Has fermentation finished

[Eoghan]

I started a brew on 26 Oct.
It was a Geordie Winter Warmer 1.5kg kit.
I added a 1.5kg can of the Brew at Home LME.
When I checked the starting gravity it was 1039.

It seemed to ferment quite vigorously for the first day or 2,
but then the bubbles dropped off to almost nothing.

This seemed very quick to me but I thought that maybe it had finished fermenting
and I was going to bottle it on the weekend, so I checked the gravity today
and it is 1018, it also still tastes quite sweet.

Is there something I should do with it or do I just need to leave it for a lot longer?

[imark]

Its not ready yet Eoghan. Give it a week at least. You need to give yeast time to clean it up.

It'll probably attenuate to 1.010 or thereabouts.

[Eoghan]

Give it a week at least

That's what I thought, but usually it would still be bubbling fairly regularly at this stage.
This one seems to be almost dead.

[imark]

Maybe the seal on your ferment or is relieving the pressure. It's a mistake I've made previously.
Check the gravity over the next couple of days. If it isn't dropping your fermentation has stopped.

[LordEoin]

Yeah, last thing you want is a batch of bottle-bombs, best to leave it to be sure it's fermented out properly

[johnrm]

You could move out to secondary, get it of the cake, it could agitate it enough to get going again.

[Eoghan]

Thanks for all the help.

I took your advise today, John, and racked it to a secondary.
I checked the gravity when I did this and it is now about 1016 or 1017.

I'll leave it alone until next weekend and see what it is like then.

[LordEoin]

I'm guessing that the first sample was very gassy after the vigorous ferment, putting the reading off.
After sitting for a few days and racking, it's flatter and reading correctly

[Flathead]

How did this beer turn out in the end Eoghan ?  I have an Amber Export which started out at SG 1050 and seems to have stopped now at 1012.  This seems a bit too sweet but I'm reluctant to introduce another yeast.

[delzep]

1012 is far from sweet and is perfect now for bottling

[LordEoin]

yeah, 1.012 is right on the money, especially if you used a can of LME

[Eoghan]

How did this beer turn out in the end Eoghan ?

TLDR: It is really sweet and low in alcohol, we call it lemonade!

Full story:
Four days after I racked the beer, I took another reading. It was 1014.
I also took 2 small samples in plastic bottles and primed one.

Four days later, the sample that I primed expanded, the one without priming did not.
I concluded that the fermentation had completed but the yeast was still alive and active.
I bottled it then, and the gravity reading was still 1014.

Gravity went from 1038 to 1014 so the ABV is 3.1%

This is the least successful beer of the 11 kits that I have brewed so far.
This way the first kit I used which I needed to add fermentables to.

Was I wrong to use the can of liquid malt extract with this?
Should I have stuck with pure sugar?

The brew I did after this one was also a 1.5kg kit to which I added 1.5kg LME, it also had a high final gravity 1014.

[LordEoin]

This was the first kit I used which I needed to add fermentables to.

I'm confused.. what did you add to the other 10?

LME ends with a higher gravity compared to sugar or DME and leaves more residual sweetness/maltiness.
It seems to work best with darker beers, leaving too much in lighter beers

I brewed a beer with just LME and yeast to see how it ferments without any other influences:

I made a 10L brew with only a can of LME and a half pack of Coopers yeast. No grain or sugar. OG 1.044
I was expecting the LME to finish with a relatively high FG, and I was right. FG 1.014

Doesn't taste bad at all. Sweeter than I thought it would be, with a slight apple/citrus taste.

[Will_D]

I started a brew on 26 Oct.
It was a Geordie Winter Warmer 1.5kg kit.
I added a 1.5kg can of the Brew at Home LME.
When I checked the starting gravity it was 1039.

So let get back to basics:

A can of Geordie Kit plus 1.5 kg of LME should give you a much higher OG than 1.039!

Its says its a Winter Warmer: this means it should be above 4.5 % and with plenty of residual sweetness.

When you took the Og was all the LME disolved? This can be tricky to achieve when its cold. I always disolve LME in hot water before adding to my wort.

Also fermenting out to 1.014 would be about right for this style of beer. The extra LME has added a few non-fermentable, add a few points and improve the mouthfeel.

Suggest you taste it and see!

HTH : Will

[LordEoin]

nah, that OG is about right.
Bang 3kg LME into Brewmate and it shows OG 1.040, FG 1.010.
Brewmate's FGs are always a bit low, but their OGs are usually pretty accurate.