Fermentation Stopped?

[Don Armstrong]

I just brewed a Red Ale from a kit I bought at the Coop Corner Store - Steeped Specialty Grains, Golden Liquid Malt Extract, and Williamette hops. Brew day was Saturday and went off with no problems (2 1/2 gallon boil @ 60 mins). The Nottingham dry yeast supplied with the kit grew an excellent starter and I pitched at about 74 F. Of course I forgot to take the OG reading but the paper said the expected OG was 1.048 -1.052. Sunday morning the air lock is bubbling away nicely. Then, Tuesday morning the airlock was still. Tuesday night the airlock remained still as I sat and watched it throughout dinner. Hmmm, me thinks. The temp was still around 72 F. Since I was planning to leave town on Thursday for several days, I decided to rack over into Secondary and take an SG reading. I thought maybe I had an aeration problem (because I had just listened to an excellent podcast about that on the brew network, lol!). Really, I have no idea. So anyway I try to add some air to the mix by shaking the siphon hose and let the beer splash around in the carboy. The beer is still pretty cloudy and the SG reads 1.010. Hmmm, me thinks again. Can the fermentaion be done already? I checked the airlock this morning and I can see some activity although very slowly. My thoughts at this point are to relocate it to an area of the basement where the temp is about 64F and let it set for a while to see if it clears up. If that doesn't help I am thinking about popping it into the fridge.

Well, there you have it. Kind of a long tale but what do you think? Am I on the right track? Should I expect the FG to be much lower? Can I speed clarity by refridgerating instead of letting it sit at 64F? Or should I just throw out all of my brewing equipment and buy some Keystone light?

[BREWsmith]

Sounds to me like you've got beer. Assuming your OG is in the target range, your ABV is around 5% which is pretty good attenuation. I've never used dry yeast, but I've heard it ferments quickly as it is, let alone doing a starter. I think patience is called for now. Let it sit in the secondary for a week or two and you should be fine.

[john mills]

I would say the fermentation is finished at 1.010. The best bet would have been to do another hydro test the next day for confirmation.

The pitching temp of 72 degrees, while being on the high side for English ales, most likely resulted in actual fermentation temp of about 75-76 degrees. Yeast, like all sugar eating creatures (us included) give off heat. Which in turn would make your fermentation go like gangbusters. Fast fermentations usually result in fusel alcohol productions (flavors of rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover).

The bubbles you saw was co2 coming out of solution from the beer as a result of fermentation; not continued fermentation. A fermenter sitting for weeks without airlock activity still has some co2 in solution. You moving the fermenter, or just putting something else in the beer created a nucleation site for the co2 to come out of solution. An example would be to drop a couple of grains of table salt into your cup of keystone; voila bubbles. Not fermentation.

Trying to add oxygen while racking to secondary fermentation should be avoided in the future. There is a small window of when oxygen can be added to beer after fermentation has begun. With a 1.050 beer, that window closed 8-12 hrs after first pitching your starter into the wort. Adding oxygen after that time will result in excessive oxidation (wet cardboard flavors).

All said and done, is your beer ruined. No. Just not as good as it could have been (Especially if fresh ingredients were used). Bottle the beer, and enjoy it, and the next brew will be even better.

[Don Armstrong]

Thanks for the encouragement, Jeff!

Thanks for all the great info, John. Maybe if I am lucky the wet card board flavors will blend with the notes of nail polish remover resulting in a one of a kind beer drinking experience! LOL!

Seriously, thanks for help. I will put your words into practice.

[BREWsmith]

I love it when John speaks beer!

[Don]

I love it when John shares his beer!!!

[psfred]

Extract brews can ferment very quickly, and the high temperature will speed things up.

The most likely defect from too high a fermentation temperature in my experience is not fusel alcohols but esters. Gonna be some fruity beer, although that's not a terrible thing, just not to style.

Too much trub carried over and too high a temp will give you fusel alcohols.

Let it sit at 65F or so until it;s completely clear -- this will allow the yeast to finish the fermentation and consume most of the diacetyl and acetaldehyde present, and let the "stored condition" slowly work off. If you bottle now, you are likely to get over carbonated beer with off flavors. May take a week or two to clean up, don't get in a hurry.

I prefer to drop the temp well below fermentation temperature while chilling -- this drops much more cold break and greatly improves the haze level and flavor in the finished beer.

Peter