I've got a stuck fermentation, and I'm looking at three different options.
This is an extract recipe for a Grand Cru. Yeast was Wyeast 3944, OG was 1.086. I significantly underpitched (just one smack pack, no starter, for 5 gallons) so I was expecting a stuck fermentation might be a possibility. It is fermenting in a basement with the temperatures in the immediate vicinity of the carboy around 60-62F.
After 2 weeks it was 1.048. After another week it was about the same (maybe a point or two lower), and sometime that week -- I stupidly forgot to note down when I did it -- I pitched a 0.5 gal starter made with Wyeast 3944. OG of the starter was ~1.040 (I didn't measure it, but that's what it should have been based on volumes) and I pitched the whole thing at high kraeusen.
Got significant new activity after I pitched the starter, which made me optimistic... but it only climbed down to 1.038 after a week.
So now it's been 5 weeks, and the sample I took yesterday was 1.036, so it appears to be stuck again. Here are the three options I am considering:
1) Easiest, but probably least likely to work: I have a couple packets of US-05 in the fridge, so I could just rehydrate those and throw them in and hope for the best. Since US-05 is higher attenuating, I think that stands a chance -- but pitching it into a high alcohol environment like that (it should be around 6.5% ABV by now) I figure won't work.
2) Middle of the road: Buy some champagne yeast and pitch that. Do I need to still make a starter if I am using champagne yeast?
3) Most work, probably most likely to work: Brew a similar but lower gravity beer using Wyeast 3944 (I wouldn't mind making a Blue Moon clone or similar anyway) and then rack this one onto the yeast cake.
I suppose I could also just bottle it -- the 1.036 sample yesterday was the first one where the sweetness was tolerable -- but I'd be worried about bottle bombs, and in any case other than the excessive sweetness the flavor is about where I want it, so I'd hate not to see it through.
Suggestions?
This is an extract recipe for a Grand Cru. Yeast was Wyeast 3944, OG was 1.086. I significantly underpitched (just one smack pack, no starter, for 5 gallons) so I was expecting a stuck fermentation might be a possibility. It is fermenting in a basement with the temperatures in the immediate vicinity of the carboy around 60-62F.
After 2 weeks it was 1.048. After another week it was about the same (maybe a point or two lower), and sometime that week -- I stupidly forgot to note down when I did it -- I pitched a 0.5 gal starter made with Wyeast 3944. OG of the starter was ~1.040 (I didn't measure it, but that's what it should have been based on volumes) and I pitched the whole thing at high kraeusen.
Got significant new activity after I pitched the starter, which made me optimistic... but it only climbed down to 1.038 after a week.
So now it's been 5 weeks, and the sample I took yesterday was 1.036, so it appears to be stuck again. Here are the three options I am considering:
1) Easiest, but probably least likely to work: I have a couple packets of US-05 in the fridge, so I could just rehydrate those and throw them in and hope for the best. Since US-05 is higher attenuating, I think that stands a chance -- but pitching it into a high alcohol environment like that (it should be around 6.5% ABV by now) I figure won't work.
2) Middle of the road: Buy some champagne yeast and pitch that. Do I need to still make a starter if I am using champagne yeast?
3) Most work, probably most likely to work: Brew a similar but lower gravity beer using Wyeast 3944 (I wouldn't mind making a Blue Moon clone or similar anyway) and then rack this one onto the yeast cake.
I suppose I could also just bottle it -- the 1.036 sample yesterday was the first one where the sweetness was tolerable -- but I'd be worried about bottle bombs, and in any case other than the excessive sweetness the flavor is about where I want it, so I'd hate not to see it through.
Suggestions?
