Most of my brew batches stall during fermentation not reaching the final gravity causing my brew to be very sweet. When do I add yeast nutrients to help my fermentation finish low enough?
I use wyeasts yeast nutrient and it says to rehydrate it and add at 10 min left in boil. How do you know this is your problem though? Do you have solid temp control during fermentation?
Adding yeast nutrients won’t hurt, but any possible lack of nutrients is a less likely cause of an underattenuated beer. So, a little more info. might give us a starting point to figure it out.
ie. 1. What FG’s are you getting vs. what you’re expecting.
2. Are you doing extract, partial mash or allgrain batches?
3. Are you oxygenating your chilled wort? How?
4. What types of yeast are you using? and how are you preparing them?
5. What temps are you pitching at? And what temps are you maintaining during fermentation?
6. How long are your fermentations going for?
That’s all I can think of at this point.
I connected a digital temp control to control my fermentor with the probe in a bottle of starsan set to 67 degrees f, which is very accurate and do not know what else is stalling fermentation
- My FG usually stalls out around 1.025 - 1.030 vs 1.014 oer so
- I do both extract and partial grain
- I bought an aquarium pump and a stainless steel pipe with a stone on the end and run it for about 30 minutes
I have also put the stone back in the carboy the next day and aerated again two days in a row thinking more oxygen might help as I read that somewhere to add more. - I have used Wyeast pouches and dried ale yeasts and always make a 2 liter starter the day before.
- I cool the wort down to around 70 degrees with my work chiller and then put the carboy in my freezer/fermentor plugged into a digital controller set for 67 degrees.
- I keep checking the gravity numbers with my refractormeter for a minimum of 2 weeks and the numbers just stop failing
Good answers!
It looks like you have the usual things covered.
But the clue might be in your last statement. Refractometers are not supposed to be accurate in the presence of alcohol. So it’s possible that the 1.025-1.030 might be lower. I’d check with a hydrometer.
The other possibility might be ‘the extract 1.020 curse’. Do a search and you’ll find about 200 posts about extract batches stalling in the 1.020 range. But still, 1.025-1.030 seems high.
Another thing I generally do is raise the temp. by 5-7 degrees toward the end of fermentation to keep the yeast active so they’ll finish strong. But then I tend to start my ales in the low 60’s. If you’re starting at 67, unless you’re using a Belgian yeast, I’m not sure it needs any higher temp.
Hopefully other folks will chime in with other ideas.
I do have a hydrometer that I have used twice, but it wastes so much beer and I did not see any difference in reading at the beginning OG.
Will give it a try during my next brew. i still have 3 more batches conditioning and hope they are not as sweet as my current batch.
I just need to find a way to get my brew dryer as I am not a fan of sweet. I like a very dark porter or stout but so far 4 batches are too sweet for my tastes.
Any other ideas would be most appreciated.
I plan to use 1 tsp per gallon rehyrated and then added to the boil ten minutes before flameout.
I also think your high SG readings are from the use of a refractometer instead of a hydrometer. The actual SG is most likely lower. The perceived sweetness may be due to an ingredient. How is the carbonation in your bottles? Can you post the recipe for your current batch?
Is your current batch in the bottle and you are drinking this now?
I agree with the refractometer AND a small bit of the extract. Yes do take yer initial reading with a refractometer, and WHEN you believe its done use yer hydrometer, I’ve always liked the sample to tell me where i’m going. As for extract, dial back yer gravity and add table sugar. I will git 1.010 per pound…. A place to start with. It will dry out yer finished product. Sneezles61
You can’t use a refractometer on fermented beer without applying a calculation which involves the OG. My suggestion is to double check with your hydrometer. 1.030 should be VERY sweet and I suspect you are closer to the 1.014 target than you think.
in addition to @wahoo, there are some websites and programs that will convert your refractometer but even then I find cumbersome and a little inaccurate. I do what @sneezles61 does. To save wort I take my OG with a refractometer and my FG with my hydrometer. If your really concerned about wasting beer wait about 3 weeks and take your FG. It will likely reach terminal FG by that time.
Thanks for the advise. I have kegged and bottled a few 12 & 22 oz bottles. I have only tried the kegged samples so far but since I only bottled on Jan 2nd, I have not tried it yet to give it more time to carbonate. So far it is very sweet and not acceptable to me and I will try a bottle on Friday to see how well it has carbonated and tastes.
Is there anything that I can add after secondary to dry it out such as a yeast nutrient or beano?
Use Beano or Amylase Enzymes at your own risk! You’ve been warned!
The problem with those is there is no control over the final result. You’ll often end up with a thin, watery product as they continue to convert the sugars.
I personally think you should substitute some plain table sugar for some of the DME/LME in your recipe. This will help drive the FG down.
I find using slurry I get much better attenuation than the original pitch. I pitch low then I gradually warm and swirl my bucket every couple days. I like my brews dry and this generally works for me. I don’t do extract but some beers I’ll add table sugar to get it dryer.
