I think I stalled

I brewed an Irish stout last Sunday (Brewers Best kit) and was not seeing any activity in the airlock. I then asked about it here (I'm sure you're all getting sick of me already). On the advice from here to get down there and check the gravity, I did. That was 2 days ago. It showed that it had dropped to 1.03 from the OG of 1.05. The kit says that the FG sould be 1.017 - 1.02.
I just checked it again and it's still at 1.03. So it's not going down any more or at least in the last 2 days. I'm planing to rack it to the carboy on Sunday. When I do this and if it's still not down to the right FG, should I pitch some more (not much) yeast?
Or is there a way I can "help" it get moving again?
I really don't care about the ABV on this, I just want it to taste right.

FSR402 said:

I brewed an Irish stout last Sunday (Brewers Best kit) and was not seeing any activity in the airlock. I then asked about it here (I'm sure you're all getting sick of me already). On the advice from here to get down there and check the gravity, I did. That was 2 days ago. It showed that it had dropped to 1.03 from the OG of 1.05. The kit says that the FG sould be 1.017 - 1.02.
I just checked it again and it's still at 1.03. So it's not going down any more or at least in the last 2 days. I'm planing to rack it to the carboy on Sunday. When I do this and if it's still not down to the right FG, should I pitch some more (not much) yeast?
Or is there a way I can "help" it get moving again?
I really don't care about the ABV on this, I just want it to taste right.

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Before you repitch or transfer give the carboy a gentle swirl... Make sure the temp of the room is right. If the yeast stalled it will not carbonate in the bottles, or it will kick start and you'll have bombs. So you definitely want a 1.03 to come down to atleast 1.02 and just sitting in 2ndary won't do it, something needs to be done. Try the swirl, if that doesn't work i'd say repitch.

Yeah.. swirl the carboy. DO NOT TRANSFER. Repitch in the primary. Don't transfer till it's fermented out. Secondaries are, for the most part, for clearing your beer.

Also, yeast can be funny at time (no not haha funny). Sometimes it takes 24 hours to get the FG down other times 2 weeks.

Has the ambient temp dropped?

DeadYetiBrew said:

Before you repitch or transfer give the carboy a gentle swirl... Make sure the temp of the room is right. If the yeast stalled it will not carbonate in the bottles, or it will kick start and you'll have bombs. So you definitely want a 1.03 to come down to atleast 1.02 and just sitting in 2ndary won't do it, something needs to be done. Try the swirl, if that doesn't work i'd say repitch.

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Ok, about an hour agin (right after you told me to swirl it) I went down there and I swirled it for about 60 - 90 sec. then I let it set for about 60 sec. then swirled it again.
The temp in my Fermenting room ( a room in the basment that the old owner had built and I have always thought "WTF am I going to do with this room"? It's about 6x8 in size and has no windows, concrete floor and a work bench) anyways, the temp is always 64 - 67* in there. The brew has been showing on the gauge 63-64*. The kit says it should be 68-72*. So, I put two 500w shop lights in there (pointing away from the brew) and wraped a sleeping bag around the bucket. The room is now up to 80* ( I turned off one of the lights) and the brew is coming up to 66*. But here is the kicker. My airlock is bubbling. :rockin: Not a lot, like once every 90 sec. or so.. But it's still a hell of a lot more then it has done thus far.

Ok, now give it a few days. It could take a week.

Denny's Evil Concotions said:

Ok, now give it a few days. It could take a week.

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I was planning to rack to the carboy Sunday and brew my next batch but that's ok. It can sit. I bought another 2 fermenting buckets and another carboy.

Patience.. (of course whn you have no other HB's around.....that gets REALLY hard).

Denny's Evil Concotions said:

Patience.. (of course whn you have no other HB's around.....that gets REALLY hard).

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Yeah you're not kiddig. But atleast I have my New Holland's Dragons Milk to hold me over. :rockin:

what is new hollands dragons milk?

Denny's Evil Concoctions said:

what is new hollands dragons milk?

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New Holland is a Micro Brewery in Holland Michigan (15 minutes from my work) and in their "High Gravity Series" they have a dark ale called Dragon's Milk. All I know is that it's aged in old bourbon barrels and has a caramel, vanilla and dark chocolate tones and at 9% ABV.
Great stuff but hard to get. Unless you are local. But from what I hear, once these are gone, it's gone, never to be made again. You can't even get it on tap anymore that New Holland, only in 1 pint bottles.

Sounds like something you want to buy and then put it in a corner to age.

I think I'm going to repitch. I checked it last night (one week in) and it still needs to come down another 10 - 12 points and it's just not moving. I wont use much, just a little, like half of what was used at first.
I also brewed another last night and in one hour it was already showing activity and going like mad in 10 hours. :rockin:

I think someone had this problem a few weeks ago and posted it on the forum. The main problem was probably that your concrete floor is too cold for the carboy or fermenting bucket to sit directly on -- the conduction of cold temps put the yeasties to sleep. in future batches, it might be a good idea to set your fermenter on something that doesn't conduct heat (or conversely, cold) very well. tha ambient temp of 67-68 isn't all that bad, but sitting on the floor of 63-64 might be a tad cold.

egerrish said:

I think someone had this problem a few weeks ago and posted it on the forum. The main problem was probably that your concrete floor is too cold for the carboy or fermenting bucket to sit directly on -- the conduction of cold temps put the yeasties to sleep. in future batches, it might be a good idea to set your fermenter on something that doesn't conduct heat (or conversely, cold) very well. tha ambient temp of 67-68 isn't all that bad, but sitting on the floor of 63-64 might be a tad cold.

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Yes I thought of this. I placed a piece of carpet and the sleeping bag under it so that it was not sitting on the concrete. Swirlling it and bringing the temp of the room up did get it moving a little (3 points in 2 days) but still not enough. So unless anyone has a better idea, I'm going to pitch again.