Is my Beer done?

I have had my first AG brew, a 2.5 gallon batch nut brown ale in the fermenter for a month now.
IG was 1.056, at 2 weeks it was at 1.030 now 4 weeks out it is just at1.029.
First mistake I made was to pitch a vial of WPL002 yeast without making a starter. Fermentation was slow to start.
Brew sheet says it should be at 1.018 or so. I sloshed the bucket around at the 2 week mark to rouse things up but with no great response. So do I just let it go some more or pitch a packet of dry yeast in to finish it off? I don't want to end up with bottle bombs in the basement.

dont add more yeast. there is no point at this point the original batch has multiplied to the appropriate amount. do you have any idea what the temperature of your wort is? if its below about 68F then your yeast are just sleepy and you should warm them up.

fermentation temp? mash temp?

29 seems pretty real high to me.

current temp

Mash Temp was at 154 for 60 min with a 10 min mashout at 170. It was a BIAB
batch. Pitch and ferment temp is a constant 70 degrees

hm, that's confusing.

is your hydrometer accurate?

Yeah sounds like you might have a bad hydrometer. Calibrate it in distilled water or just tap water at like 60F. A lot of people just pitch a vial to a 5g batch and still end up alright. Since your batch is half that size it seems like you should easily have finished beer at this point. Maybe your yeast had expired?

motobrewer said:

hm, that's confusing.

is your hydrometer accurate?

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Is your thermometer accurate as well? 154 mash temp. isn't too high. Your FG should be lower than 029.

true, check your thermo as well.

but, even if you mashed at 159, it should still get lower than 29

I had the same thing happen to me with a Winter Warmer. OG was 1.060, and the yeast took a dump on me at 1.030. I think my problem was in the boil kettle. I think I had the gas too high on my burner and scorched some of the wort which created unfermentable sugars. I remember reading about it somewhere, but forget what the whole problem was. I bottled it, and it never carbed right, which was the second problem with the batch. When I poured it, it made a nice head, but it just died, like pouring a glass of coca cola after it's been opened for a day or two. Third problem was it was sweet like coke....not AS sweet, but sweet. I drank the whole bloody batch anyway.

Well the Hydrometer seems fine. 1.0 with 60 degree tap water. Don't think it's the thermometer. I could live with a 3.2 beer as it tastes nice now, not too sweet. My initial concern was with bottles exploding if I bottled.

if it's done fermenting, the only way to get it to start again is to add more fermentable sugar, or wake up your yeast. if you're at fermentation temps, then forget about adding yeast. Since you're going to add sugar at bottling, as long as you keep the amount in check, you shouldn't have bottle bombs. If you're using coopers carb drops (I love using them, they carb quick and you can't overcarb) one drop per 12 oz, if you're using other fermentable sugar, it's 3/4 cup for a 5 gallon batch. That should keep those bottle bombs under control. Good luck