Gravity higher than expected on cream stout

I'm currently working on a couple brews (my first and second!) and while the first, an Irish Red which I may be describing to my friends as "Accidentally Brown Ale" is quite good and the gravity readings make sense, the second - a cream stout containing about half a pound of lactose - reads at 1030 after three weeks' fermentation.

This seems pretty high, especially since Hopville's recipe calculator suggests a 1017 FG. Is it simply not finished brewing yet? It tastes pretty decent, aside from a slight unripe persimmon-ey aftertaste that I suspect is a result of the brew's youth.

Some other forums suggest re-pitching my yeast, or stirring the brew to "rouse" the yeast that's already in there. I pitched the batch initially with a 20-ounce bottle of Wyeast 1084 I collected from the bottom of my previous brew one day earlier, and the initial fermentation was vigorous.

Please advise.

It would help if we could actually see your recipe.

Of course, my bad:

http://hopville.com/recipe/909618/robust-porter-recipes/little-talia-porter

thats for a porter

Yeah, but no. The difference between stouts and porters is a matter of controversy, and when I put the recipe for the stout which I'd found elsewhere into the calculator, it said it fit the profile of a robust porter and not a stout.

It's the recipe I brewed, semantics aside.

The same thing happened to me earlier this year with a RIS. It got down to 1.030 and quit, no matter what I did. The result was an excellent brew that tastes like Ancre Porter, and that everyone raves about.

PIGMAN said:

The same thing happened to me earlier this year with a RIS. It got down to 1.030 and quit, no matter what I did. The result was an excellent brew that tastes like Ancre Porter, and that everyone raves about.

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OT: Shorten your signature, dude - it takes up too much vertical space. Try to keep it within the limits of user information on the left hand side of the screen.

Well, that's encouraging. Like I said, my brew tastes nice but green. Did you try repitching/stirring/voodoo? Any bottle bombs?

The lactose is not fermentable - and influences your final gravity -

Hang Glider said:

The lactose is not fermentable - and influences your final gravity -

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Im wondering how much lactose contributes to the FG myself. Just brewed up A cream stout(5 gallons) with 8oz of lactose added.

ChaosStout said:

Im wondering how much lactose contributes to the FG myself. Just brewed up A cream stout(5 gallons) with 8oz of lactose added.

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It's around 1 point per 3oz. I think, so with 8oz. = roughly 3 points of gravity.

Corey_SS said:

It's around 1 point per 3oz. I think, so with 8oz. = roughly 3 points of gravity.

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Yeah, nowhere near the extra I'm seeing even considering that this is a 4-gallon batch, not a 5. I'm gonna let it sit a week before checking gravity again and if it's done for serious I'm gonna dry-hop, leave it another week, and bottle. We'll see how it goes.

Corey_SS said:

It's around 1 point per 3oz. I think, so with 8oz. = roughly 3 points of gravity.

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Ahh thats Awsome means I hit my FG right on the spot!