S l o w fermenting
 

I've had my brew in the primary for a week. It bubbled like a champ the first 4 days or so. Now, it's taking 5 minutes or more to bubble. I started at 1.047. two days ago the gravity was 1.020. I roused it. Today, it's 1.019. It should be at 1.012. It's a pretty steady 68 degrees here. At what point do you pitch new yeast?

I stirred the wort outside to cool it which I thought would aerate it good. I used a muntons dry yeast pack- I pitched the yeast at 86 degrees. Waited 10 minutes and stirred a few strokes like the instructions said. Should I do anything differently next time?

I've had similar bad luck with the Muntons yeast, I stopped using it entirely in fact. If you can, try and bring the temperature of the beer up a few degrees. That should help the yeast get finished up.

Shaking the bucket/carboy will work better for aerating but there's nothing wrong with how you did it.

I would gently rock the fermenter just to disturb the cake, but not enough to create splashes or anything. Warm the fermenter up to the mid 70s and wait a couple days. Hopefully it'll drop a few more points. I'm in the same boat actually... my 1.060 rye porter was at 1.020 after 7 days with zero airlock activity. I was about to rack it to a keg (yeah... kinda rushing it), but ended up just rockin the cake a little and warmed it up. That was like 2 days ago. If it hasn't dropped at least a couple points by tonight I'm gonna pitch more yeast. IDK... with Nottinghams it should have AT LEAST hit 1.016 if not 1.012-14.

My first batch did that with Munton's dry and had similar problems with it finishing up. How does it taste? If you've got enough IBU's in there to balance out the leftover sweetness, I might not worry about it. You'll probably lose another couple points by the time it's through the secondary and bottle carbonation.

Only things I can think of to do differently is rehydrate the yeast in warm water (boil it first). Pitch at a slightly lower temp, like 80F. Maybe aerate more, stirring might not do much if you don't splash much. I really shake the crap outta my carboys now and it seems to be working.

It's still only 1.018. Do I throw in new yeast or add yeast nutrients? It will take months to get to 1.012 the way it is.

Ditto what reshp1 said. Hydrate your yeast per package instructions and aerate your wort well. I would also pitch cooler then 86F. More like the low 70's and ferment 68-72.

GT

That's great for the next batch. What do I do with this one?

I've had a stuck fermentation in the past, and here's how I got past it.

1. Aquarium aerator. Cost me about $5 to get the set-up at the pet store. Sanitize - submerge - and let it go for 5 - 10 minutes.

2. Yeast nutrient I bought at the LHBS. It was less than $2.

I did both of these things at the same time, and it kicked back off immediatlly.

The only recomendation I have for next time is to use a starter - expecially with dry yeast.

Good luck!

Cool. Thanks.

You definitely do not want a starter with dry yeast. Liquid yeast absolutely but dry yeast should just be rehydrated as per the manufacturer's directions.