Stuck fermentation on a Mangrove Jack's kit?

@TrevTheBev @Twopan, one of the issues I used to find from 'over' carbonation, (putting aside whether or not it suits the actual brew style) was when trying to pour from a 500ml bottle into a pint glass.

With too much fizz in the brew, no matter how slowly, nor how carefully I tried to pour so as not to disturb the sediment, I ended up with a pint glass full of foamy head - albeit tasty foam - with very little space left for the actual brew!

Having watched too much of my hard grafted brew disappear down the plughole of the kitchen sink from an overflowing glass, I've since taken a more measured approach to carbonation.

I appreciate that there are as many opinions on 'the right way' of doing things as there are members on this site.

However, for me, the easiest and most reliable I've personally found over several dozen brews, is to batch prime with 80-150g dextrose (depending on style) dissolved in about 200-250ml of boiled water (per 23litres brew).

This is added to a bottling bucket whilst racking from the FV, and with a gentle stir to ensure well mixed (without splashing) before bottling.

Trevthebev.......Is that in a 330ml bottle or 500ml.....?

Interesting thread.

remember LME isn’t as fermentable as brewing sugar so if the FG will always be higher. If you were expecting 1.006 with dextrose, I absolutely wouldn’t be surprised with 1.010-1.012 if you switch this out for lme so I don’t think the original brew was actually faulty or stuck.
After fermentation’s started, the last thing you want to do is introduce oxygen, so if you have any off flavours in the finished beer, it’s more likely to come from stirring it up after fermentation had finished rather than a kit flaw. Hopefully you’ll get away with it!

The kits at this point normally have 5-6g yeast but it’ll be a bit of a work horse strain that may not be the best quality but will be reliable and very viable so the quantity shouldn’t prevent a steady, full fermentation.
Good luck, hope it turns out well!

Knuckles said:

Agreed they are good kits but they dont tell you how much sugar to use for carbonating? Any reason for this?

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Half a teaspoon of table sugar per 500ml always worked good for me

Poddyc said:

@TrevTheBev @Twopan, one of the issues I used to find from 'over' carbonation, (putting aside whether or not it suits the actual brew style) was when trying to pour from a 500ml bottle into a pint glass.

With too much fizz in the brew, no matter how slowly, nor how carefully I tried to pour so as not to disturb the sediment, I ended up with a pint glass full of foamy head - albeit tasty foam - with very little space left for the actual brew!

Having watched too much of my hard grafted brew disappear down the plughole of the kitchen sink from an overflowing glass, I've since taken a more measured approach to carbonation.

I appreciate that there are as many opinions on 'the right way' of doing things as there are members on this site.

However, for me, the easiest and most reliable I've personally found over several dozen brews, is to batch prime with 80-150g dextrose (depending on style) dissolved in about 200-250ml of boiled water (per 23litres brew).

This is added to a bottling bucket whilst racking from the FV, and with a gentle stir to ensure well mixed (without splashing) before bottling.

Click to expand...

Sometimes it's just the type of glass that will add loads of foam straight cylinder type is good for over carbed or highly carbed beer where shaped glasses will add to carbonation of lower carbed beer

Is it a temperature control problem? So, the Mangrove Jack's Pale Ale ended up at a FG of 1.010 when I bottled it, with no problems. Still higher than the claimed target FG, but because I had added an extra 500g of dextrose, the ABV is about 4.7%, rather than the target 4.4%. The addition of dextrose after 3 or 4 days gets it going again and takes the FG lower than what it was heading for originally. HOWEVER, I have now had another stuck fermentation problem on a bog standard Festival Belgian Pale Ale kit. It roared away merrily for four days and then went completely flat at 1.015. Finally, in desperation I added another 300g of dextrose and it was off again and after 12 days got down to 1.011 but creeping down now. There is no pressure at all in the FV - no airlock activity -and if I hadn't got an ISpindel in there telling me the gravity I would have moved to bottle by now. QUESTION - I am wondering if this is a temperature control problem. Both those brews were a struggle to get down to 25degC for pitching in our recent warm weather. Previous brews I've done in the Spring started at around 21 or 22C and fermented out with no problem, rising in temperature to about 25C at peak fermentation, and then falling back. I am thinking I need to chill the LME and boiled water mix first before topping up with cold water, to ensure I start things off at around 20C and let it build itself back up. Any views? @clib

Have you checked the gravity with a hydrometer? Ispindles/tilts etc.. aren’t likely to be 100%.
That said, I think you might be reading too much into it, the MJ one finished high because you used malt extract. The quoted FG will be based on using dextrose (which is what most people buying a £10-12 kit would use). The malt will add about the same gravity points as sugar but isn’t as fermentable. The extra body and mouthfeel will largely be the unfermented sugars that are left in the beer.
I don’t know how long you left the festival after day 4 but it’s quite common for those last few points to trudge along. I really wouldn’t bother checking gravity until day 10.
By introducing extra sugar (plus air when you mix it in) you’re probably doing way more harm to your beer than good. Try and be patient with it.

clib said:

Once you've started talking about a beer it's always good to follow up with the results.

It's an incomplete thread otherwise!

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Thanks all who advised on this thread. The final gravity at bottling was 1.010 and the additions were 1.2KG of LME plus the subsequent addition of 500g of Dextrose. Next time I will use the calculators online and add extra dextrose at the start. Anyway, this has now produced a brew at 4.7% ABV (only 0.3% higher than the claimed ABV) and it is drinking really, really well. It has been bottled 5 weeks and has a clean, fresh taste, slight sweetness but not overly so, and a butterscotch aftertaste. The wife loves this one so I will be making another batch.

TrevTheBev said:

I just use simple granulated sugar for priming and never once had any problems. 1 or 2 teaspoons of it seem to give great carbonation and a fine head, no matter what I'm brewing. I did once use 3 teaspoons for a cider and that was perhaps a tad gassy...... But still managed to finish it off.

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I'm the same, though I bought a big box of sugar sticks (of the type you get in hotel rooms) off Amazon - cheap as chips! I've found that one sugar stick in each 500ml bottle gives perfect carbonation for my tastes. It takes a second to tear the end off the paper wrapper and pours perfectly into the neck of the bottle. Carbonation is now consistent to every pint.

Knuckles said:

Trevthebev.......Is that in a 330ml bottle or 500ml.....?

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Sorry for late reply... I've been away.
I only use 1 litre bottles that had tonic or soda water.