Stuck fermentation?? Please help. Need some advice

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jpmckay1981

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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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
One more question. Do I repitch an entire 11.5 gram packet like what came with the kit or pitch less yeast this time?
 
jpmckay1981 said:
One more question. Do I repitch an entire 11.5 gram packet like what came with the kit or pitch less yeast this time?
Click to expand...

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".
 
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.
 
Yooper said:
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). .
Click to expand...

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
 
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.
 
Here's an option you can consider. It's worked for me. I get the temp to around 66-68 degrees, swirl the carboy and add about 4 ounces of sugar. The minor down side is it throws your gravities off slightly and may also thin the beer out a bit, but since its sweet and cloying, this helps.

Why will this help? Sugar is 100% fermentable where malt is not. Think of malt as the main course and sugar the dessert. Sugar is very easy for the yeast to eat, so while consuming the sugar, many times it revitalizes the fermentation and they eat some of the residual malt sugar. The beer dries out and everyone is happy :)

Now some people will say that sugar will cause a cidery taste. That's not the case unless you use alot. I used a pound in my last Trippel with no problems at all.

Like I said, I've done this many times and it works for me. Maybe it will for you too.
 
If I go the sugar additive route do I still add priming sugar before bottling?

Would brown sugar work or does it need to be corn sugar?
 
Yes you need to add priming sugar but you need to ensure the fermentation has completely stopped i.e. 3 days of steady gravity readings.

You can use brown sugar but it can contribute to flavor. Probably not much, but maybe that's ok. It's up to you. You can also use straight table sugar. It doesn't have to be corn.
 
I am in a similar situation....

I've got 2 current fermentations stuck at 1.030. Both have been there for over a week even after warming.

An IPA OG 1.070 & an ESB OG 1.054

Both went a week at 60, discovered they at stopped at 1.03, moved to about 68 or so.

Been considering a few things, would it be possible to pull some yeast off the cake via siphon, make a starter, and repitch a small starter to try and jump start it ?
 
scoundrel said:
Here's an option you can consider. It's worked for me. I get the temp to around 66-68 degrees, swirl the carboy and add about 4 ounces of sugar. The minor down side is it throws your gravities off slightly and may also thin the beer out a bit, but since its sweet and cloying, this helps.

Why will this help? Sugar is 100% fermentable where malt is not. Think of malt as the main course and sugar the dessert. Sugar is very easy for the yeast to eat, so while consuming the sugar, many times it revitalizes the fermentation and they eat some of the residual malt sugar. The beer dries out and everyone is happy :)

Now some people will say that sugar will cause a cidery taste. That's not the case unless you use alot. I used a pound in my last Trippel with no problems at all.

Like I said, I've done this many times and it works for me. Maybe it will for you too.
Click to expand...

I gave this a bash, boiled and tossed in 2oz of table sugar.

Fermentation started back up for 12hrs or so, I was confident I had the yeasties rolling again.

Checked up on the gravity a few days later to find it had stopped back were it was before :( 1.03 still too sweet for an ESB in my book.

Can't but my finger on what's up.
 
atimmerman88 said:
I gave this a bash, boiled and tossed in 2oz of table sugar.

Fermentation started back up for 12hrs or so, I was confident I had the yeasties rolling again.

Checked up on the gravity a few days later to find it had stopped back were it was before :( 1.03 still too sweet for an ESB in my book.

Can't but my finger on what's up.
Click to expand...

Well if that's the case than the only thing I can think is that the leftover residual sweetness is unfermentable.

One of the advantages of all grain is that your mash temp can dictate the fermentable sugars. Higher mash temps create long chain dextrins that are not edible by yeast. With extract, you're at the mercy of the maltster who made the extract. The fact that it went back to 1.030, leads me to believe the leftover sugar cannot be consumed by the yeast.

Going forward, you may want to try a different supplier just to see if there's a difference. When I was brewing extract, I did like Northern Brewer quite a bit.
 
Mashed at 152, dropped 1 degree during 1hr.

Just seems odd. Oh well I guess I'll let it sit for a bit and see what happens.

Maybe I'll get a new thermometer to ensure I wasn't at 156 or 158 for some reason
 
atimmerman88 said:
Mashed at 152, dropped 1 degree during 1hr.

Just seems odd. Oh well I guess I'll let it sit for a bit and see what happens.

Maybe I'll get a new thermometer to ensure I wasn't at 156 or 158 for some reason
Click to expand...

Sorry, I confused you with the OP. Ya the ESB stopping at 1.030 does sound strange. I've used this trick a few times to drop the gravity a few points and it always seems to work. I would have expected it to drop further. Maybe it is the thermometer or just not enough healthy yeast to pull the gravity down. You could try your idea of siphoning up your yeast and making a starter or buying more yeast and making a starter.
 
It need something, either it needs more bitterness to deal with the sweetness.

I'm really hoping that I can re-pitch and get some activity, but if it's unfermentable there isn't much I can do.
 
I think you would probably be better off just bottling/kegging as is, learning from your mistakes on this beer and making adjustments next time. Just my opinion of course. I prefer not to try messing with the beer after the yeast is pitched outside of dryhopping or other "normal" fermenter additions.
 
Well, folks I tried re-pitching. There was some activity, but after it all settled down again, the gravity had not changed a bit. I bottled it, waited 2 weeks and it's Waaaaaayyyy too sweet. Oh, well. Chock it up to lessons learned.

Funny side note - my Dad said "It's still better than Bud Light". :)

Guess its all about perspective.

Thank you all for the advice.
 
logan3825 said:
I think you would probably be better off just bottling/kegging as is, learning from your mistakes on this beer and making adjustments next time. Just my opinion of course. I prefer not to try messing with the beer after the yeast is pitched outside of dryhopping or other "normal" fermenter additions.
Click to expand...

Turns put my ESB isn't the only thing stuck, ,my IPA is also stuck at 1.028 from 1.070.

I think my thermo is most likely off and I mashed both high and ended with some unfermentables.

10 gallons later learned a tough one
 

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