101st stuck fermentation thread

And seriously, let me apologize for picking up the whip and walking over to a dead horse. But in the pages of threads about this- I didn't get the info I want.

Here is what I did.

I mashed
4lbs of 2-row
2lbs of crystal 10L
1lbs of Morris Otter
at 153 for an hour in a 5 gal cooler. I mashed out with 4 more qrts of strike water and put it into the kettle. (My first runnings were 1.070- I thought that was decent- though irrelevant)
I boiled this and added 3lbs of LDME with 15 min left. (Plus my hop additions, Irish moss, etc)

I had made a starter the about 36 hours prior, and it was doing well. Plenty of yeast at the bottom. It was Wyeast 1056. I cooled the wort by adding it to several gal of near frozen spring water. It was still a little warm (82 F) I pitched anyway, knowing that this was Too Dang high. Don't ask me why. I know I'm a bad person.
Anyhow- noticeable fermentation started within a few hours, and it was still Really warm. So I put the Carboy on the stairs to the storm doors leading out of the basement. That dropped the temp down faster than I would have thought. The next morning it was 72, and this afternoon it was 68. But all Noticeable signs of fermentation (IE activity in airlock, and more Krausen developing) had all but ceased.
I've never used this yeast before. I've never dropped the temp so fast in actively fermenting beer. I've never been stupid enough to pitch at temps higher than I know to be desirable. I did not really aerate more than passing the wort back and forth between kettle and carboy twice because I know that with the addition of spring water, there is plenty of O2 in there.
So I'm left wondering if the rapid temp change has upset my colony of yeast,- if this strain is known for such behavior, -if maybe the starter was not as good as I had thought (I did get the thing up and running in like- 3 hours).
Please guide/advice me- I'm not sure what action- if any- to take.

With a big starter, that 1056 yeast can be quick. What was the actual OG (if I missed in in your post I'm sorry) and what is the SG now?

I'd relax, swirl it around a few times and give it another 24 hours and if still no signs of fermentation repitch.

GT

I didn't post it- mostly b/c with 3lbs of LDME, I consider a true and accurate OG reading a little hard- as I make no efforts to mix it well enough for the extract sugar to be thoroughly mixed.
But what I did get was 1.054. And seeing as its been in the carboy for not even 25 hours, I didn't take one recently. Should I? I have never heard of a 24 hour fermentation. Not that my boots have walked that far.

Edit: Right, and for some context, I was responding to Yooperbrews questions. I forgot to "Quote". Dang it.

Well, I wouldn;t consider it stuck without an SG reading. BUT, it doesn't sound stuck, it sounds like it could be finished. You can wait until a week is up, and check the sg. Or, if you are anxious and can't wait- you can check it now.

Got Trub? said:

I'd relax, swirl it around a few times and give it another 24 hours and if still no signs of fermentation repitch.

GT

Click to expand...

Good, I find that reassuring- as I did do just that for starters. I'm gonna have to run to my least fav. HBS if I indeed do need to repitch. (Sigh).
Thanks!

After the swirling and hour ago, I notice some increased airlock activity. But the Krausen is still the lowest of all yeasts/batches of beer I have seen. Is that typical?

1056 should be working well at those temps even though you cooled it. Once the yeast gets working it can ferment in the low 60's just fine. I would keep it at 68 to 66 but it sounds to me that to ease your mind you should check the gravity and see where it stands. I get plenty of krausen with 1056 so I don't think it is typical.

But.............it was very warm for a while. That might have been to have it ferment out overnight. That's what my thinking is.

Deffinately check the SG before you do anything as drastic as re-pitch.

YooperBrew said:

But.............it was very warm for a while. That might have been to have it ferment out overnight. That's what my thinking is.

Click to expand...

I have heard mention that 5 gallons can ferment overnight or in 24 hours but he sure would need a lot of yeast beside the temp.

Yes, but it has happened to me. A nice starter, and over 80 degrees could do it.

So I just did that- and to my dismay it is 1.050 at 68F, corrected to 1.051- and the OG was 1.054. And I only took that OG to have data, but I don't take it seriously, as all the DME is hard to get a good read on. I've decided to move it to the
second floor of my home from the basement floor in the hopes of letting it get going some in a slightly warmer place. If by the time I leave for work nothing too obvious has changed, I'll pick up the 100 billion count 1056 from the place that I like. Then I can take it from there if its still lousy when I get home that night.
I had made the starter from the 25 billion count 1056, and I guess that while the starter was fine (It did get up and going very fast) the drastic change in temp (the yeast was at 70F, put into 82F, then dropped to the mid 60's) made the yeast decide to let me know who was in charge, and that they did not like my procedure.
I'm disappointed though not discouraged.
Having recently started PM'ing, I've been getting larger and larger volumes to boil- because Dang is mashing fun! And my procedure for getting fermentable sugar into the kettle has outgrown my procedure for cooling it all off. I just paid 36 bucks for 50 feet of 3/8th OD soft copper tubing, and will evolve. In the end, I bet this will not be the variable in this batch that most upsets me. I had intended to keep the color very light, and totally paid no mind to the crystal and otter. My beer is brown.

Well, darn it! I was really hoping it fermented. It's been how long now? only about 30 hours or so? If you can keep it at 68, it still might get going. Don't give up hope yet!

You should go with dry yeast this time. Its almost failsafe.Try the Safale US-05, it's pretty good and the results will be quite similar. Pick up a few spares too because they can come in handy in situations like this.

Thanks to both of you- And I will pick up this Safale dry- I've been hearing a lot of good things about it. Edworts haus pale calls for Dry yeast- and It may be my next batch, so I'll be checking it out.
Yup Yooperbrew- I was hopping that you were right! But I did learn from this too- and there ain't no way like the hard way to learn what Not to do.
Thanks again!
Oguss

Here are some things to pay attention to:

1.) Pitch yeast to 80F wort. There should be no more than 10 degrees differential between the yeast and wort temperature when pitching (less is better). When you see a krausen starting then slowly change to your intended temperature for fermentation. Check the MFG's yeast web site for this information.

2.) Never heat or cool yeast rapidly. You can shock them and prevent quick starting of fermentation and cause stuck fermentations.

3.) Always pitch the correct quantity of yeast. This helps to make sure esters that should or should not be in the final product are in the proper volume(s) or not. The beer ends up tasting like it should. Fermentations finish properly.

4.) Be sanitary with everything you do. Use a spray bottle of prepared Starsan sanitizer to quickly sanitize anything. Wash your hands if in doubt about things you touched not being sanitized.

5.) If you hear your mind telling you not to do something because it is risky then do not ignore it and do the right thing instead, even if it takes longer.

6.) Do not be in a hurry. Think about each step and plan ahead.

7.) Do not add anything to boiled beer to cool it unless the addition was boiled earlier and is still sanitary. This is risky.

Pitching your yeast when the wort was too warm and then dropping the temperature so rapidly after pitching got you here. Pitching too warm may have reduced your cell count. At the very least, it put some serious strain on your yeast. Then, dropping the temperature so quickly after pitching really shocked your yeast to the point that it threw its hand up, flocculated, and went for a nap at the bottom of your primary.

You can warm it back up, rouse the yeast, and see what happens. Repitching is not a bad option, since you were just using the 1056 in the first place.

Next time, at the very least, cool your wort more before pitching and, as WBC said, think about what you want to do before you do it. When you are brewing, not taking an action during fermentation can only be a small mistake. However, doing something can be a BIG mistake. Think it through.


TL

After setting it in a warmer part of the house, I got home to find it at 70F and doing very fine indeed. Thank goodness.