Has re-start yeast wrecked my brew?

[Bushmaster]

Hello all.

I'm pretty new to this all-grain lark. After binning my first attempt I was quietly confident with my 2nd! I had an OG of 1055 and my Muntons Active Gold seemed to be working its magic. The primary fermentation is now 10 days old. However, 5 days ago my brew seemed to stick at 1020. I checked it until yesterday and it still read the same. So, on the advise of my local market homebrew man I repitched some yeast to try and finish off my primary fermentation. ( due to my inexperience I didn't want to attempt to put the brew into a cask, I feared it may wipe out my garage!).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, The yeast had no effect, and no action from my airlock can be seen. Its still at 1020 (36 hours later). Moreover, the promising flavours developing in my brew have now been hijacked by a yeasty undertone. Pray tell, is my brew now doomed? Or, can I hold out for any changes with the secondary fermentation? Your advise / knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, from Bushmaster. A worried rookie!

[boingy]

Don't give up on it yet and don't worry about the yeast flavour. Assuming the temperature is OK at around 20 degrees C I would rouse the yeast with a paddle or spoon (sanitize it first).
Yeast needs sugar, oxygen and a sensible temperature to function.

[prolix]

beer is forgiving, breathe, the yeasty undertone may well be the new yeast doing it's thing, I have had many beers that did not bubble, poor seals mainly.

there may be other reasons for finishing at 1020, the starting gravity and mashing temperatures are just two.

wait and see what happens and post a few more details, the reciepe, the temperatures, mash and ferment and times that sort of thing.

What went wrong with the first btw? loosing a brew can be harrowing, I know.

[Bushmaster]

Thanks for the knowledge so far chaps. Still at 1020 but I'm not going to play around too much. I'd rather learn from a mistake rather than ram the beer with chemicals just to get an ABV or flavour. I'll barrel it in 2 days.

My recipe was 3.75kg pale malt
500g wheat malt
250g crystal malt
85g Goldings hops
30g Styrian Goldings (finishing)
1tsp Irish Moss
1 sachet Muntons Active Gold

I mashed for 90 minutes at 65-68'c. I then sparged for 23 minutes bringing the boiling volume up to 23 litres. My reading at 25'c was 1055. I was going to primary ferment for at least a week or until my reading had dropped to be able to barrel.

BTW, my first beer was doomed from the start. 4-5 lessons were learned the hard way. I came straight off a night shift. I didn't clean the kitchen as much as i'd liked, so mess started annoying me. Our nipper was ill so I kept having to play doctor half way through sparging! And finally, we sparged so poorly that our hydrometer reading had virtually no sugars! After a week in the bin it smelt like a bloody canal! Which is why I'm gutted about this one. All my lessons were learned, I got up at 4.30am to avoid the nipper and missus. I hope its not wrecked!

[Shoit]

there may be other reasons for finishing at 1020, the starting gravity and mashing temperatures are just two.

Could you expand on this for me? I'm interested to know the reasons?

Kev

[prolix]

Bushmaster with that grain bill your efficiency would have to be 95% to get 55 in 23 litres, Grahams "beer engine" and others gives about 42 for that bill at 75% (averagish efficency)

It could be your hydrometer is up the spout if it read your OG at 13 points higher it could be doing similar with the FG, try another hydrometer or try that one in tap water. Then there is the taste test does it tatse sweet 1020 should.

there may be other reasons for finishing at 1020, the starting gravity and mashing temperatures are just two.

Could you expand on this for me? I'm interested to know the reasons?

Kev

High mash temperature give lower fermentable sugars so the OG will not drop as much if you mash at 68 as opposed to 65.
Starting gravity effects FG because yeasts can only go so far 70 odd% attenuation so final gravity will be generally high and sweeter with higher OG's
As above but yeasts can effect FG if they do not attenuate as well.
Nutrients for the yeast and the amount of oxygen all can effect the FG these are generally stuck fermentations, there is a sticky on them somewhere.

hope that helps

[Bushmaster]

Prolix

You are the main man! I was so caught up with the process of all grain brewing and so focussed on getting everything right that I overlooked the fact that my hydrometer is out. I did a test in plain tap water which had a reading of 1005 so I reckon my beer is really 1015 and that primary fermentation has finished. Will that extra yeast added have wrecked it or do you think the secondary fermentations added sugar will see to that?

Thanks for your help. I'm happier now, even if the brew ends up foul!

[prolix]

he extra yeast should not be a problem it should settle out, just prime as normal and away you go

[CrownCap]

One other thing I'd quickly add (for future reference) is that you may be under pitching your amount of yeast if that Muntons Active Gold (haven't come across that one) is a 6g sachet like the other Muntons yeasts I have encountered.

For 23L at 1050 OG you need about 12g of yeast (according to Mr Malty). If that was a 6g sachet then double up next time.

[prolix]

mr malty is a little too much to worry about to begin with. I would suggest just getting some yeast like Safale 04 and just use that by sprinkling in and stiring until you get the basic processes sorted. I still use it for malty and dark beers it is great.

[Bushmaster]

Well Prolix,

It was barrelled today. Fingers crossed, and thanks again for your help. One last thing if I may be so bold?.............evaporation! I have a 25L Electrim boiler but after my boil with the hops I only end up with about 18L. I can't top the boiler right up as the rolling boil just sends waves over the floor! Short of buying a bigger boiler to cope with the volume, is there a way to cope with the evaporation? Can you top up with water at the end? Any advice or knowledge may help my brew as 18L seems such little beer.

Cheers The Bushmaster!