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| Troubleshooting: |
| Everybody can have problems with their beer, believe
me when I say, we've had our share. Below are some tips to help you avoid some of the
problems you might encounter: |
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Stuck Fermentation |
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Stuck fermentation is when your beer fails to ferment to completion.
This can be a result of using old yeast, or poor ingredients. The best way to take care of
stuck fermentations, is to prevent them from starting. To do this you should: |
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Re-hydrate your yeast, by adding it to some water and wort to the
yeast an hour or more before you pitch it. This will help to insure that your yeast is
still active.
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Hydrated Active Yeast
Should look like this |
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Use an all malt, or mostly malt recipe. Yeast needs nutrients to
survive. Corn sugar and other processed sugars lack these nutrients. If your yeast cannot
get the nutrients it needs, it cannot reproduce. For this same reason, distilled water
should not be used to make beer. |
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If you are still uneasy about stuck fermentation, try using 2 packets
of yeast |
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If you should encounter a stuck fermentation, the following things
may help to get it started again |
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Check your beer with a hydrometer to determine if it is stuck, or has
reached its final gravity. |
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Hydrate, and add a second packet of yeast |
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Add some yeast nutrient and/or yeast energizer |
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Gently stir you fermenting beer with a STERILE plastic or metal spoon
or paddle to help get oxygen to the yeast. |
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Under Carbonation |
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If you used the proper amount of priming sugar, and your beer is
still flat, it is probably because you didn't properly rise the sanitizing solution from
you bottles. If too much sanitizer remains in the bottles, it can kill the yeast, which
will result in a flat beer. There is no known cure for this, other than prevention. |
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Over Carbonation |
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I wanted a beer not a geyser! |
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Over carbonation can cause your beer to become a foamy mess. Over
carbonation can come from two causes:
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Too much or unevenly distributed priming sugar. Measure your primer
carefully and dissolve it throughly in boiling water and allow it to cool. Stir this into
your beer before bottling. |
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Poor sanitization. If you allow you beer to become contaminated with
wild yeast, some sugars which are not normally fermentable may be consumed by the wild
yeast, resulting in over carbonation, and possibly off flavors. |
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Funny Tasting Beer |
Sanitization, Sanitization, Sanitization!!!
If you beer has off flavors, this is almost certianly caused by contamination. If you do
not sanitize EVERYTHING that comes in contact with your beer throughly, you risk
contaminating it, and causing it to have off flavors as a result. You should also remember
to thoroughly rinse the sanitizer from your equipment, as this can cause proplems as well.
(see under carbonation)
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