Stuck Smugglers Gold

[Brewbie]

Hi folks.
Right here goes.
This is my first brew and it’s a Muntons Smugglers Gold.
The mix was good with the temp spot on for pitching the yeast which was poured straight in and stirred in gently only a few times (SG 1043).
The lid sealed nice. It was placed in our living room where I could keep an eye on it and the temp has been nice and steady at 20c and the airlock started to show signs of life after about 8 hours.
It was all going well until I looked at the instructions again which state the brew will be ready after 4-6 days or when the SG is 1014 or below.
Well the air lock started to slow right down after 4 days and I’m thinking YUUUUMMM. Day 6 I take a reading and it’s 1018.
At this point I start trolling this board for info and stuck fermentation. I find this stuff has a bit of a reputation for getting stuck. One guy has had the same thing happen (with the same product) and he was on week 3.
Now at this point I’m not panicking but if I’m not drinking home brew on Christmas day the stuff gonna hit the thing.
Day 7 SG 1017. Reading the forum I give the mix a little stir.
Day 8 SG 1017. Send an E-mail to Muntons for help. I was advised to stir every day for the next 3 days. So (and this is tonight Friday 03/12/10) I gave the stuff a ****** good stir.
So now after two days of stirring I can’t even drink the testers as it’s more like soup and I’m worried that if I keep doing this I’m going to be left with something only fit for putting eggs in as the ABV worked out at 3.4 and I’m going to keep putting more and more oxygen in the mix.
Tonight after the stir there were some gases expelled from the lock but now the lock has levelled out.
So if the yeast is dead would it be better just to rack it to the keg (one of two I have) cut my losses and drink whatever comes out and then just crack on with a new brew or should I just wait and yes I am starting to panic!!

PS any idea why this happens and how to stop it next time round?

Any help gratefully received
Glynn.

 

[Wez]

I'd try to get it to 22/23 degrees and pitch another sachet of yeast.

Safale s04 will get the job done :thumb:

 

[gsidford]

I used S04 with my last Smugglers and some Goldings to dry hop it and it is a lovely pint now. Just ready to be drinking.

 

[Brewbie]

I must have done too much Coopers real ale, because like a real idiot I thought I’ed give Muntons another chance I mean it’s been 7 months since the that time I struggled with Sugglers Gold.
NOW I NOW WHY, THIS ONE HAS STUCK AS WELL!!!
Every other brew goes fine but this stuff $&!*
They should rename it Strugglers Gold. :evil:

 

[Shayler]

My muntons old english bitter was stuck this week, gave it a good stir and put the fermenting bin in the sink filled with hot water and it started up again

 

[guyb]

I had a Lion's Pride from munton's. I believe the kit yeast is *****, even made as a starter. I added trusty rehydrated S04.
I've seen a lot threads, especially good ones with advice from Aleman on the kit yeasts :thumb: replace the kit yeast with something better.

Yeast slopes from Brewlabs :thumb:

 

[Rich85]

I had problems with stuck fermentations for ages and couldn't work out why. It turned out that although I had wrapped my FV in bubble wrap and towels etc to keep it warm and had an aquarium heater in there too, I had it sitting directly on a cold concrete floor :rofl: .

The temperature was always well within acceptable limits when I dipped the thermometer in but that was only giving a reading of the temperature of the very top of the liquid. It would always seem fine for the first couple of days, there would be the normal bubbling and frothing but as the yeast started to settle at the bottom, it had all the heat drawn out of it and it would stop fermenting. Giving it a stir would rouse a bit of activity until it settled back down to the bottom and stop again.

Sounds similar to your problem, just a thought.