Stuck Fermentation...yes really

So I have tried almost everything. I made an all grain IPA. Mash @154 degrees. use yeast nutrient and boiled the wort chiller @ 15 mins. About a six gallon batch. Just grain. No other fermentables. And 7oz of hops.

Thought I knew what I did wrong, I didn't think I aerated enough, but now I'm not sure. Usually I use O2, however I ran out and didn't realize until after I had pitched the yeast. But for the yeast it was a 1.5L starter @ 18 hours. WPL060. Gave it a decent shake, although probably not as much as I normally would without a starter. 0G of 1.066. Let it ferment, attached a blow out tube, which it blew through really well. After 2 weeks I checked the gravity expected it to be around 1.017, it was @1.035.

Was fermenting @168 degrees, moved it to a place a few degrees warmer, about 72. checked again, nothing. Made a new 1.5L starter with 060, pitched at high Krausen, swirled it when I pitched it, didn't want to shake it for oxidation fears. Left it @ 72 degrees for 2 weeks, just checked and it has dropped to 1.034...

I have no idea WTF. Was going to go get some Beano today, because why not at this point. Still would like to do a massive dry hop, but also don't want to waste anymore hops if this is not going to fully ferment. Seems a bit too unfermented to actually Keg at this point.

Any thoughts? Advice?

You have calibrated your hydrometer?

Refractometer or hydrometer?

I have the same thing going on right now OG 1.056 ferment good for 4 days, then slowed way down, then stopped. Rack it into secondary and gravity was 1.030, tasted sweet but good. I'm just going to let it set for a while, I'm getting a bubble once in a while out of the secondary.

how are you planning on stopping the Beano when it hits your intended FG?

Refractometer, and it is calibrated. I have rechecked it several times. I will make sure by testing something else I know the fg of to make sure. As for stopping the fermentation after adding beano, I had read it will stop on its own. Haven't heard any actual stories of it going too low. Might be a cool experiment any how at this point.

I'm wondering if you rack to dry hop if you may get enough aeration to kick it back into fermentation and by using the oxygen up not run into an oxidation problem.

chiteface said:

Refractometer, and it is calibrated. I have rechecked it several times. I will make sure by testing something else I know the fg of to make sure. As for stopping the fermentation after adding beano, I had read it will stop on its own. Haven't heard any actual stories of it going too low. Might be a cool experiment any how at this point.

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it will stop on it's own but it won't magically stop at 1.017. it will be a cool experiment.

chiteface said:

Refractometer, and it is calibrated. I have rechecked it several times. I will make sure by testing something else I know the fg of to make sure. As for stopping the fermentation after adding beano, I had read it will stop on its own. Haven't heard any actual stories of it going too low. Might be a cool experiment any how at this point.

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It might be calibrated, but since alcohol is in the mix, the reading is skewed and so if you test it with a hydrometer, I bet you'll find that it's more like 1.015-1.018. Try it!

I'll make a little bet. If you check it with a hydrometer, it'll be 1.020 or less. That's my guess.

Mu guess... Either your thermometer was off and you mashed much higher than you thought or your refractometer is giving you false readings. That beer is finished. How did it taste? A 1.066 beer would have finished with a vial of yeast.... And you pitched two different starters.

Yooper said:

It might be calibrated, but since alcohol is in the mix, the reading is skewed and so if you test it with a hydrometer, I bet you'll find that it's more like 1.015-1.018. Try it!

I'll make a little bet. If you check it with a hydrometer, it'll be 1.020 or less. That's my guess.

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^this...unless you are already correcting for the alcohol. Even then, refractometers are not particularly accurate once the beer is fermenting. Save it for brewday when checking OG, preboil gravity, etc. Use a hydrometer to determine FG.

JLem said:

^this...unless you are already correcting for the alcohol. Even then, refractometers are not particularly accurate once the beer is fermenting. Save it for brewday when checking OG, preboil gravity, etc. Use a hydrometer to determine FG.

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And do NOT add Beano or agitate the beer to lower the FG. Since the refractometer reading is not accurate or even close, the beer is done and agitating it or adding amylase to it will simply ruin it.

To quote Gob Bluth. I've made a huge mistake...but it could have been bigger.

I did not add Beano, I just didn't know how to properly use a refractometer. 10% rule right? Have to be 10% smarter than the thing you are using.

I plugged the numbers into a calculator and I am great...Will compare the numbers against my hydrometer too, so I can gain a better understanding.

Thank you for you help. I love this hobby. I learn something new every time I brew.

chiteface said:

To quote Gob Bluth. I've made a huge mistake...but it could have been bigger.

I did not add Beano, I just didn't know how to properly use a refractometer. 10% rule right? Have to be 10% smarter than the thing you are using.

I plugged the numbers into a calculator and I am great...Will compare the numbers against my hydrometer too, so I can gain a better understanding.

Thank you for you help. I love this hobby. I learn something new every time I brew.

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Excellent...and don't worry...the refractometer is about the smartest thing you'll run into in this hobby

JLem said:

Excellent...and don't worry...the refractometer is about the smartest thing you'll run into in this hobby

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Oh, I dunno know about that! It sure seems like my March 809 pump is 10% smarter than me. It sometimes just sits there, and confounds me. I prime it, talk sweetly to it, re-orient the head, etc, and it just gives me a groan of disgust at times. And I"m not smart enough to realize that having TWO of them is twice the amount of disgust from them.

Our tools are helpful, that's for sure. But I never let a reading from a tool tell me something that doesn't make sense. Like in this example- the beer is finished as it's clear and not longer actively fermenting. If it really was stuck at 1.035, it would be sweet and unpalatable. But that wasn't the case, from what I read. So I would always pull out another tool (hydrometer) to see if my instincts were right.

That happens during a boil, when I'm measuring hops (using grams instead of ounces, duh!) or grain, etc. If something doesn't seem right, trust your instincts and double check with another toy, er, tool.

Yooper said:

Our tools are helpful, that's for sure. But I never let a reading from a tool tell me something that doesn't make sense. Like in this example- the beer is finished as it's clear and not longer actively fermenting. If it really was stuck at 1.035, it would be sweet and unpalatable. But that wasn't the case, from what I read. So I would always pull out another tool (hydrometer) to see if my instincts were right.

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This is probably the best advice, because when I tasted my first sample it was really really good, I should have dry hopped and then threw into a Keg right there. It did taste sweet, but I used the hop burst technique with Belma hops. Oh well it still tastes good. The other problem is my hydrometer has never been accurate. I can actually see where the paper should be, but it slid down about a cm. Anyways thanks again! On to Dry hop!:rockin:

Yooper said:

Oh, I dunno know about that! It sure seems like my March 809 pump is 10% smarter than me. It sometimes just sits there, and confounds me. I prime it, talk sweetly to it, re-orient the head, etc, and it just gives me a groan of disgust at times. And I"m not smart enough to realize that having TWO of them is twice the amount of disgust from them.

Our tools are helpful, that's for sure. But I never let a reading from a tool tell me something that doesn't make sense. Like in this example- the beer is finished as it's clear and not longer actively fermenting. If it really was stuck at 1.035, it would be sweet and unpalatable. But that wasn't the case, from what I read. So I would always pull out another tool (hydrometer) to see if my instincts were right.

That happens during a boil, when I'm measuring hops (using grams instead of ounces, duh!) or grain, etc. If something doesn't seem right, trust your instincts and double check with another toy, er, tool.

Click to expand...

With the march are you referring to air locking? If so just put T in and an extra ball valve down at the output and when it air locks just open that valve until the sucking noise changes and it will fix your prob.

As for the refractometer, I can attest to this. Just measure vodka, it's 1.999 haha