Stuck at 1.030, started at 1.051 what do I do?

I'm using safale s-04 in a brown ale ferm temp is around 68-71. No activity for almost a week. Can I pitch another packet in the primary?

Odd... I've never been dissappointed with S04. Yes, you can repitch, but I would try rocking the carboy a few times to get the yeast re-suspended back into the beer.

do you think using whirlfloc during the boil would have helped flocculate my yeast out of suspension in the beer?

Nickme23 said:

do you think using whirlfloc during the boil would have helped flocculate my yeast out of suspension in the beer?

Click to expand...

No, unrealted as Whirlfloc does its thing in the boil with protein. I'd be looking at wort fermentabilty, mash temps if you did AG, fermenting temps, etc.

SAMC is on to something.

We need more info; all grain/extract/steeped/adjunctes, tell us the recipe.

If its a fermentability issue we can help.
if its a yeast issue we can help.
BUT it could be something else altogether, and I wouldn't want you do do an all of the above fix, it would change the intended character of the beer to much.

+1 to more info. We need to know why it's stuck to determine what, if anything, can be done to fix it.

How did you aerate? Did you rehydrate the yeast before pitching it? Was it an all grain, extract or partial mash brew? What was the recipe?

Ok, sorry it took so long to get back to you guys, life has been a little hectic.

Well it was my first try at AG and I was following a recipe that told me this...

Mashing Procedure:
Mash Efficiency: 70%
Add 3.09 Gallons of water at 178 F to heat mash to 158 F
Add 0.85 Gallons of boiling water to heat mash to 168 F
Sparge with 3.34 Gallons of water to yield 5.00 gallons to primary
Water absorbed by Grain: 0.95 gallons
Water Evaporated during boil 1.00 gallons

I tried to follow it to the letter but I might have deviated a little trying to hit the pre-boil volume.

Didn't give me any instructions on mash times so I mashed for 60 mins and then sparged for 20 mins

Read somewhere that adding a little honey will boost gravity and add a smoothness to the mouthfeel so I added 4 oz honey to the boil.

OG was 1.052

Pitched Safale S-04 directly into carboy when wort was cooled to 72 F via my DIY immersion chiller (50' 3/8" copper tubing) cools quick!

Here's the recipe exactly as shown on my printout:

Ingredients:
6.25 lbs MArris Otter Pale Malt
1 lbs Flaked Corn
0.5 lbs Wyerman Caramunich 1
0.5 lbs Wyerman Caramunich Type III
0.5 lbs Muntons Dark Crystal
0.25 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.5 lbs Cara-Pils Dextrine

0.5 oz U.K. Challenger Pellets 8% Boil 60 Mins
0.5 oz Kent-Goldings 5.5% Finishing 15 mins

1 Whirlfloc Tablet Boil 20 mins

Boil Time 60 mins

Primary Ferm. 7 days at 68 F
Secondary Ferm. 7 days at 68 F


Gravity is reading at 1.030 and has been steady at that reading for 7-8 days now. Hydrometer sample tastes cleaner and more mellow than last week, still a little bit too sweet but not cloying. Complex carbs?
I have Amylase Enzyme, should I use it?

Did you try rocking the carboy a little yet? see if you can get a little activity in that sleeping yeast?

Yep, twisted it to stir the yeast up instead of shaking cause I didn't want it to get oxidized. Got the yeast back in solution by twisting the carboy on two different days. Didn't do anything. Fermentation was so active it looked like it was boiling for a day or two then just quit and hasn't done anything since.

Here's an off the cuff fermentation journal.

Saturday: brewed and pitched yeast
Sunday morning: activity in carboy
Sunday afternoon: active fermentation looked like it was simmering
Monday morning: looked like a full boil
Tuesday: krausen starting to fall, very little activity
Wednesday: krausen almost dissipated C02 coming out of solution
Thursday: No activity, still, very little evidence of krausen
Friday: Gravity 1.031
Sat-Tues: No activity Gravity 1.030
Wed (today): Gravity 1.030

At this point, I would repitch S04 and see if it does anything.

Or better yet, make a starter with the liquid equivalent and pitch that.

dkershner said:

At this point, I would repitch S04 and see if it does anything.

Or better yet, make a starter with the liquid equivalent and pitch that.

Click to expand...

Well I have a packet of safale s-04 and I just got in a 3 lb bag of extra light DME, Think I should make a starter with the packet and DME or just pitch directly into the primary? It doesn't make any sense that I'd have to re-pitch the yeast since it was going so great to begin with. You don't think it's a carbohydrate issue? I looked into it and it seems like 168 is a high temp to be mashing at. I may be mistaken but if I pitched healthy yeast and it took off in 12 hours to a very rapid fermentation then why would the yeast just all of a sudden crash? unless they ran out of fermentable sugars. Am I wrong?

Nickme23 said:

Well I have a packet of safale s-04 and I just got in a 3 lb bag of extra light DME, Think I should make a starter with the packet and DME or just pitch directly into the primary? It doesn't make any sense that I'd have to re-pitch the yeast since it was going so great to begin with. You don't think it's a carbohydrate issue? I looked into it and it seems like 168 is a high temp to be mashing at. I may be mistaken but if I pitched healthy yeast and it took off in 12 hours to a very rapid fermentation then why would the yeast just all of a sudden crash? unless they ran out of fermentable sugars. Am I wrong?

Click to expand...

There are a few possible reasons, unfermentability is surely one. 158 is where you mashed if you followed your instructions, 168 is a mashout. 158 would put you high in the amount of unfermentables, but not 30 points. 158 is a fine mash temp for a brown. You do have a fair amount of specialty grains as well, but there is no way your beer should be above 1.020.

Your yeast if in bad health can just up and quit, repitching somewhat eases this possiblity. Nottingham had some problems with this awhile ago.

I would not recommend making a starter with dry yeast, but I would recommend rehydrating it. Just a cup of warm water will do, boiled and cooled to around 100.

Definitely no need for a starter with a packet of s-04 (an awesome yeast, btw - highly flocculant and attenuates well).

Pitch another packet and see what happens.

Do you trust that your hydrometer is giving accurate readings? Might test it in water. Also be sure to adjust the reading for the temperate of the sample.

I think you mashed a little high too. Did it hold at 158 for the entire time? If it went over that might explain the problem. If it held at 158 I could see it being a few points high but not that much.

Hydrometer is reading correctly, I don't know if you guys saw that I added a little bit of honey..

I didn't understand the directions apparently. I pre-heated my tun and I thought the instructions were telling me to basically mash at 168.. So I basically mashed at 168 for the whole hour. eff And yeah my tun held the temp great.... at 168 for a freakin hour... does this mean I'm screwed? I'm apprehensive about adding the amylase enzyme, even though that seems like the only option now.

dkershner said:

There are a few possible reasons, unfermentability is surely one. 158 is where you mashed if you followed your instructions, 168 is a mashout. 158 would put you high in the amount of unfermentables, but not 30 points. 158 is a fine mash temp for a brown. You do have a fair amount of specialty grains as well, but there is no way your beer should be above 1.020.

Click to expand...

Yep, but keep in mind that if your thermometer is even 2 degrees off, you might have mashed way too high, and don't have much in the way of fermentables left. I have only ever mashed two beers above about 155, and that was because I wanted less fermentable wort.

Nickme23 said:

Hydrometer is reading correctly, I don't know if you guys saw that I added a little bit of honey..

I didn't understand the directions apparently. I pre-heated my tun and I thought the instructions were telling me to basically mash at 168.. So I basically mashed at 168 for the whole hour. eff And yeah my tun held the temp great.... at 168 for a freakin hour... does this mean I'm screwed? I'm apprehensive about adding the amylase enzyme, even though that seems like the only option now.

Click to expand...

Ouch. I just saw this, so ignore the above post!

If you mashed at 168, you're lucky you got ANY fermentables out. Your beer seems done.

You could add the amylase enzyme, as a last resort. But if your beer is even the least bit drinkable, I'd bottle as is and consider it a lesson learned.

Mashing at 168 seems pretty high. I usually try to hit about 152 or so. Because of the initial very active fermentation, I would be surprised if repitching would help.
I am by no means an expert, but my thoughts are that all the fermentables have been consumed, and a lot of non fermentables are responsible for the high gravity.

Nickme23 said:

Hydrometer is reading correctly, I don't know if you guys saw that I added a little bit of honey..

I didn't understand the directions apparently. I pre-heated my tun and I thought the instructions were telling me to basically mash at 168.. So I basically mashed at 168 for the whole hour. eff And yeah my tun held the temp great.... at 168 for a freakin hour... does this mean I'm screwed? I'm apprehensive about adding the amylase enzyme, even though that seems like the only option now.

Click to expand...

Yep, that's what did it. 168 is way too high and definitely the cause of your problem.

What are you using as a mash tun? If it's a cooler style mash tun I would recommend using beer smith - it will calculate the strike temperature of the water you use (as well as the quantity) so that it will equilibrate with the room temperature grain at the desired mash temp (~152 or so).

+1 to using amalayse enzyme. a buddy did this with a beer that got stuck at 1.035, dropped it to 1.020.

A few things caught my eye. First, that's a lot of cara-malts for even a 158F mash. The mashout infusion to hit 168 was supposed to happen AFTER 60 minutes at 158. Does it look really hazy? I'd expect that with a large starch load.

It's clear as can be, darker than I would have thought and yes, I realize now that 168 was too high but the directions sucked so I didn't know otherwise. I should have re-read some AG tutorial before trying to follow the stupid directions.

I know now that I mashed waaaay too high and that most likely all the fermentables are used up, I added the amylase enzyme and I've re-pitched another packet of s-04. Gravity is coming down! 1.028 now WAHOO!!!

Gravity is now 1.019!! Still very gently fermenting. T.G. is 1.008-1.012

Good glad to here it.