High Finishing Gravities

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

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HardcoreLegend
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High Finishing Gravities

Post by HardcoreLegend »

Please help me. I don't know what is wrong here, but I am in a brewing slump. My last three beers all finished way too high. The first was a Porter, and that one was my fault. The last two were a stout and a mild brown ale. For both of them, the OG were acceptable. The only thing I have done differently with these two batches is that I used Safale dried yeast rather than White Labs liquid yeasts. The fermentations for both started quickly, and were quite vigorous, but ended too high. The stout was OG 1.054 and finished 1.024, but should have been 1.013 (1.012-1.020 is the range). The mild brown was OG 1.039 and looks to finish at 1.018, but should have been 1.009 (1.008-1.013 is the range). Both of these batches were extract recipes. Any ideas on why they did not finish out right? Thanks!
Gravity Thrills
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How about this?

Post by Gravity Thrills »

Since Jayhawk's FGs are too low, and yours are too high, why don't you each send half your batches to each other, add them to your own, and on average your FG will be dead-on!

OK, maybe something more practical...

Did you use a starter, dod you aerate the #*$@! out of them, and did you use yeast nutrient? if the ansewer is 'no' to any of these, I'd start there.

Cheers,
Jim
HardcoreLegend
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How to rouse the yeast?

Post by HardcoreLegend »

Do you think that the high final gravities of these two batches may have any effect on the finished beer? Also, in a previous post,Mesa discussed rousing English ale yeast to get a complete fermentation. How hard do I need to shake that bucket to do this? When I racked the stout to secondary, the yeast sediment in the bottom was VERY compacted, so maybe that was part of the problem as well. The mild brown ale is still in the priamry, how hard should I shake it to loosen up that sediment and get it back into suspension for a bit to finish out that beer. Also, somebody suggested to me it could be a faulty hydrometer. And as fate would have it, it is a brand new hydrometer. I broke the last when when I made the Porter. If I test tap water, should it read 1.000? Just a thought.
BobbyK
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I should have looked first

Post by BobbyK »

My post above is the same as yours. I used dry yeast also, but I forgot to aerate when I pitched (this was my first batch brewed since 1983, so I guess I'm allowed to forget something). I hope I haven't ruined this batch because it sure looks and smells good!
Brewer2001
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Suggestions

Post by Brewer2001 »

Lets address both of your posts.

Jim hit it spot on. It sounds like you 'under pitched' your yeast.

Pitch rate includes volume and viability. The volume is easy to measure, the viability is harder. Of the two viability is much more important, you need to pitch the right quantity of live yeast cells. Follow these steps and save yourselves a lot of grief.

BUY RECENTLY MANUFACTURED YEAST
BUILD A STARTER SLURRY 1 pint light DME SG(1.020-1.025), yeast nutrient and O2 (however you can do it) I use a carbonating stone and a tank of O2 for all wort and starter worts.
I use a gallon jug for my yeast brink.

PITCH MORE YEAST FOR HIGHER GRAVITY WORTS.

For your brown. You have an interesting problem in that the yeast may need more O2 but you can't add any because that would oxidize the ale.

Make a starter slurry using the above steps and add that to your brown ale. This should drop the ale to FG. Avoid openning your fermenter more that you need to. The FG is an indication of what the flavor profile of the ale will be...this a another subject. Just follow the steps above for future batches and all will work out fine.

Good brewing,

Tom
Monkey Man
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All yeasts are not created equal

Post by Monkey Man »

The dry yeast may be the culprit. Dry yeast is generally of lesser quality than liquid. Dry yeast packets may or may not have dead yeast cells, wild yeast, or bacteria in them. When compared to liqiud the proportion of viable yeast cells is less. There is however more cells in the dry packet than the liquid culture. HOWEVER liquid cultures generally have more of what you want. I would recommend using liquid yeast. I am a HUGE fan of white labs. I remember my local HBS telling me when I was starting out not to make a starter for dry yeast, I forget why.
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