Expert: Chris Bushman - 2/23/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hi Chris. Saturday night I started brewing my first batch ever. I'm using a Brown Ale kit from True Brew. When I checked Sunday morning the airlock was bubbling away and continued through the day although I noticed it slowed a bit Sunday night. This morning (Monday)bubbling completely stopped. I decided now to take a gravity reading and it is at 1.040. The final gravity should be 1.010. I'm hoping that it is continuing to ferment but the lack of activity has me concerned. Any ideas?

ANSWER: Doesn't sound right, Ken.

How about the temperature?  Since it's an ale, the ideal temp is probably around 68 degrees. Is it colder than that now? Try raising the temp to, perhaps 72 degrees, if possible.

Try rousing the yeast by stirring the beer with a sanitized utensil. You also should think about getting another couple of packets of yeast, properly rehydrating them, and repitching.

Looking at the recipe, I notice there is 8oz of malto dextrine powder. This is non-fermentable sugar that will keep gravity a little higher.  I think the OG for your kit is something like 1.044? That would mean that in a beer without malto dextrine would probably finish at 1.011 ish (OG/4 = FG assuming 75% attenuation).  With the malto dextrine, that's probably not realistic.  I'm guessing that 1.015 might be a more reasonable expectation.

So bump up the temp and stir vigorously and see what happens.  If not too much happens, add more yeast. (I always keep a few packs of dry yeast in the fridge for just such emergencies).

Brew Strong,

Chris Bushman
Colfax, California

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks Chris, before I even got your reply, I decided to stir the batch a little bit. This morning still no bubbling, but I took a gravity reading and it is now at 1.020 so it does seem to be fermenting.

Some extra info, its been fermenting in the high 70's with the temp fluctuating between 74-78 degrees but staying around 74 most of the time. I live in Florida and even with the A/C blasting its hard to get a steady cold temperature unless I crank it at maximum and freeze my family, lol. Would this temp cause a problem? Also would the gravity dropping .020 overnight be normal? Also, why no bubbling? Thanks again.

ANSWER: Well Ken, the .020 drop in gravity overnight doesn't make sense unless one of the readings was bogus. Are you using a refractometer or a hydrometer?  If a hydrometer, are you compensating for temp? Most hydrometers are calibrated at 60F and if the beer you're measuring isn't 60F, you need to compensate. If you're using a refractometer, they aren't accurate after the start of fermentation - the alcohol fools them.  If your OG was 1.044 and you had active fermentation for more than a full day, then I would think the 1.040 reading was in error on the high side.

Brewing most ales at 74-78 will cause the formation of fruity/flowery esters which you may not like and are not what the maker of the kit intended, but then again, maybe you'll like them.  Brewing at those temps will also cause the yeast to work a lot faster than the ideal and if the OG is on the low side, and you pitch enough yeast, the beer could finish very quickly - like 2 or 3 days.

No bubbling?  Are you looking at the beer directly or judging by the bubbling in the airlock? There can be a lot of tiny bubbles in the beer even if the airlock is seemingly not active. Might there be a leak that is allowing CO2 to escape and bypass the airlock?

At this point you need to taste your beer (paying close attention to sanitation).  It will taste a little yeasty, but does it taste too sweet?  If it tastes too sweet, add more yeast and give it another week.

If you decide you want to continue in the homebrew hobby, you need to consider a small chest freezer with a temp controller to use as a fermentation chamber. If you ever want to try a lager, you'll need to ferment it around 50F to 55F which you'll never hit in Florida.

Don't get discouraged, it's all a good learning process,

Chris

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Boy it seems I have a lot to learn. This morning I did another hydrometer reading and it is still hovering around 1.020. I tasted it and I was surprised that it did indeed taste like beer. It wasn't too sweet in fact it was surprisingly hoppy. Unfortunately I'm not acquainted with yeasty tastes yet. Final questions, I promise: Is a final gravity of 1.020 acceptable for a Brown Ale? I ask because I have no more yeast packets and it will take too much time to order more. Also; Will the gravity drop at all during secondary fermentation in the bottles? Thanks, I really appreciate your help!

Answer
The neat thing about this hobby is you can learn as much or as little as you want. Lots of homebrewers that haven't learned very much can still make great beer.

Keep in mind that inexpensive hydrometers are not all that accurate and may be a couple of points off, but they still are helpful for relative readings.

1.020 is unusual for a brown ale but not the end of the world. With malt extracts you have no control over how fermentable they are.  I used one that would not attenuate below 1.022 for a 1.050 OG.  When brewing all-grain you can lower or raise the temp of sacrification rest to make the beer finish lower or higher. (lower or higher sweetness and mouthfeel)

At this point, follow the kit instructions as far as racking to secondary and time goes, then bottle.  The FG will not change much in the secondary or the bottles (the gravity will actually go up a bit after you add the priming sugar, but will go back down again when that sugar ferments out.

The hoppiness you detected will mellow out a bit with a little more time.

Chris