2nd beer stuck at 1.022

spaga33 · 01-25-2010, 06:58 PM

I brewed Elbro Nerkte Brown Ale from the recipe in The Joy of Homebrewing and its been fermenting for about 12 days. Within a few hours there was a lot of activity and when i woke up in the morning the airlock was clogged. I removed that, sanitized it and attached a blow off tube. When i got home from work that night, the blow off tube was no longer necessary so i put the airlock back on the next morning. Since then, ive let it sit in my closet at around 75 degrees and there has been no bubbles in the airlock. I took a hydrometer reading two days ago and it read 1.022. I roused the yeast by gently rocking the bucket and let it sit until this morning. Took another reading today and its still at 1.022. The recipe says the F.G. should be between 1.010 and 1.014. My starting gravity was 1.056. Should i pitch more yeast, let it sit another week or two, or bottle already?

Heres the recipe I used:
6 lbs Plain Dark DME
1/2 lb 80L crystal Malt
1/4 lb Black Patent Malt
1.5 oz Cascade hops (boiling)
.5 oz Cascade hops (finishing)
And a package of Windsor yeast

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

**david_42** · 01-25-2010, 07:04 PM

Windsor has been selected to under-attenuate malt in malt + cane sugar recipes. When used with all-malt recipes, you end up with high final gravities. Try re-pitching something like Nottingham, US-05 or Muntons Gold.

**Dave258** · 01-25-2010, 08:00 PM

Last two times I used windsor Ale yeast, my gravity was 1.020 on a Pumpkin Ale and 1.018 on a Nut Brown.
Lately, I have been using liquid yeasts with a starter, and a mix-stirer attached to my drill to get good aeration. Last 5 batches done this way finished where they should have!

Kahuna · 01-25-2010, 08:21 PM

+1 on the previous posts about different yeast strains.

The 75 degree temp is also on the high side. This can cause a ferment that starts and ends fast and doesn't ferment completely. (it also can produce high ester levels).

I'd repitch and get this moved to a cooler spot.

TechyDork · 01-25-2010, 08:37 PM

I just used windsor on a smoked porter. it finished at 1.026 so i pitched some nottingham and it brought it right down to 1.018.

Try pitching some nottingham and give it a week or two to finish out, i bet you will get it to finish out.

fatguy-littlecoat · 01-25-2010, 09:45 PM

ive had 1 windsor stop @ 1020 and one that never took off. i wont use it again.

**osagedr** · 01-25-2010, 10:03 PM

Advice so far sounds good. There's a big thread on the 1.020 curse here on HBT: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/1-020-curse-63896/

I've got a similar problem right now, except with two lagers. I raised the temp from 50 to 58 and stirred the yeast back into suspension a few days ago--nothing. So I'm just deciding whether to re-pitch something like Saflager s-23 or just carry on and lager it. I'm leaning toward the former to try and get the gravity down another 6 points or something. On the other hand I'm around 4.3% ABV on one of the batches, probably even higher on the other and the beer tastes pretty good.

spaga33 · 01-25-2010, 10:29 PM

Thanks for the advice.

Just pitched some Nottingham yeast so hopefully this works out alright.

Also, i was wrong... the closet im keeping it in is 68 degrees, not 75.

Thanks again.

spaga33 · 02-01-2010, 04:21 PM

Well its been a week so i took another gravity reading.... still at 1.02... i think ill just bottle it. Tastes pretty good right now, kinda similar to Lake Placid Ubu, so i'm alright with that.

**osagedr** · 02-01-2010, 08:59 PM

Yep, bottle it. I'm going through the same thing and am resolved to make sure I pitch enough yeast every brew from now on.