Brewed my brew … aerated my brew … and pitched my yeast. I did everything by the book just like I have on all my other brews that seemed to have no issue fermenting . One mistake I did make was I didn’t order my extract kit from northern brewer (won’t make that mistake again) . I brewed this ale on 8/18 Saturday and have been checking the gravity on it for the last couple days. My OG was 1.020 and after 4 days of it fermenting in the primary my gravity is 1.017. I know there is some fermentation going on by seeing bubbles in my airlock and the little amount of kraeusen on top ( nothing compared to my other brews) . My question is should I go ahead and re-areate it (shaking ) the brew then pitch some fresh yeast or should I let it ride for a few more days to see what happens ? Thanks
I liked the part about where the kit came from.
Yes I’m sure old extract isn’t as good as super fresh, but don’t think the problem was from that.
Your original gravity wasn’t 1.020. You either mistyped or bad reading. Or you completely left some extract out.
what yeast did you use? How old was it? What size batch and how much extract did you use?
I think you miss read the og. And it is close to finishing fermentation. 1.017 is not that high for some pumpkin ales that are extract beers.
Do you have some notes on the amounts of extract used? This will confirm/correct your OG.
Partial boil or full volume boil?
STOP checking the gravity. It’s only been 4 days. You are raising the probability of an infections exponentially every time you open and stick something in there. Let the thing sit for 2 weeks. Then check the gravity.
Every yeast reacts differently. Some create a large krausen, some small. Some will rock the air lock, some wont.
What yeast did you use? If liquid, did you make a starter.
Sorry to waste your time guys… I just went back and read the instructions that came with the kit . It says OG is 1.048 and I’m pretty sure mine was close to that. I should of taken down some notes while brewing but I RDWHAHB x6 HA ! . I was just worried because I’ve only brewed a few extracts so far and each one of those the fermentation was very active and the kraeusen was thick. I used us-05 dry yeast with this brew. Pretty sure that’s the only yeast I’ve ever used so far. Just out of curiosity If I was to check the gravity in a couple weeks and it was off by a few points … Should I re-pitch then? I’m for sure staying out of it until then. I used 6lbs of Gold LME / Partial boil 3 gallons
Sounds to me like you dropped from 1.048 to 1.017. It may drop a few more points, but with extract a higher final gravity is expected.
Sounds like you are doing just fine. And that was plenty of yeast for that og.
1.048-1.017 = 0.031 x 131 = 4.1% Maybe a little on the light side for an pumpkin ale. But session beers are terrific for football season.
+1 to MW-G’s comment.
Adding new yeast will not help eat the sugars that the 1st didn’t eat. Unless you are talking about higher gravity beers were the yeast hit their alcohol tolerance and you want to add some yeast that will survive in the alcohol environment.
I’d say your approaching done and it will be less trouble to just take what you got rather than repitching yeast which may or may not do anything for you. Nothing wrong with a 4% beer if it tastes good!
You guys are great !! Thanks for the awesome info and putting my mind to ease about this pumpkin ale. Trunks up !! Football season can’t get here soon enough. 7 days to go
wooo pig sooie!
