jpmckay1981

Recipes 

This is my third brew so far. I did the Power pack porter extract kit from Midwest Brewing.

Used Safale S-04 yeast.

Boiled full 5 gallons. Pitched dry without starter.

Airlock activity was great. After 1 week racked to secondary. Has been in secondary 3.5 weeks. That's when the temp dropped to around 60 degrees F. Didn't think it would hurt fermentation, but now I think it was the major cause. OG was 1.063, target FG is1.012. Currently at 1.022.

Tried rousing the yeast and brought the temp up to 70, but after 5 days it's still stuck at 1.022.

Is there anything I can do to reach FG at this point, or should I just bottle and be done with it?

twistr25

Recipes 

Did you check the gravity before you racked it? That was probably your first mistake. It should be nearly done fermenting before moving to secondary, taking it off the yeast cake too soon can cause it to stall, and with the higher OG it needs a little longer anyway.

I would think you'd be fine to go ahead and bottle it though.

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TheZymurgist

Recipes 

It should be COMPLETELY done fermenting before you rack it. That means giving the yeast a chance to clean up after themselves after they have stopped consuming sugars. One of the most significant improvements I've noticed in the quality of my beer is leaving it on the yeast for at least a week after the gravity has stopped dropping.

You could always pitch another packet of yeast if you want to try to get it down further. If it were me, I'd taste it and try to decide from there. You shouldn't have any issues if you bottle it now, but be careful not to over carbonate.

jpmckay1981

Recipes 

Yeah, I learned too late that I should check the gravity before moving to secondary. I did sample it last night. It's not awful, but is pretty sweet for a porter. If I pitch more yeast should I do a starter/ rehydrate/ pitch dry? Will it even make a difference or should I just accept my low abv?

Hopper5000

Recipes 

You can do a repitch. You should also rehydrate if you are going to use dry yeast (you can use s04 again) since throwing dry yeast directly in there can cause it to die from the alcohol.

I leave the beers in primary for a least 2 weeks and take a gravity reading before you rack.

jpmckay1981

Recipes 

One more question. Do I repitch an entire 11.5 gram packet like what came with the kit or pitch less yeast this time?

Yooper

Recipes 

It's almost impossible to repitch and get it to work. Part of the reason is the alcohol in the beer- it just is toxic to yeast. I probably wouldn't repitch, and instead just live with the porter at 1.022 (which is not terribly high for a FG for a robust porter which is normally 1.012-1.016). But if you really want it to attenuate more, racking onto a yeast cake from another beer might help. I never had any luck just adding more yeast once fermentation went that far, and it got stuck. I'd be more inclined to call this one "finished" instead of "stuck".

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Hopper5000

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I have had success doing repitch into beer that got stuck. It can't hurt to try. I would just throw the whole pack in.

WhiteDog87

Recipes 

I agree.

I made a Stout that finished way too high, around 1.030 from a 1.075 OG. I said screw it and carbonated it up anyways and drank it, and it tastes great. In fact one of my cousins tasted it and said it was the best stout hes ever had. Its definitely not the best stout I have ever had (or made) but it is pretty good. Unfortunately for my cousin I have no way to replicate this beer with its FG stuck at 1.030 lol

logan3825

Recipes 

With 6lb of dark malt extract and 3.3lb of light malt extract I think you are probably done. My experience with dark malt extract is that it will not attenuate as well as other extracts and with 9.3 total lb of malt extract you would have probably had to add some simple sugars to get it to much below 1.020. I think.