I would be grateful for some advice as I need to know my home brew kit worts are going in the right direction as I am getting a bit concerned. I replaced the time expired yeast packets with new ones and have made two home brew kits, a Brewmaker Strong Export Bitter and a John Thompsons Strong XXX Bitter. Everything was properly sterilised. It's now day 7 and the wort of the Brewmaker is 1.026 and the Thompson's is 1.017. I remember clearly when making these beer kits before that they would generally reach a gravity of about 1006 after 6 or 7 days at which point become ready for barrelling, it says this in the beer kits instructions. The gravity readings are taking longer than usual to come down, the temperature of the wort is about 20°C and they both seem to be slowly foaming away. Am I worrying unnecessarily about the slow fermenting speed and could the replacement yeast work slower than the original time expired batches and if so should I just sit back and let it carry on (I did not take original gravity readings, I added the required 1kg of sugar to each). Any advice would be very helpful and appreciated I am new to home brewing. Thanks. Jon.
THis will also get moved over to the homebrewing sub-forum.... Don't worry too much about the time it takes to ferment. Yeast can't read the calendar, they are done when they're done. If things still appear to be happening in there, just walk away. Check on It every few days to see it there's any problems, but let it go. There are any number of reasons why it could be taking longer this time, mostly based on yeast. What yeast did you use? Liquid or dry? Did you make a starter? What was the starting temper you pitched at? (I see you didn;'t take OG - you might want to do that next time, just to get a baseline for where you started and what abv you have when finished.) I usually leave my fermentations alone for 3 weeks before bottling. If I was racking to secondary it might be a bit quicker. When you say ready for barreling, what exactly do you mean? Do you have a barrel or are you talking about bottling? The first thing to do with most kits is to disregard the instructions when it's talking about timing. As I said before, yeast work at their own pace, they'll finish when they're finished. The short version is: Relax, Don't Worry, Have a (Home)Brew.
If the yeast starts to slow down and significantly miss your final gravity target after awhile then you may start thinking about how many cells per degree Plato were actually pitched (perhaps too low). Did you make a yeast starter before pitching?
Thanks very much for your reply it's set my mind at rest. The yeast I used was dry powdered and yes I did make a starter. The starting temperature was 22c and the temperature now of the home brew is 20c, and I have both bins a very good mix to aerate it all. I do usually make a note of the OG abut simply forgot this time as I haven't made home brew beer for some time, and it somehow got overlooked! Interesting that you leave your brew for 3 weeks before bottling. Most of the research I have done in the last few days shows that two to three weeks is quite common after all, my home brew kit, and the instructions, seems to go against this trend. Yes I use plastic five gallon beer barells, kegs, instead of beer bottles. I will follow your advice and disregard the instructions as you have suggested, and let the yeast do its job and it seems to all be going in the right direction now!
Thanks for your reply. Yes I did make a starter before pitching, but wonder if the fermentation really slows up (it seems ok although slow at the moment) at what stage would you introduce more yeast?
Just leave it alone... or better yet, you should swirl the fermenters once or twice daily to get the yeast back into suspension so they don't all settle to the bottom and fall dormant. Do you know what exact strain of yeast you used? Some strains attenuate better or worse than others. There are probably hundreds of different strains of dry yeast, and they are NOT all created equally.
Hi, thanks for your reply. Yes I have been swirling the brew and mixing it up all fairly well but only every 2 to 3 days, but I can try it daily as you suggest. I used Wilko Gervin English ale yeast, it had good reviews, but I have not used it before.
If what "they" say is true, that Gervin is the same as Nottingham, I have a lot of experience with Nottingham and I know it is a good performer. Just might need a little more time. Swirl, and give it another week, and everything should be fine.
Thanks, I will do as you say, I am sure now if I give the brew enough time it will get their. Cheers.
How often have you been checking gravity? Too many want to micromanage their beer and check it too often IMO...introducing too much oxygen by checking too often can definitely cause a beer to stall. Relax, chill, have a homebrew and just let the fungus do its job!
Thanks for your comments and the advice. I think I have checked it a little too much recently and at least once a day from day 5 to see how it was doing. I understand it may be a longer fermentation process than before especially as the yeast is different, but I will follow your advice and leave it alone to give the yeast the b st chance to do its job. In any event the gravity is dropping by about 0.003 each day so it should be another 4 or 5 days before it's ready to barrel, so I will leave it until then before checking again. Relax and chill seems to be the best route to follow now!
