Stuck Ferm advice

Beernip · 07-19-2009, 03:21 PM

I brewed up a batch of Orfy's Hobgoblin II clone for my first all grain batch on 6/14. I seem to hit my mash numbers and received an OG of 1.056. I dumped in to a carboy through a strainer and shook. Pitched rehydrated notty yeast once temp was at 68. The next day fermentation took off went for a few days (@65). Thought it was done and let it sit for 3 weeks and went to bottle on the weekend of the 4th. While racking to my bottling bucket took a SG reading and was at 1.030?

So I moved it back (plus my bottling sugar that was mixed in already) on top of the original yeast cake and it took off again for a day and then stopped. I waited a few days and took another reading and it was now down to 1.026. I swirled the carboy every day for the next week but could get more then 1 bubble every few minutes.

Still thinking it wasn't done I repitched notty and waited another week. It was still at 1.026. So this last weekend my third AG batch (an Irish Red) was done (FG=1.015) fermenting and racked the Hobgoblin on top of the WPL004 yeast cake hoping to finish it off. I got no new activity for the week and check last night and is still at 1.026.

I'm out of ideas? Is this thing just done? My first AG batch I was using a questionable thermometer which have since switched but it said I was at 154 mash temp but could have been higher. I'd appreciate any suggestions on where to go from here.

tcklord · 07-19-2009, 08:45 PM

Yeah it sounds like you pretty much did everything you could for it. Most likely your mash temp was high and you got more complex sugars that the yeast couldn't break down. If it tastes ok I would just bottle it and drink it as is. Make sure your SG doesn't change over a 3 day period and then bottle like normal. The other thing you could try but a lot of people don't recommend is to add something like beano that will break down the sugars more, but sometimes you will get a beer that ends up too dry that way. If it tastes ok just bottle it up and next time calibrate your thermometer in ice water first.

**budbo** · 07-19-2009, 11:57 PM

Adding 2 crushed beano to the secondary can help get the FG down as it breaks the complex sugars into fermentables.

Beernip · 07-20-2009, 05:56 PM

Thanks for the advice. I had not heard about using Beano but after a little research I don't think it's what I want to do. I was hoping for a FG of 1.014 and Beano would take it well beyond that.

I guess that my options are

1) Bottle as is. It's still pretty sweet but drinkable with a low AV.
2) Make another batch, mash at a lower temp (~148 - 150) and blend the two.
3) Add Brets.

WorryWort · 07-20-2009, 06:42 PM

Option 3! Bret.