Inkbird and maybe stuck brew

[earthwormgaz]

Hi Forum,

I did my brew and I think I got it into my new fermenting fridge with inkbird and heater about the 17th. It was about 1055 I think. Its down to about 1020 now, so seemingly should have some way to go. However, the foam on the top has crashed down, there's just a few bubbles, and I'd have thought it'd be done by now?

Its gone so cold, that the cooling of the fridge was only kicking on when it first went in there after the boil. I think the temperature was dropping down to 17.5 degrees, then the heater would kick it back up to 19.5 nicely. I've bumped the bottom threshold up to 18.5 now. Question is, was I letting it yoyo down to low, and may that have lead to a stuck brew, or might it just take time?

I wondered whether to bump the target in there up to 20.5 degrees to try and get it going again down to 1.010?

Thanks for any help :)

 

[foxy]

Hi Forum,

I did my brew and I think I got it into my new fermenting fridge with inkbird and heater about the 17th. It was about 1055 I think. Its down to about 1020 now, so seemingly should have some way to go. However, the foam on the top has crashed down, there's just a few bubbles, and I'd have thought it'd be done by now?

Its gone so cold, that the cooling of the fridge was only kicking on when it first went in there after the boil. I think the temperature was dropping down to 17.5 degrees, then the heater would kick it back up to 19.5 nicely. I've bumped the bottom threshold up to 18.5 now. Question is, was I letting it yoyo down to low, and may that have lead to a stuck brew, or might it just take time?

I wondered whether to bump the target in there up to 20.5 to try and get it going again down to 1.010?

Thanks for any help :)

Unless you are brewing a Belgian 75% apparent attenuation isn't too bad, I would say it's finished.

 

[Clint]

What are you brewing?

 

[nickjdavis]

Unless you are brewing a Belgian 75% apparent attenuation isn't too bad, I would say it's finished.

But its not even close to 75%...in fact its not even 65% attenuation.

If I were the OP I'd give the yeast a rouse and give it a couple of extra degrees.

However, we don't really know enough about the rest of the brewing process, especially the mash temp (if this is an all grain brew) and the yeast strain, to know what is really reasonable.

 

[Agentgonzo]

It could have stalled/stuck or even finished. Many homebrew batches seem to get stuck around 1.020 for some reason. What yeast was it? Some are finicky and depending on what your mash schedule was like it may be done if using a yeast like Windsor.

It's only been in for 11 days, so it may still be doing it's thing... Just slowly if it's cold. Turn the temperature up and see if it gets it going again

 

[foxy]

But its not even close to 75%...in fact its not even 65% attenuation.

If I were the OP I'd give the yeast a rouse and give it a couple of extra degrees.

However, we don't really know enough about the rest of the brewing process, especially the mash temp (if this is an all grain brew) and the yeast strain, to know what is really reasonable.

If his 'about' figure is 1,055 it is 70% apparent attenuation, both figures are described as about. But we don't know the yeast used or the mash temps.

 

[earthwormgaz]

Hi, sorry should have said, its a stout, and I used a Nottingham yeast. Mash was about an hour and a half I think.

 

[foxy]

Hi, sorry should have said, its a stout, and I used a Nottingham yeast. Mash was about an hour and a half I think.

Not unusual for a stout to finish at 1,020. I will stick with it's finished. We have had this discussion on here a few times about the amount of unfermentable grains in a stout and supposedly stuck mash.
To squeeze as much as I can from a stout grain bill I do a Hochkurz mash, 63C for 60 mins and 70C for 30 mins to improve fermentability. The non-fermentable grain at 77C for 20 minutes.
Makes the water additions a doddle too.

 

[earthwormgaz]

Your memory is quite something there mate. Not that bloke thinking his mash is stuck again haha.

But yes, this recipe had a load of porridge oats in it, and lots of darker malts, so this could easily be what's going on.

I've cranked the fridge up to 20.5 degrees anyway, so can see what happens.

I'm planning to make a kind of priming Yule bomb for it. So boil some spices and orange peel, then pop that in for day or two. So I can keep an eye on it and watch that it is indeed settled at that as the FG.

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

Set the Inkbird to the minimum temperature difference (0.2C I believe) to maintain as even a temperature as possible. 2 degrees is a potential 4C difference in min & max temperature.

 

[earthwormgaz]

Yeah, I wanted to do that, but I was worried when it first went in hot, and weather was warmer, about the fridge and heater fighting each other. The fridge seemed to drag the temperature down and then keep dragging it down after cut off, leading to the heater then kicking in. For now in this cold weather, its working great as you suggest though. The heater never pushes it up wildly kicking in the cooling.

 

[earthwormgaz]

I probably shouldn't own up to this and humiliate myself, but I'll do it and give you all a laugh anyway.

Smashed my last hydrometer (again). New one, the green band isn't where the old one was ... the bloody stuff is at 1010 not 1020, its done haha.

Chucking in 1/2 teaspoon of all spice, 1oz of ginger root and zest of a big orange anyway, boiled in sugar for 10 minutes. Let's see what that does.

 

[marshbrewer]

Glad it's sorted!