Stuck fermentation tips.

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Woodfordes kits are notorious for stuck brews (around 1020), as is anything made by Muntons.
http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/other-products/other-branded-homebrew-kits/

The only time I've managed to get a stuck brew going again is:
- a good stir but gently so you don't introduce oxygen to oxydise your beer (sanitise the strirring impelent of course)
- get the temp up, 21C or more
- add some fementables such as 150g sugar dissolved in a little water. Boil and cool first though

And if it's still stuck you can also try amylase enzyme

You can reduced the risk of a stuck brew with a Muntons kit by adding a teaspoon of yeast nutrient at the start and keeping the temp around 20/21C rather than the recommended minimum 18C.
 
I have copied (and edited a bit )the above post from another thread here as this is a subject often discussed in the forum.

Please ignore the non-sequential nature of this thread as I've cobbled it together from posts I've come across (or added any future post) on the forum
 
Last edited:
Hi Byron and welcome to the forum.

Standard advice for stuck brews:

- a good stir but gently so you don't introduce oxygen to oxydise your beer (sanitise the strirring impelent of course)
- get the temp up, 21C or more
- add some fementables such as 150g sugar dissolved in a little water. Boil and cool first though

And if it's still stuck you can also try amylase enzyme

It all depends on the reason for the stuck fermentation. If the temperature has dropped too low the yeast can just go dormant - hence raising the temperature and giving it a stir. If there's too many complex carbs in the brew then the amylase is the cure as it breaks them down into fermentable sugars.:cheers:
 
Getting frustrated with beer kits. This is the second one I've tried now (both Geordie's Yorkshire Bitter since that is the cheapest kit in my LHBS) and they both seemed to fail.

Hi Dan.

Both of these fermentations seem to have failed and stuck at too high a specific gravity. I have no idea what yeast these Geordie beer kits use, but it would seem that it is either too old or is inadequate in some way. I'm assuming the brew was kept at a suitable temperature around 18-20C and that you had either used a no rinse sanitiser or had rinsed out the FV if it was not the no-rinse sort. The wort should be well agitated with a sterilised whisk or some other way of adding oxygen before pitching the yeast and the yeast needs to be in date and not old, badly stored stuff which is mostly dead. DId you get a good foaming fermentation in the early stages? I'm trying to work out whether the fermentation ever really got going, or just limped along for a bit and then died out.

Clean wort uncontaminated with un-rinsed sanitiser
Well aerated
Correct temperature
In date, properly stored yeast

These seem to be the key requirements for getting a decent fermentation.

Before I got into All Grain brewing, I brewed a stack of Cooper's kits which all worked without exception. You could try one of them and Tescos now have a sale on so they will come in at about a tenner a shot. I like the English Bitter one and the IPA. If you try one of these, try using 1kg of spray malt rather than brewing sugar and you will get a better maltiness and mouth feel. Try one of those - get it to work and then go and buy a big pot for about £20 and order some grain and hops and read Clibit's thread on simple all grain brewing. I promise you - you'll throw away your tin opener and only consider grain and hops and yeast as the way forward after that.

copied from this thread
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=55368
 
Received wisdom suggested a lack of aeration of the wort (I forgot!). I was apprehensive about aerating a semi fermented brew but apparently it is not an issue, only with fully fermented brews.

My solution was to add 1.5L of a newly brewed wort, vigorously aerated and a little more yeast. This really kicked my stuck brew (1022) into action for a day or so with a huge krausen within an hour ! I thought I had cured it but even now it is only at 1020 but still chugging away slowly, so I will leave it.

I would be tempted to give it some lash with a kitchen whisk or similar and get some O2 into it.
 
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