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Old 12-05-2004, 06:31 PM
ChasM
 
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A bigger problem than I thought!

I posted last week about my ailing lager that doesn't seem to be fermenting.
Now I have a cream ale that has the same problem, brewed a week later. The
new things I haven't done in the past are:

#1: I used liquid yeast. It did a great job on the primary ferment, so I
figured this isn't the problem.

#2: I did a secondary fermenting for the first time. It was about 2 week,
only, making total fermentation time about 4 weeks. My FG was below 1.020
on both.

#3: I added water to the secondary to bring both brews up to 5 gallons.
I've usually been at about 4 gallons in the past due to racking. I still
used the priming sugar provided with the specialty grain kits, about 3/4 cup
or so.

#4: I used one-step to sanitize the bottles. I've always used chlorine in
the past, but I liked the quicker sanitizing time. I DID NOT RINSE.

Could it be that the one-step killed the yeast? I see a powdering of yeast
on the bottom, but only a TINY bit of carbonation (not even any bubbles
rising). I just bottled the ale 8 days ago. Does liquid yeast take longer
to carbonate a bottle? I moved the lager back to a warmer room, and the ale
is in a room about 65 degrees. Did I possibly not use enough sugar?

How long should I RDWHAH before I panic and try to do something? Is there
anything I CAN do to save these brews?

Thanks for any help!!

ChasM


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