Am I stuck?

On July 31 I brewed a mini mash Brown Porter from AHB.

.5 lb. Special B
.5 lb. Cara Munich
1.75 lbs. Maris Otter Pale Malt
.25 lb. Chocolate Malt
.125 lb. Black Patent
6 lbs. Amber LME

Brew went fine and my O.G. was 1.052 (recipe says approx. 1.050)

Made a starter with WLP023 Burton Ale Yeast 2 days prior to brew.

Had fairly long lag time at 36 hours.

Once it started, it fermented steadily with good kraussen for about 10 days and then slowed.

Started checking gravity after 2 weeks and it was at 1.018 and has stayed that way. I tryed re-rousing the yeast to no avail. Now on 8/21 the gravity is still 1.018 (The recipe says it should end up at about 1.012).

Am I stuck, should I pitch some dry yeast (I have a packet of Muntons Gold), or just call it done?

You sound stuck to me. In my experience, the only way to get a stuck ferment started back up when you're at that low of a specific gravity is to brew another batch (low-OG is preferable), wait until it's done, rack the beer off into another vessel, and rack your stuck beer right onto that yeast cake.

What's your expected FG? Still sounds stuck to me.

EDIT: Oops, missed it in the posting. Damn, gotta read closer.

From the white labs site:

"Q: I have used Burton Ale yeast in the past with excellent results. I currently have a 1.078 OG beer in the primary now on the 9th day using this yeast. The first 7 days with a blow off tube. There is still some krausen and minimal airlock activity. My 5 gal recipe is 16.5 lbs of grain mostly highly modified with less than 3% adjuncts and about 10% dextrin malts single infusion mashed at 154 Deg. Aeration was good, 3 pint starter and about 2 hrs lag time. Based on past experience it should be finished but attenuation is at only 63%. Assuming there are fermentables present how can I get fermentation to resume or should I just wait it out, or call it good? I’d like to finish less than 1.020, beer's a little sweet yet. Any advice?

A: Did beer/yeast come out of the blow off tube? Burton Ale yeast is so top cropping that a good portion of the yeast could have been lost that way. Even so, the best way to speed it up now would be to transfer it into another container. That helps mix it around and break out CO2 that could be repressing the yeast. But make sure you transfer over the yeast cake as well, it is easy to leave behind and this transfer is to spurn the yeast forward, not to separate it out. If you can’t transfer, at least shake the carboy for 2 minutes to rouse the yeast and break out gas."

Evan! said:

rack your stuck beer right onto that yeast cake.

Click to expand...

Evan!...That's Brilliant!
AND you get the benefit of brewing again.

BigKahuna said:

Evan!...That's Brilliant!
AND you get the benefit of brewing again.

Click to expand...

I'm 2-for-2 on it so far. The idea came from ColoradoXJ or whatever his name is, the guy with the yankees logo for an avatar. I had a saison stuck at 1.017, and he told me to rack it onto another cake, so I racked it onto a witbier cake (forbidden fruit), and I had a new mini-krausen in a day...and in 2 or 3 days, I was down to 1.010.

Tried the same thing with my SEBA. Finished at 1.021, racked it onto an innocuous S-05 cake from a lambic (I know what you're thinking---this was before the culture was added!), and in 2 days my SG had dropped to 1.015.

I have a Cream Ale next up with WLP051 Cal. V

Will that yeast cake be compatible with the Porter?

Anyone? Anyone?

I dont think it will be compatible with the porter. thats just a personal thought....maybve somebody else will know exactly

i dont think it will be compatible with the porter but im not positive

Chimney said:

Anyone? Anyone?

Click to expand...

Why bother waiting 3 weeks to throw it on top of another yeast cake? Try what White Labs site recommends and you should know within a couple days whether that worked or not. If it didn't, then go ahead with Evan's method.

Edit: And also given the attenuation of that strain, your range for FG should be between 1.013-1.016.

The transfer didn't work at all. I'm still at 1.018.

Any more opinions on pitching it onto a WLP051 yeast cake???

You might not be stuck. I brewed lots of recipes with no calculator and just bottled when the gravity quit dropping, sometimes it was in that range. Never had a bottle bomb. I know that's not very scientific and all, and I emphasize that the call is yours because I don't want to be blamed for grenades. Instead, blame Papizian -- in the beginner section of "complete joy", he says something like "if your gravity has stopped dropping, you are certainly ready to bottle." If you're nervous, I'd put all the bottles inside of a plastic bin or something and cover it up in case one blows.

However, if you want to rack it onto a yeast cake to make sure, do it! According to the White labs yeast chart your WLP051 should be tolerable for a porter (they give it a 2 out of 4, while the WLP023 has 4 out of 4). But the majority of your ferment will have been done by the WLP023 so any negative effect on your beer's quality from the new yeast should be small. And I've seen some rippin' ferments from dropping beer on a yeast cake. If you are doing this, make sure to get the beer up into the right temperature range. I once got a beer stuck up around 1.030 by trying to ferment it at the very low end of its advertised temperature range. I restarted it by moving it to a warmer location (absolutely not underneath the extra desk in my office) and adding a starter of Danstar Nottingham. It dropped the rest of the way.

In the future, ensure a good ferment by oxygenating as well as you are able, making a starter if you are using liquid yeast, and making sure your temps are where they belong (for most ale not below 62 Fahrenheit and ideally 68-70).

Bottom line: Do what makes you feel comfortable. Don't worry. Have a homebrew.