Bewferm Christmas brew - Stuck

[Waffty]

After going like a train for a day or so, the activity on the blubble lock on the above brew has stopped.

Given that the manual says 10 days to ferment & this has been a little of 2 days, I feared the worst but took the plunge & checked out the gravity. To my surprise it was 1030 (OG 1060'ish) but still 10 points off the target of 1020.

Just gave it a gentle swurl with a clean spoon but 2 to 3 hours later, the bubble is pretty much level i.e no activity.

So what do you think I should do ? i.e my options are leave it at 1030, give it another spin with the spoon or drop somemore yeast in there, if so what yeast ? I've got a couple of spare 6g ale yeast from a couple of muntons kits or some Safe04. Kit is only 7l, so would I need to reduce yeast required (in the case of safe04) ?

Many thanks.
Darren

[wetdog]

exactly the same thing happend to me, stuck at 1028
I tried stiring, added some champagne yeast and yeast vit but nothing happend. in the end I just decided to keg it. funny thing was I added some priming sugar and that did ferment so I can only assume that for some reason a lot of the malt was unfermentable.
the only thing I didnt try was Dry Beer Enzyme
I'm drinking it now and although it has a slight sweetness its still a nice drink

[Waffty]

Wetdog,

Many thanks for that but it does seem to be the same 'issue' you had

I'll have a sleep on it then & either leave it or get some dry beer Enzyme. Just out of interest, how do you use the drying Enzyme ?

Thanks again.
Darren.

[Ditch]

Darren; DBE comes in a sachet, just like yeast. Just sling it in.

[Waffty]

Just pitched a second batch of yeast & so far not a dickie bird, so suspect there's nowt left to ferment, in which case, I'll leave this yeast drop out over the next day/two days & drop it into the keg.

I'm a little reluctant to use DBE, just in case it thins it out too much & lets face it, this brew is designed to be sweet, given that it's supposed to finish at 1020.

Thanks again for you help.

Darren.

[Waffty]

Plan to drop this into the keg tonight & was just wondering if I should add some DME with a bubble lock, as with an SG of 1065 & FG of 1030, that's a 5%'er as opposed to the 7.5% it should be.

i.e use the DME (100g or so, for 7l) should bump up the alcohol content + the bubble lock won't carbonate.

What you think? Or should I simply leave it as a 5% sweet brew, given it's an Christmas brew i.e for those cold winter evening?

Darren

[Waffty]

Ok, took the plunge last night to get this brew back on the straight and narrow, with the rational being, it's not that expensive in the global scheme of things.

To recap.

I kicked this 7L brew off, as per instrustions, using a 9L corny, a spare lid with a hole in it & a length of pipe going into the hole, which my bubble lock can fit in. The brew went like wildfire for just under two days then stopped, so thinking it had stalled, I took a sample and found it to be 1030 (should be 1020). Gave the contents a swurl with a clean spoon & still not activity. So as a last resort, I pitched another batch of yeast (prestarted with DME) & still no activity.

So working on the theory that there were not sugars left to ferment, I decided to add a DME & Brewer sugar mix to a new 9L corny (boiled, boiled again, then cooled). Added the mixture to the corny, sealed them both up i.e replaced bubble lock lid with standard lid, then set about transfering the contents via two disconnected connected via a length of pipe i.e pressured one keg to force out the contents out of one keg into another, having first filled the receiving keg with CO2 & fitted with an open CO2 disconnect i.e liquid moving into the new keg, drives out the body of CO2 already in there.

Popped the bubble lock lid back on & as if by magic, the brew was bubbling like a good one, so I can confirm that the kit just ran out of fermentables & only dropped to 1030, which is a little poor i.e it's labelled as 7.5% ABV but in reality, it's only a tad under 5% ABV.

In my mind, I'm hoping it should be ok, as on basic term, it's finished primary fermentation, it's been transfered to a secondary vessel + I've add primming sugar (or be it more than usual) & fitted a bubble lock.

Now since it's fermenting again, what should I do when it's finished i.e am I ok to leave on the yeast or should I transfer again + how do you think the brew will turn out?

Thanks again.
Darren.