Does steeping too hot cause more unfermentables?

I brewed an extract version of BierMunchers Octoberfast (guess you can call it a pm) and the FG is a little high. I was expecting 1.014 and its sitting at 1.020 right now. It was 1.022 and I gave it a good rousing 3 times over the course of 1.5 days. 2 days later, its sitting at 1.020 although there is still some airlock activity (every 20 seconds or so). It has been 2 weeks since I brewed this though. The only thing that I can think of is that when I steeped the grains, the water got to around 168-170 for about 10 minutes before I got it back to a more reasonable area of 158. Would this be enough to cause the difference in fg? For reference here is my recipe:

4.00 lb Pilsner Liquid Extract
1.50 lb Amber Liquid Extract
2.50 lb Munich Liquid Extract (this was from AHS said its 20% Munich malt and 80% 2-row)
1.10 lb Caravienne
1.10 lb Crystal 20L
0.50 lb Crystal 40L
1.00 oz Tettnang 4.40% 60 mins
0.50 oz Tettnang 4.40% 45 mins
0.50 oz Tettnang 4.40% 20 mins

1 package SafAle S-04

I boiled 3 lbs of the extract with 3 gallons of water, and added the other 5 lbs of extract for the last 10 mins. I steeped the grains for 35 minutes, and then sparged them with 170 degree water just with a ladle with about a half a gallon of water. Topped it off with 2.5 gallons which after the boil off brought it to roughly 5 gallons. OG was 1.056.

Fermentation happened in a temperature controlled environment at 59 degrees, so inside the carboy, I figure it was around 69. Once I roused it, I moved the outside air to 66 degrees to try to get things going again.

Beer Smith didnt have the Munich Extract as an option, so instead I chose it as Pale. Could this be the FG difference?

Any other ideas? I dont think its stuck. Think it might just be done here.

Thanks.

I'm rather new but from what I've read, steeping grains at a higher temp just leads to off flavors from the tannins. I don't think it will give you a higher SG. I would let it go another week and see if it falls. Or you could pitch some more yeast. Worse comes to worse, your alcohol is down a little and it is a little sweeter.

Lower temperatures 147-152 create more fermentables, thinner beer - higher temps 156 - 62 create more mouth feel, less fermentables - your often used middle ground is 153-155 - so boiling too hot should not raise your OG

Actually, water around 168 can cause the enzymatic conversion of starches to sugars to stop, actually. Thats one of the reasons for sparging with hotter water.

However, all of that said - the extracts have already been mashed, and their OG is predetermined by the manufacturer. The Crystal grains provide little fermentable sugars, which is why they create residual sweetness. Any software you may have used takes this into account, though, and the FG they suggest is calculated knowing that you are using Crystal grains, so it should still be a pretty-accurate number.

If there are still bubbles then you should not be concerned at all, it is still going. 59 is a little on the cold side, maybe the wort wasn't as warm as you thought and it just took more time for the yeast to get going. If you see bubbles it is still going! Wait 3 or 4 says, then check your SG...

Fermentation started after about 4 hours. Pretty sure it was very well aerated as well. Krausen fell after about 4 days. Bubbles did never really slow more than every 20-30 seconds. Just seems weird to me that after 2 weeks it would still be doing this.

s04 has low attenuation, even on my kit beers with an OG of 1048 it only got down to 1014 in some cases.
Tell me how it tastes.
If it's still sweet tasting it's still going, s04 hates low temps and it could still be going. I've had s04 brews take longer than 2 weeks at 16*C
If it's not sweet, it's done.

packet says 59-75 on it, so pretty sure I was ok with temperature since I figure they are referring to the actual wort temperature, not the outside temp. I guess it is slightly sweet still. Guess Ill give it some more time. Have plenty of time until October anyway.

Well, generally mashing high does produce more unfermentable wort. But steeping doesn't matter- there aren't any real fermentables coming from steeping grains (crystal) and you're just steeping them for color and flavor. Your recipe is NOT a PM recipe, unless you had some base grains in there that aren't listed- it's an extract recipe.

I didn't see the original recipe, but that sure seems to be a boatload of crystal. I am thinking that nearly 3 pounds of crystal in a 5 gallon batch will cause the high FG and lots of sweetness in the finished beer.

Yooper beat me...as usual.

Steeping and Mashing...two different things. Steeping = flavor, color, aroma...but no sugars. you must Mash to activate the enzymes which extract the sugar.

most extract + steeping grains are using grains that don't have those enzymes.


How many days has this been fermenting? I can't see a clear timeline in the post?

What's the suggested O.G. for the kit? To me your O.G. seems a little low for an Oktoberfest. Are you brewing a Lager or Ale? I'm guessing a Lager. I'm about two weeks into my first Oktoberfest Lager. Tuesday (S.G. 1.026) I racked it to a secondary and today I took another S.G. to see where it was at, it dropped to 1.020, and the taste has really developed. I was surprised how much fermentation still happened after taking the beer off the cake.

Did you steep the grains and then add the extract into the same water?

i have had beer that was still active in the airlock 3 weeks or more. its not really anything bad... just let it do its thing... some ferment out in a week and a half...while others take longer.

I'd call it done. By steeping almost 3 pounds of grain, you'll have 10 points of unfermentables, plus whatever was in the extracts. If you had been able to hit 152F at the start and held it for 60 minutes, the caravienne would have converted itself & a bit of the crystal malts.

Sorry for the lack of response. To answer some questions:
It has been 2 weeks and 1 days since I brewed now. Fermentation started about 3 hours after brewing.
This was not a kit it was a converted AG recipe from a member. Seemed like a lot of crystal, but that is what Beer Smith suggested. Expected OG was 1.055 so came out almost spot on there.
Yes I steeped the grains and then added the extract to the same water.
Beer is actually an ale, not a lager. So not a true Oktoberfest, but its meant to be brewed quickly which is why the recipe use ale yeast.