Fermentation stopped but SG still too high

[Ged]

Hey guys..New to the forum and also brewing in general. I've done a couple before but am stuck with the following. Everything sanitised as normal. Making a Macs Pale Ale from a can. Standard can makes 11 litres so I doubled up. Pitched the two packets of yeast ( one from each can) and everything seemed good. It kicked off fermenting quickly and had a real start compared to another beer I was doing beside it. Almost from the word go.. Now 7 days later, fermentation is almost stopped. Airlock hardly moves. Tested the SG and its around the 1.020 mark. I think it should be lower than this? Fermenter has been kept on heatmat and temp has generally stayed around the 18/20/24 mark given the extremes of outside temp overnight and during the day...Any tips on what I can do next? Can i give it a stir up. Thanks for your help. Ged

[Martin Bridges]

Just because there is little or no airlock activity it doesn't mean that fermentation is not happening. I had a batch a while go that appeared to have stuck. I tried warming it up a bit but there was still no activity. I left it a week and was just about to try rousing the yeast (stirring) orpitching some fresh yeast but when I checked the SG it had dropped to 1.014 (from about 1.026 a week previously).

I'd give it a little while longer then check the SG again. If it really has stuck then you can try stirring up the yeast (gently) with a sanitised spoon. Tht might bring it back to life. Alternatively you could pitch another sachet of the same yeast or a standard strain.

Cheers,

Martin

[Ged]

Thanks a bundle Martin.. I'll wait it out a few days then recheck the SG.

Cheers

Ged

[MrC]

I agree with Martin. No bubbling in the airlock doesn't mean fermentation has stopped. When the temp goes down the yeast will sometimes freak out and fermentation will slow right down, also, the colder the wort/beer, the more CO2 it will hold and therefore not be released through the airlock.

I'd leave it in the fermenter for 2 weeks and try to keep a stable temp around the lower end of the yeast temp range (19c ???). If the yeast have shut up shop due to the temp decreasing rapidly, they should come back to life after a couple of days at a stable temp. It sounds like you had a good start to the fermentation which means that there should be a good amount of yeast in there. If it was me, I'd just stabilise the temp and leave it alone.