Bombs Away?

I had such a suspicion myself, so I actually had pulled the bucket out of my swamp cooler for a few days and then took another reading and it hadn't changed. At this point ambient temp is about 10* warmer than the temp in the cooler, so it climbed a little. But the gravity remained unchanged.

So if it is the temperature, if I keep the bottles at the temperature at which fermentation seems to have stalled or otherwise cease, in theory, wouldn't it stay stopped, provided the temp didn't climb? (Not seeking to justify reckless behavior - just curious if yeast are capable of following through to logical conclusions.)

Mr. Malty said 1.5. I rehydrated/pitched 1.5.

 

Because it's generally be a little above where I'd want US-05. Last time I used it, I held it around 72F and definitely started getting a little estery. The temperature swings around here have been pretty dramatic (40F over night, 70F during the day) and I was using a swamp cooler to try to at least give it a shot at staying more consistent. It ended up being cooler than I wanted. Such is life without a fermentation freezer.

Come November I should have a good 5-6 months of quality temperatures though (we keep our place ~64 in the winter). From there, I'm finding it's easier to add heat (heat wrap) than it is to take it away.

 

Well, now I've got 48 potential bombs of varying sizes tucked neatly in a large plastic tub feeling a little defeated since I had such high hopes for this brew. I also have a brown mild fermenting with WLP013 which is an enthusiastic yeast, and that has also stalled at 1.019. So I've got my heat wrap on that and I'm bringing it up close to 70F for a few days to see if the yeast get going again. Sigh...I wonder if I could get a chest freezer up 3 flights of narrow stairs...

 

It's a hydrometer.

I usually pitch on the warmer side. I knew it wasn't ideal, but I didn't realize it could be that detrimental. A valuable lesson, thank you. These are batches 6 & 7 respectively, and I haven't had any issues and now I'm having the same issue (with the exact same reading).

 

Yep, it's calibrated for 60F, which is where the samples have been at. I usually don't rush. Like I said, most beers I give three weeks. This time my excitement/impatience/inexperience got the best of me. I knew 1.019 seemed high, but it had been stable for 4-5 days, so I went ahead at two weeks. It was in hindsight that I started to come around to the possibly life-threatening error of my ways.

If they do start to go, I only hope I'm home to hear it and my cats' reactions are suitably entertaining.

 

I just opened one to check carb levels. Indications so far are good. It tastes messy, but it's only been in bottles for four days. Carbonation wise though, there's not a whole lot in solution, so this might only be a mitigated disaster as opposed to unmitigated.

 

As a fan of several bands who were clearly influenced by Zappa (I dig the idea of Zappa more than what I've heard, which is admittedly very little), I appreciate the phrase. Sounds like a good name for a ridiculous imperial stout. OR an imperial strong ale from Stone - along the lines of Double Double Bastard.

 

So this has taken a turn for what I can only accept as comical - because the greater implication is that I'm pretty darn close to having 100 bottles of beer that didn't go right...

Anyway, I just took a reading on the brown mild which has had the heat wrap on it all weekend. Well, I've already done a whole heap of damage and apparently it's pretty damn chilly in my apartment, too. It hasn't budged from 1.019 - an astounding 40% attenuation.

So in the swamp cooler, this beer got down to 55F and I'm no longer surprised that the yeast kind of threw in the towel. I did a little quick math when I put the wrap on and figured that if my Johnson probe was reading the ambient at 68 and the beer, which had been out of the cooler for a few days at this point, should have theoretically warmed a little. It did not. And after 48 hours with the ferm wrap set to 70 the beer sits at 55F still. Apparently my probe wasn't as insulated as I hoped and the ferm wrap barely turned on. But even still, it wasn't enough to warm the beer up at all. So I'm getting ready to rehydrate/pitch some US-05 to finish it off and have the wrap cranked to 77.

My plan now is to drink through the potential bombs as fast as I can to free up the tub I was using as a cooler. That will now be my fermenting chamber (it holds two buckets/carboys). The ferm wrap will lay flat on the bottom. The sides will be insulated and the top will be a sort of tent made out of moving blankets. I may or may not get a thermowell (I'm seriously considering it), but if not, hopefully keeping the ambient temp in the chamber ~68F will provide a good environment for a variety of yeasts.

 

Similar amount of bubble wrap. Secured with duct tape to the side of my carboy. I know it wasn't accurate since the sample I pulled was at 55F whereas the controller was in the mid 60s.

I have tried this on my bucket yet though. I would imagine it probably gets a more accurate reading off the plastic.