Yest Stalled i think.....

[yelsmirgd]

Hi guys
I am hoping someone can help me. I brewed a pumpkin ale 12 days ago and used safale US05 which i have never used before. the yeast was pitched at a gravity of 1.051 and was doing well up until about 3 days ago when it seemed to have stopped. it has had the same gravity for the last three days at 1.021. what i want to know is has the yeast finished fermenting or stalled. i want to bottle condition but i am scared that it will blow up the bottles if there are a lot of unfermented sugars. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Slid]

Hi guys
I am hoping someone can help me. I brewed a pumpkin ale 12 days ago and used safale US05 which i have never used before. the yeast was pitched at a gravity of 1.051 and was doing well up until about 3 days ago when it seemed to have stopped. it has had the same gravity for the last three days at 1.021. what i want to know is has the yeast finished fermenting or stalled. i want to bottle condition but i am scared that it will blow up the bottles if there are a lot of unfermented sugars. any help would be greatly appreciated.

US 05 is not known for stalling at 1.020 or so, and despite being a slow-ish starter on fermenting, will usually finish well within 9 days for its initial ferment. It also attenuates well, so I see the initial problem, unless you are fermenting at very low temperatures for a centrally heated house, as verifying the FG reading.

I would suggest that you do a hydrometer reading as follows:

1. Take the sample for the reading.
2. Shake sample until most of the gas has been expelled.
3. Wait until all the foam has gone from the sample.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3.
5. Take new reading and report back.

 

[yelsmirgd]

thanks for the reply i did what you said and i get a reading of 1.018. i also did a re calibration on my refractometer and got a similar reading.

 

[Slid]

thanks for the reply i did what you said and i get a reading of 1.018. i also did a re calibration on my refractometer and got a similar reading.

Right, that sounds like a stalled ferment alright.

Can you move the FV to somewhere around 21C, give the yeast a bit of a gentle "swirl" with a sanitised spoon or stirrer and leave it for a few days longer?

Bottling at 1.018 is just going to be disaster, in my experience.

 

[yelsmirgd]

i actually did that 3 days ago and it hasn't really fixed the problem at all. any other suggestions please would be greatly appreciated? i thought about pitching some more yeast?

 

[Martybhoy]

If you have another FV, you could decant into that, leaving as much trub behind as possible. Add some rehydrated yeast and a tablespoon of sugar and try and keep the temperature in the yeasts top range. If you have another neutral yeast other than US-05, try that. I've read that in a stalled fermentation, repitching the same yeast strain may not always work as well as pitching a different strain. The original yeast can leave markers in the wort which can inhibit the same strain from restarting the fermentation.

Was this an AG brew? You may have exhausted all available fermentable sugars.

 

[yelsmirgd]

i will try that today and hopefully it recovers. yes it is an AG brew. thanks again for the information was having a small panic attack here :-?

 

[Martybhoy]

What temp did you mash at, and if you post the recipe someone cleverer than me might be able to tell you your expected FG.

Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk

 

[DoctorMick]

How fermentable are the sugars from a pumpkin?

 

[walders123]

Give it a stir and gently increase the temperature until it gets going. Good usually works for me on a stuck fermentation. I guess it is possible that there are unfermentable sugars in there if the mash temp was too high if allgrain

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[yelsmirgd]

Thanks so much for all the help pitch new yeast and the gravity has dropped down to 1.014 in 2 days. will give it another day or 2 and see if it will go any further. :thumb: