Samuel Adams Clone stuck at 1.030 after 17 days

**ThatGuyRyan** · 04-22-2009, 06:51 PM

Target specs 1.092 - 1.017
Mine 1.086 - 1.030 after 17 days

I did a mini-mash Sam Adams Dbl Bock clone a few weeks ago and it looks like its stuck. Here is the problem I started this on the 5th and used White Labs 838 German Lager that I started 6 days earlier and stepped it up twice to end up with 2qts of starter that I pitched.

I went crazy for 6 days with plenty of action in the air lock in fact this was the longest any of my beers showed signs of action in the airlock. I had this in my outer basement at 66 degrees for the first 10 days then moved it to the brew room where its 70. I then got sick with pneumonia so lets just say I wasn't about to open it and take some readings so I never checked it until yesterday. In fact I only went into the basement the past three weeks was to move it to the warmer room and then back to bed.

But now I am back alive and its 17 days since I started and I took a sample last night and its 1.030 with a starting OG of 1.086. The kit says to cold ferment this at 50 degrees for 10 days then secondary at 60-70 for a month but also says you can warm ferment it for 7 days each primary and secondary. Since I don't have a extra fridge I put it in my cooler basement for a while then into the warmer room.

This is also my first mini-mash and the first time instead of using two vials of yeast only using one and using a starter made well in advance. Is it too late to pitch more yeast? Should I give it a shake? Just let it sit longer? It just seems that after three weeks 1.030 is way too high and I don't see it fermenting out to 1.017 in the secondary am I wrong?

Dos_Locos_Brewery · 04-23-2009, 05:08 PM

Rousing the yeast and adding more yeast are both pretty unintrusive, so they would be good to try first. 1.030 is a bit high, but it implies ~65% apparent attenuation. That is within the conceivable range. How fermentable do you expect this wort to be? White Labs says 68-76% for German Lager, but I find that AA depends more on the wort than the yeast.

Have a nice big glass of HB - I hear it's good for recovering from pneumonia...

78kombi · 04-23-2009, 07:13 PM

try servomyces tablets I used them ( one actually) for a honey pale I had stuck, and it really fermemted out dry, too dry .down to 1.004 from 1.060. works though

**ThatGuyRyan** · 04-24-2009, 03:22 PM

Well I called Austin HB where I got the kit from and they are stumped. They suggested to move it to a warmer location for a few days to see if it wakes up. And if not they said to pitch some more yeast with an activator. I placed it in a warmer location on Wednesday and have some more yeast standing by and will check it again and possibly pitch some more tonight or Saturday.

Its just strange that I brewed two kits from AHB one on Saturday and the other on Sunday both high gravity kits the SA DBL Bock and Chimay Red and the Red hit the OG and FG without a problem. I made a starter for both at the same time and stepped them up at the same time. The only difference was the yeast so I don't know if the SA was just a little old or got too warm or cold in shipping or what.

But anyway even if it doesn't budge from 1.030 it does taste spot on form the sample I drank so not all is lost!

Dos_Locos_Brewery · 04-28-2009, 04:51 PM

Yeast is always going to be your biggest unknown - it is a living organism, after all. Pitching large, healthy populations will avoid all sorts of woes. Having a tasty hydrometer sample is a good sign!

**ThatGuyRyan** · 04-29-2009, 09:04 PM

Well not much happened so on some advise from a friend I mixed up some dry yeast that was listed on the kit as a option and threw that in over the weekend. And its now at 1.028 so it did do something! I am just going to let it sit for a while then rack to secondary and let it sit again for a few weeks. Hell it still tastes good a little sweeter than the real thing that I sampled with my hydro reading! But that can be because one is flat and green and the other is a real bottle!

I will definitely make this again but next time I think I will use dry yeast from the get go and use a lot more. I also ordered a stir plate for my starter so who knows maybe I will be better at making starters then.