How to Fix a High FG

Forgive the noob ? but I had an all grain Brown Ale with an OG of 1.040. I let it ferment 2 weeks and then cold crashed in the fridge as I normally do for a week. I did a gravity reading today and i'm getting 1.020. I was going for something a little dryer, not to mention I would prefer the ABV a little higher than 2.6. Taste is a little watery as well.

Is there anything I can do to get this thing to ferment down a little further? Re-boil and re-pitch? Just take the fermenter out of the fridge and let it come back up to ferm temps? Or am I stuck with a watery, very low alcohol beer on my hands? The only thing I don't really want to do is brew another high gravity batch and blend because 5 gallons of one type of beer is already a little more than I prefer to drink at once.

try taking it out of the fridge, back to ferm temps. you can gently swirl the fermenter to get the yeast back into suspension, too.

what were your mash temps? and your strike/sparge water amounts?

Mash temp was 152 and I doughed in with 4 gallons and sparged with another four after collecting my first runnings. After the boil I ended up with about 6 gallons which was why I hit such a low OG, but I was hoping it would ferment down to around 1.010 or so. Not only for alcohol content, but this is a nutty brown ale and I really wanted that dryness to it.

+1 to heferly's suggestion. Also, which yeast strain are you using and what's your process for aeration/pitching (starter? no starter?)?

I always use a starter. In this particular case is was a California Ale yeast with a starter. I'm surprised it didn't finish up a lot lower because this thing churned heavy for a solid week. It took full advantage of the blow off tube.

So bringing the beer back to ferm temps and swirly around is assuming the fermentation was not finished correct? Could it have finished thought and I won't have any fermentable sugars left in the solution to use?

what was your recipe?

4# Golden Promise Malt
4# Pale Malt 2-Row
1# Honey Malt
0.5# Chocolate Malt
1# Crystal 20L
0.5# Flaked Barley

1 oz. Northern Brewer @ 45 min.
0.5 oz. Cascade @ 30 min.
0.5 oz Cascade @ 15 min.
0.5 oz. Kent Goldings @ 15 min.
0.5 oz. Cascade Dry Hop

not an adjunct problem, and your mash temp is fine...should have the fermentables to finish the job...maybe check your thermometer for accuracy? your aeration was adequate?

i would guess the yeast hasn't finished, though, before you crashed

My aeration was ok...I sometimes use an air pump and air stone for 10 - 20 minutes, but I also dump the wort from kettle to fermenter and use a filtered funnel so in that respect I think it gets enough to get going...of course I could and do plan to improve on aeration in the future, but I don't think this could be the cause of this problem.

So if I bring the wort back to ferm temps and nothing happens...what from there? Is it not possible to just stick this thing in the kettle and boil down a gallon or two? My thought process is that only water evaporates so the boil will remove water leaving the alcohol alone thus raising my FG?

Never mind...just did some research and re-boiling will actually drive off the alcohol, as well as the flavor of my beer. That's not an option.

Try rousing the yeast and bringing the temperature up to the strain's upper end of its preferred range. If you don't see a change in gravity, try pitching some more yeast. It's enitrely possible you got some bum yeast (unlikely, but possible).

I need the fermenter so I think what I might do is rack into a 5 gallon secondary, make a starter out of the yeast from the primary and repitch that into the beer. If that doesn't fix it, I don't know what will.