adrianduckett

Recipes 

Hey folks,
I'm a novice home brewer, and this is the first post I've done, so bear with me.
I brewed an Imperial Stout recipe Sunday, Nov. 18th, but made some additions to attempt a Mint Chocolate Imp. Stout. I also want it to be a pretty hot beer (~9.5% ABV). It's been almost two weeks since I originally brewed, and I'm worried that I won't achieve my desired terminal gravity. So far it's at 1.035. Do I need to pitch more yeast? Do I need to pitch some nutrients to wake the yeast up? Was my OG not high enough? Beer was super active to begin with, and has since slowed down. Any help would be great! Details of brew day, recipe and future plans are listed below:

Extract batch.
Yeast: Dry, Windsor British-style, two packets (0.776oz rehydrated in 8oz of Water)
Fermentables: 11 lbs. dark extract;12oz roasted barley; 8 oz, chocolate malt, crystal 80L, Black Patent malt; 6oz, flaked barley; 4oz brown malt.
Hops: 2oz, Magnum; 2oz, YK Golding.
Additional ingredients: 1lb., semi-sweet chocolate; 1.5oz, fresh mint.
OG: 1.082, recipe called for ~1.070
TG, thus far: 1.035
Future plans: Pitch vodka-mint tincture and cocoa nibs for beer to age on when racking into secondary; bottling.

Thanks in advance guys and gals!

GilSwillBasementBrews

Recipes 

I think you may be done. That does seen high to me as an FG but with the high amount if dark extract and the darker steeping grains I think you're going to have a lot of unfermentables present in your wort. I'm no expert by far but that is my .02 If I'm wrong someone will correct me I'm sure. But I think you might have gotten all you're going to from it.
Might be stuck too. Not sure like I said I'm no expert and 1.035 does seem high to finish at.

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duboman

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Pretty good analysis! Lots of less fermentable malts in this but also?

What temp did you ferment at, did you try to rouse the yeast and warm up the vessel to try and get it going?

Did you taste it? Does it taste too sweet?

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mgortel

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You will always have some unfermentable sugars in your brew so there is always a lower limit to your FG......if you want a higher ABV...you wil need higher OG.....also you can control to the fermentable versus unfermentable sugars by doing all grain....to an extent.

On your specific brew,......its only been 2 weeks...may still be fermenting ...so it may lower a little if you let it go another week or so....

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LaFinDuMonde

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Yeah, two weeks is too early to check gravity on a beer that size. Also, what temp are you fermenting at? And what yeast? Both are important.

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adrianduckett

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Fermenting temp is right around 65 degrees F; I did taste it and no, it does not taste too sweet; and yeast details are noted in original post.

My inclination is to take another reading today, rack it, and let it sit for a while longer. Aside from that I might move it into a warmer room in the house. Thoughts, anyone? Thanks again.

duboman

Recipes 

If you rack it off the yeast it will probably not move at all rouse it up and warm it up in primary and give it another week. If it doesn't taste sweet it's probably done.

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adrianduckett

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Thanks duboman. Aside from fermenting in a warmer temperature, how else could I go about "rousing" it? Best,
-Adrian

duboman

Recipes 

Just gently grab the vessel, tip it a bit to one side and gently agitate it. Remove the airlock first as you will release CO2 and it will vigorously bubble out! Then just move it to a warmer location or raise the temp a few degrees. Sometimes this works, sometimes not

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dcp27

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if rousing & warming doesnt work, you may want to try adding another yeast. sometimes windsor sputters out early. despite the grain bill, i'd expect around 10% more attenuation (58% is way too low).