Brewdoug
Well-Known Member
I've been fermenting my Youngs American Amber Ale kit for 5 weeks now and it still doesn't seem to have quite finished fermenting.
I've followed the instructions to the letter. The recommended fermentation temperature is 20 - 24C so I've kept it at 22C throughout in a water bath with an aquarium heater having pitched the yeast at 23C and the airlock was bubbling steadily the next day.
I added the dry hops when activity had almost stopped after 12 days and the SG at this point was 1.012, the guide is 1.015 or below. This seemed to kick the fermentation back into action and when I checked after another 2 days there was more activity and a good crust again on the surface. Another 3 days and fermentation had slowed right off again so I checked the SG again and strangely it was still 1.012. This disturbance though seemed to kick it off again and there's been airlock activity ever since, as regular as every 15 seconds at times.
So today I'm thinking it's been 5 weeks that's ridiculous, the manufacturer suggests fermentation should be complete after 10 days and as its now slowed considerably I'm going to bottle it. On lifting the lid though there was quite a bit of hop debris on the surface and I could see occasional bubbles rising to the surface so now I don't quite know what to do. SG reading is now 1.006 whereas the instruction guide is below 1.013 final SG, so given my OG of 1.054 that gives me 6.3% ABV against the claimed 5.4%.
Any advice what I should do now? I've not heard of anybody else having this kit take so long. If I don't bottle yet is there a danger the yeast won't tolerate much more alcohol (I'm not too sure how this works) to give me carbonation after I add the priming sugar in the bottle?
Another concern I have is that I've now dry hopped way too early and wonder whether I should put some more in - I've not got the hops used in the kit (Pacific Jade, Cluster and Summit), but I have Cascade and Citra.
I've followed the instructions to the letter. The recommended fermentation temperature is 20 - 24C so I've kept it at 22C throughout in a water bath with an aquarium heater having pitched the yeast at 23C and the airlock was bubbling steadily the next day.
I added the dry hops when activity had almost stopped after 12 days and the SG at this point was 1.012, the guide is 1.015 or below. This seemed to kick the fermentation back into action and when I checked after another 2 days there was more activity and a good crust again on the surface. Another 3 days and fermentation had slowed right off again so I checked the SG again and strangely it was still 1.012. This disturbance though seemed to kick it off again and there's been airlock activity ever since, as regular as every 15 seconds at times.
So today I'm thinking it's been 5 weeks that's ridiculous, the manufacturer suggests fermentation should be complete after 10 days and as its now slowed considerably I'm going to bottle it. On lifting the lid though there was quite a bit of hop debris on the surface and I could see occasional bubbles rising to the surface so now I don't quite know what to do. SG reading is now 1.006 whereas the instruction guide is below 1.013 final SG, so given my OG of 1.054 that gives me 6.3% ABV against the claimed 5.4%.
Any advice what I should do now? I've not heard of anybody else having this kit take so long. If I don't bottle yet is there a danger the yeast won't tolerate much more alcohol (I'm not too sure how this works) to give me carbonation after I add the priming sugar in the bottle?
Another concern I have is that I've now dry hopped way too early and wonder whether I should put some more in - I've not got the hops used in the kit (Pacific Jade, Cluster and Summit), but I have Cascade and Citra.
