Will it be safe to Bottle?!

[Bornagain]

Brewed a Muntons Smugglers Ale - some weeks ago. Had the issue of a stuck ferment at 10.20 Got another Smugglers and re-tried, but swaped the Kit Yeast for a Safale Yeast. (as I was convinced there was an issue with the Muntons Gold supplied) This Brew had an OG of 1054 and I reduced the Brew Length slightly to 20 Ltrs. The Fermtation temperature ran a little higher than I would have liked at 22c (Smugglers is recomended at 18 - 20c nut the Safale I used is banded
up to 24c) I made a 1/4 pint Yeast Starter and only took hours on pitch to take off and begin the ferment. Ran for a week Sat-Sun and I racked into a secondary Carboy with airlock to finish process. No activety can be seen and the SG has remaind constant at 10.18 - Question- Is there any point in leaving it to stand anylonger (will SG drop - or is it done) ? I don't have any Casks (at present) but do have a Polypin and Bottles - is it best to pollypin it (so I can vent any access pressure, if it goes crazy. Or will it be safe to bottle at this gravity (I'd prefer bottles as long as safe) and do I bottle as is - or Prime first. I would apreciate your feedback & advice. What is it with this brand that seems to favour 10.20/10.18 to finish - Premium Kits - you'd think wouldn't have this issue - the cheap n cheerfull's don't ?!

[trucker5774]

Although that is a slightly high gravity (about 1014 is common) It sounds like it has finished. I bottled my Woodforde's Wherry at 1016. I primed as normal and used plastic (PET) bottles. I find these are safe to very high pressures.

Others may have ideas on trying to restart it.........my feeling is,as you said, it's a characteristic of the kit. If I ever have concerns about bottles, I keep them in bag/bowl/box to contain any mishaps!

[Normski]

Hi Bornagain
I had the same happen with a Smugglers. I used the supplied yeast. It stuck at 1020.
I had to give it a stir to get it to continue fermenting. It was dropping one point every other day. After 19 days it finished at 1017. I kegged it; it took two months conditioning to taste good. Sorry to bring this bad news, I hope yours turns out better than mine, But I doubt it. It's a really nice drink if you've got 3 months spare. Cheers

[Bornagain]

Thanks to John & Normski (sorry for delay in reply), but thanks for the advice. I have bottled (in glass) Just gotta check the condition from time to time !! but so far - all seems to be doing fine. Infact I used this batch to experiment (why the heck not) I had read in Grahams' Book that you did not need to prime a bottle of Ale to condition (I'm a bit of a doubting Thomas - but gave that a go with 1/3 of the Ale - the othet 1/3 I primed with DME and the final 1/3 I bottled with DME and some Creamy Top Headding Liquid. Just wanted to see what the difference in the final Ale would be ! My thoughts were that the unprimed would be flat (sorry Graham) ! The primed would be closer to a drinkable product ((remember the terminal Gravity was high)) And the primed and Creamy Top - well that 1/3 could be quiet an event. After a couple of weeks (maybe things will change with longer in the Bottle!!), there is no NO difference between the Ale from each method ?! How strange?

[pauljmuk]

priming kinda guarantees you some fizz, which I find makes the beer feel nicer in the mouth. That said, depends how you like your beer - beer in a cask in a pub aint very fizzy - that's either provided by gas or the action of the pump.

I have bottled some beers that I think probably would have conditioned, and had a touch of fizz without secondary priming.

I suppose it depends how you like your beer served. I'm a northern type, and do like a good head and a bit of life in the pint. That said, I lived in Sussex for 4 years, and got very used to the wonderful Harveys beers, and every pint I had was served flat and headless - still lovely beer though!