Bloody 1020 curse!!!!!!!!!

[Spacedhopper]

Right currently got a bulldog chocolate stout in the Fv took ff like a rocket but slowed down then took off again!! im a new dad so have to fit things in when i can and at the weekend planned to bottle as it ad been in the FV for 1 month!

Took the gravity and guess what.....bloody 1020 (never doing a hambledon bard again)

Ive given it a light stir and moved from my stable brew cupboard (19C) to the front room definately warmer.

Was going to give it till weds or thurs!

My concerns:

length of time in FV (i only have 1 bucket and a small house so no room for another) will this affect it?

adding extra yeast, It has been suggested I add additional yeast will this not affect the flavour????

Bottling at 1020? the suggested FV is 1012 down from 1050 mine was 1046ish at the start (lots of foam from aggresive stirring) will bottling at 1020 cause bottle bombs???

any help would be gratefuly accepted i was looking forwward to this one and it smells lush???

what should I do?

 

[Yeastmaster]

Since you've already stirred and it hasn't worked I would repitch with a new yeast packet (eg Gervin English ale yeast from wilko) asap. I would keep the temperature as constant a I can (19 should be fine), take a hydrometer reading after a few days and bottle as soon as the fg doesn't budge anymore as per hhydrometer instructions. Four weeks on the yeast should still be fine but I've personally only ever done 3.5 weeks.

The highest fg beer I've ever bottled was 1.17 and it tastes great so you don't have far to go.

I have primed with 220g brewing sugar /23 litres before for a wheat beer and it was fine (and suitably fizzy) and for stout you'd use about a third of that but I nevertheless put the bottles in zipped up cool bags in a cupboard because I was worried. If you are worried about bottle bombs, the only 100% safe thing to do is PET bottles.

 

[Sandimas]

.....bloody 1020 (never doing a hambledon bard again)

Hambleton Bard and Muntons make the majority of beer kits (often re-badging their products) and these are known to stick, especially this time of year when temps are at their lowest:
http://www.hambletonbard.com/products/beer-making-kits-brewing-beer-wholesaler
http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/other-products/other-branded-homebrew-kits/

The best thing you can do with any of these kits is to add yeast nutrient at the start (1-2 tsp), because the yeast is the weak point and needs all the help it can get.

Once stuck, you are going to struggle to get it moving again. I'd recommend raising the temp quite a bit (22-23C), re-pitching some yeast, and maybe adding a sugar solution to give that yeast some help (as a lot of the beer fermentables will already have been fermented).

 

[MyQul]

Since both your OG and FG were off target I'd check my hydrometer if I were you. Use plain tap water, it should be 1.000.

Mr Malty (yeast calculator) tells me you need 13g of dry yeast for a 23L OG of 1.058. Bet they didn't put that much yeast in the kit.