Brew no. 4 stuck

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jsl2000

jsl2000

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Hi all,

I've done a Geordie bitter with 1kg of coopers be 2 1/2 weeks ago. SG was 1045 and its been 1020 for the last week and a half. Gave it a stir a week ago and still nothing. Do I pitch more yeast or assume its done and stick it into the pb?
 
I had a quick exchange with Clibit in another thread about one of my brews getting stuck at 1.020. Stuck at Twenty. My thought is lack of aeration of the wort was the problem.

If that is the cause here then I would propose :-

Get a fairly big sample of your brew (is there a special term for a brew when it is mid ferment ?), say about 500 mls.
Aerate it by shaking it.
Pitch the yeast in the sample.
Leave it for at least 24 hours or until it is definitely away so that it has consumed the oxygen in the sample (so you don't risk spoiling the brew by oxidation).
Pitch it into your brew.

I've taken normal sanitation as read and that your mini fermentation chamber would be protected by cling film or similar.

My thinking is that by doing the above you will be introducing a healthy colony of yeast to finish the job in a way that minimises risk to your brew.

Just my thoughts, happy to be told I'm daft by more experienced members.
 
Its been at a steady 20c all the time. I've transferred it to a pb. I've waited long enough. I don't have any yeast lying around anyway. Interestingly there was very little trub in the bottom of the fv after transfer. So not sure if there would have been much left to ferment if I had pitched more yeast. I'll let you know if it turns out drinkable.
 
An update for you been in the pb a week and a bit. Attempted to pull a pint to see if it's cleared but got about a third before the pressure disappeared. So looks like hardly any secondary has happened. I deduce the supplied yeast was half dead or not adequate for the extra kilo of brew enhancer I put in. If I get a Geordie kit again (unlikely) then I'll get some extra yeast.
 
I buy Geordie bitter and enhancer from Tesco when it's on offer, usually £8/50 and £3/75 respectively.
I always throw away the yeast provided and use Gervin from Ebay.

It's a consistently good pint.
 
flamingo said:
I buy Geordie bitter and enhancer from Tesco when it's on offer, usually £8.50 and £3.50 respectively.
I always throw away the yeast provided and use Gervin from Ebay.

It's a consistently good pint.
Click to expand...

First off, LOL at "I always throw away the yeast provided" :D. I put all of these in the fridge, myself. Just in case I might one day have a need for ~46 sachets of unused kit yeast. Some of them are Coopers yeast, which actually do the job.

I'm going to suggest that since Muntons make the Geordie Kits and supply Wilko with the Gervin yeast, the yeast is the same. What is different is that the quantity that comes with the kit is around half what might be optimally required. Also, if the kit has hung around for a while, the yeast will not improve its viability at shop floor temperatures.

One day I will test this theory with 2x Muntons supplied yeast sachets in an English style beer that is well complemented by Nottingham yeast. I read on here somewhere that Nottingham is the closest to what Muntons kits come with.

To ramble on - all my bad attenuations or stuck fermentations came from temperatures that were initially too high. Starting low and finishing high seems to give the best results.
 
If it's a temperature thing then I'll have an issue with the next kit I'll keep and eye on it.

Its still drinkable but I'm waiting for it to clear before tackling.

That's if it will clear
 
I will always have a few packs of Wilko Gervin yeast in the fridge to use and what I tend to do is use the Gervin on one brew and on the next I double up on the kit yeast. This seems to have worked very well for me so far with no stuck brews. If a brew has a reputation for sticking (Wherry) then I just bin the yeast and use either a Gervin or a couple of kit yeasts I have to hand.
 
Slid said:
I put all of these in the fridge, myself. Just in case I might one day have a need for ~46 sachets of unused kit yeast. Some of them are Coopers yeast, which actually do the job.
Click to expand...

Point taken. The reason I don't use the supplied yeast is that in his book John Palmer advised against it. I will now keep a couple of packs to make up to the 11gms required and give it a try.
 
An update. Its taken an age to clear but today I'm happily drinking this. Was going to bin it but kept erming and arring but pulled a half today and it was clear. Tastes nice very smooth with lots of head rentention. I deduce from this that if you have a low attenuation yeast (which I assume is what's supplied with Geordie kits). Then you have a long conditioning time.
 

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