Gravity and fermentation question

brad26 · 07-21-2010, 07:39 PM

I am making an oatmeal coffee stout and I started with a OG of 1.097, I've had it in the fermentor for about five days, all visible fermentation has ceased, and transferred it to the secondary today. I added 3 ounces of oak chips and some cold brewed coffee but I forgot to take a hydrometer reading before adding this stuff (not sure if it makes a difference or not, I'm guessing no) but the hydrometer read 1.040, my target FG was 1.025. Does fermentation continue in the secondary and if so will I still possibly reach my estimated FG? Thanks!

DustinHickey · 07-21-2010, 07:46 PM

Thats a huge OG and a super high FG. What type of yeast did you use? Were you sure to pitch enough yeast for that OG?

Racking too soon to the secondary may inhibit further fermentation becauese beer is racked away from most of the yest in the primary. That FG is high. You can produce a light stout with that much sugar.

Bizoune · 07-22-2010, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DustinHickey

Thats a huge OG and a super high FG. What type of yeast did you use? Were you sure to pitch enough yeast for that OG?

Racking too soon to the secondary may inhibit further fermentation becauese beer is racked away from most of the yest in the primary. That FG is high. You can produce a light stout with that much sugar.

Yep, that is quite high. I had a Barleywine go from 1.100 to 1.020 in week using Nottingham. You could always leave it then check your FG in a week to see how it is doing. Adding some dry yeast might be an option, eventually.

**944play** · 07-22-2010, 02:46 PM

A pack of dry yeast probably won't do much. If it's truly stuck, you'll want to pitch a starter at high kraeusen. If you want to pull out the big guns, rack the beer onto a fresh yeast cake. To go full nuclear, bust out some enzymes.

The additional fermentation is probably going to scrub out all your nice coffee aromas though.

brad26 · 07-24-2010, 03:31 AM

Here is my recipe

9.00 lbs Pale Malt Extract
1.5 lbs Pale Malt 2-Row
1.00 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain
1.00 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain
1.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain

I used two packages of Safale US-05 dry ale yeast, didn't use a starter. I'm thinking I may have killed some of the yeast because I pitched it at probably 100 degrees (I know, I'm dumb). The yeast were extremely active the first couple of days but then it slowed and stopped on day three, and no more activity the following two days. Any thoughts on something I may have done wrong or perhaps something I didn't do?

Bizoune · 07-24-2010, 03:45 AM

I've had lousy experiences with DME beer and bottled water. I figured that the water was too clean and that yeasties were looking for minerals and not finding many. Eventually, they stopped working. The few extract recipes that I did were using good old tap water. Much better results were had.

If you hydraded your yeast in 100F pre-boiled water for about 30 min, then pitched to 70F wort I don't think that's the problem. I do this all the time with great success.

Usually I get about 75-80% ADF with us-05. Maybe packs were old?

Looking at your recipe, there's a lot of specialty grains in there. They will leave some residual sugar in your beer that won't be fermented out. I don't have a lot of info regarding your process, but changing recipe and keeping specialty grains under 15% should give you better results.

brad26 · 07-24-2010, 03:56 AM

Oh yeah that's true about the specialty grains, I guess I didn't think about that. I'm guessing that is why nothing else has happened. Thanks for your input.

Just for future reference, I used 1.5 pounds of pale malt 2-row, will the enzymes in that help convert some of the starches in the specialty grains into fermentable sugars?

Bizoune · 07-24-2010, 01:09 PM

That 1.5 half pound will help but you will need to do a partial mash. Simply seeping the grains in hot water, like you probably did with your specialty grains, won't properly convert startchs.

a10t2 · 07-24-2010, 03:59 PM

Doing a mini-mash isn't really any harder than steeping. You just have to use about 2 quarts of water per pound of grain, and keep it around 150-160°F for an hour or so.

Just for future reference, to ensure conversion you want to use at most 2 lb of other grains per pound of 2-row. At 3.3:1 you may not get full conversion, even after an hour.

If it tastes good and you're kegging, go ahead. I wouldn't risk bottling though. Follow 944play's advice: make a new starter and pitch it active. I'd bet anything you have more fermentation to go.

KeithMoonsLiver · 07-24-2010, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bizoune

I've had lousy experiences with DME beer and bottled water. I figured that the water was too clean and that yeasties were looking for minerals and not finding many. Eventually, they stopped working. The few extract recipes that I did were using good old tap water. Much better results were had.

Is there actually any truth to this? Unless you use DI or distilled water, won't bottled water have plenty of ions just like tap water? In any case, shouldn't the extract have all the nutrients/minerals the yeast need?

just wondering because I do extract brewing and use bottled water, and sometimes don't get the FG quite as low as I'd like.