T-58 yeast doesn't like the cold.

The_General · 02-07-2012, 02:51 PM

I made a batch of Belgian golden strong following almost exactly the Brewing Classic Styles recipe. Here's my recipe for a 10 gallon batch:

Bohemian pilsner 20 lbs
table sugar 5 lbs
Saaz 2 oz. at 90 minutes

I mashed for 90 minutes at 149 and boiled for 90 minutes. After chilling, I added 2 packets of T-58 yeast. The OG was 1.078. I had a signs of fermentation in 4 hours and had a very vigorous fermentation. I've made this recipe before and I know the yeast throws off some nasty sulfur smells.

To appease the girlfriend, I opened the window to air things out and it got a little cold in there. I don't know how cold the beer got. I should have taken the temperature. Anyway, fermentation stopped and the gravity right now is 1.032.

My plan of action is :
1. warm it up to 70-ish and rouse the yeast a few times a day
2. if that doesn't work, get more T-58, make a starter, and into warm beer
at high krausen
3. pitch a less finicky yeast (US-05?) to finish it out and take a hit on the
yeast flavor profile

Last time I made this recipe it went from 1.077 to like 1.005 and it took a gold in competition. I'm sure my thermometer is good. It was just calibrated and my last brew went from 1.094 to 1.013. I'm sure I didn't mash too high and got a ton of unfermentables.

Any suggestions?

**TopherM** · 02-07-2012, 03:24 PM

Even with the window open, I doubt it got much below this yeast's bottom range of 59 in your house, or else you and the GF would have be searching for a sweater and socks, so that may not have been the issue.

That's a big yeast but also a big beer. You may have actually underpitched. Plugging your stats into the Mr. Malty pitching calculator, it states you should have pitched a little under 3 packets, so you may have just tuckered out your yeast.

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Either way, I would definitely warm this one up then give it a slight swirl to resuspend the yeast. If that doesn't work, you may want to pitch one more packet/vial and let it sit at 70F for another 5-6 days to wax off that last point. This will work best if you use a different yeast strain than you originally did, like maybe a vial of Wyeast 1762, Wyeast 3522, or a packet of S-04, which will all have similar flavor profiles to your T-58.

Good luck!

The_General · 02-07-2012, 03:52 PM

The room is closed off from the heating system and the door was closed. I'm pretty sure it got out of that range. It could be a combination of that with underpitching.

Why do you recommend pitching a different yeast? T-58 can definitely handle that much alcohol. It's done it before for me. Just curious what the reason is for that.

Thanks!

**TopherM** · 02-07-2012, 05:21 PM

I've read and experienced before that if you use the same yeast in a stuck fermentation, they tend to be sluggish, but if you use a different strain, they perform like new. I couldn't tell you the science behind this, just my experience.

The_General · 02-07-2012, 05:29 PM

Thanks for passing the knowledge. I never would have thought that would happen and would have definitely tried the same strain. You learn something new everyday.

The_General · 02-11-2012, 03:24 PM

Warming it up and rousing the yeast did the trick. It's down 20 points to 1.012 and is still showing signs of fermentation. It has what I'd describe as a mini-krausen.

I guess all I had to do was relax, don't worry, etc.