected to have a FG of 1.020 as ((80-20)/80)*100 = 75%

 

[martin22]

if its only going to ferment to about 1.018 i wonder why brewferm say only bottle when its down to 1.010 - 1.012 on the instructions :wha: