Help required.

[Hunter]

wow, realy enjoyed reading this whole thread... can someone please tell me what they think of my situation...

on my 4th brew, is a Wander Draught, with Coopers Bre Enhancer 1.
I left my brew belt off, coz I wanted it to ferment longer (my previous have all stopped bubbling, and reached good gravity after 4 - 5 days) so it stayed around 18'
Airlock stopped bubbling after 6 days, checked hydrometer, wasn't in range (I didn't note reading) so I figured yeast had gone dormant...
Put heat belt on, bubbling started again, got temp back up to about 28', then bubbling slowed right down, like every 65 seconds, then stopped.
Yippee I thought, bottling time, cracked a stubby from my previous, checked the hydrometer... oh no, only reading 1200.
rang Brewmaster, he said to give vigourous shake, have done and am waiting now. What more can I do? (besides crack anotheree)
cheers

[gregb]

I've split this new post out of the common questions thread.

[Chris]

28*C!!!!! WHY???

18*C is optimal- it is a very good temp to ferment at. 28*C is cooking your beer! You'll get some crazy flavours in that territory.

1200? That is incredibly high- it has to be an incorrect reading. Beer isn't at 1200 even before it starts fermenting!

Brewmaster sounds like a waste of space. You NEVER give wort a vigourous shake. That'll oxidise your beer, leaving it stale and spoilt. The MOST you ever need to do is gently roll your fermenter on its bottom end, which gently rouses the yeast back into suspension.

A general set of guidelines for fermenting beer is as follows:

1) Take a hydro reading at the beginning
2) Ferment for 7 or so days at 18*C for ales
3) OPTIONAL- rack for 7 days
4) Take hydro readings until you get 2 identical readings
5) RESIST THE URGE TO SHAKE!!!

[homebrewer79]

Hi, and welcome.
1st thing, the only job of the airlock is to keep crap out of the fermenter, never rely on that as a sign of fermentation. You may have a slight air leek in the fermenter which is why the airlock is not bubbling, but that is nothing to worry about, the layer of co2 will protect the brew from the evil outside air
2nd, 18 deg is perfect for ales and 12 deg is perfect for lagers, 28 deg is way too high for any brew (I know thats what the instructions say on the can, but they are evil and should be ignored).
3rd, I don't know what scale you are using to measure the gravity of the brew but 1200 seems odd to me
4th, where is this "brewmaster", if he/she told you to give the brew a vigourous shake they may have just oxidised your brew. If you think you have a stuck ferment, just tip the fermenter on a slight angle and give it a gentle circular motion of movement. Splashing the wort is not good at all.

[homebrewer79]

Chris, are you staliking me? ha ha, this is the second time in a week you've beat me to a post. I really need to learn how to type faster

[Chris]

That's what you get for posting around 7:30 in the morning.

[Hunter]

yep reading was 1020, typo... rolled barrel rather vigourously, have I f*cked it? if so, how will I know? should I scrap this bastard and start again? temperature is 26'... Hydrometer is now reading 1015...

[homebrewer79]

I think the best way to go about it would be to keep the temp as stable as possible, being that it went from 18 to 26 isn't the best but it would be worse if it was to fluctuate to those temps constantly. I would say it is likely that you have oxidised the brew BUT, don't tip it out until you have bottled and tasted , then tasted again in a few weeks, then a few weeks more. I would only consider chucking it if you absolutely can not drink it, but you must wait the minimum 2 weeks. I have had brews that don't taste too good @ 2 weeks, but are fantastic at 3 months or even 6 months. Give it a few more days to ferment out and she should be ready, check that it has stopped by having 2 readings the same 24 hrs apart.
On a side note, at least you got an airlock with your kit. When I started brewing I had no idea, I got all the bits and pieces like bottler and grommets and tap, and decided that the bottler was the airlock . Thats only because the pricks ripped me off and I didn't actually get an airlock. So here I am trying to fill a bottler with water (sticking out of where the airlock should be) and coming back a day later to find the water had disappeared, thinking, shit man, does it evaporate that fast. Mate, you should have smelt the brew a few days later, I made a lambic and didn't even know it.

[Chris]

It's always worth bottling. You'd feel pretty stupid ditching a batch if there was nothing wrong with it.

[Trough Lolly]

I think one of the reasons why the bubbling resumed when you raised the temp to 28C was the temp forcing CO2 coming out of solution - as has already been said, don't push the beer beyond 24C unless you like solventy fusel alcohol notes or fruity esters in the final product!!

Cheers,
TL

[BierMeister]

I disagree that you have probably oxidised your brew. If it had been brewing for 6 days, then stopped bubbly then it had been pushing all the oxygen out of the top of the fermenter and was full of mostly CO2 when you 'rolled it vigourously' so I doubt you put any oxygen in it. What happened when you heated it up was that it started bubbling again. This is because when water is cooler it holds more gas in it than when its hotter. By heating it you have released CO2 that was already saturated in the brew. I'd also say you've probably not given to many off flavours in the brew as it sounds like the yeast had almost finished anyway at 1020.

Edit: Definately avoid brewing at any higher than 22C in the future. 18C is perfect.

[Trough Lolly]

Snap!

[Hunter]

Thanks very much for your help... am still getting mixed hydrometer readings... will this brew ever be ready? has been 2 weeks today. there is condensation on lid. Any predictions on when I might get a suitable reading?

[Chris]

Your hydro reading should only be going down. When you get 2 identical readings over 2 days, then bottle. I'd expect that you'd bottle around 1006-8.

[Longwood-65]

I got all the bits and pieces like bottler

Is that what that thing is, I thought it was one of those tester Tubes, you know dip it in the beer put your thumb over it and let it release in a glass. , Before that I thought is was the container to put the Hydrometer, but the hydrometer kept getting stuck to the sides and couldn't get a good reading

Regards
Ron

[Anna]

I got all the bits and pieces like bottler

Is that what that thing is, I thought it was one of those tester Tubes, you know dip it in the beer put your thumb over it and let it release in a glass. , Before that I thought is was the container to put the Hydrometer, but the hydrometer kept getting stuck to the sides and couldn't get a good reading

Regards
Ron

Thanks for the giggle this morning guys! ROFL. It's good to know some of you old-timers were so green at one time too. Hydrometer getting stuck to the sides - yeah, same problem - annoying eh? Anna