Seracer
Member
Hi everyone, first time post. I am a newbie (batch number 6 bottled yesterday) and am having problems with one of my batches. Or maybe not problems, maybe I am just impatient? From the looks of some of the other "stuck fermentation" posts, it may be the latter. Anyway, I have a batch of stout that has now been in a primary fermenter since 10-18. It is an extract batch that started at 1.056 and is currently at 1.035, which is where it has been since 10-28. This is my first stout. My other batches have been hefe's, a pilsner, a brown and an amber which all fermented out quickly and ended up right where the recipes indicated. These are my brewing notes:
Batch 5 - Irish Stout 10-18-10
6.6 lbs. Bries traditional dark extract
1.0 lbs. crystal malt
1.0 lbs roasted barley
0.5 lbs. black patent malt
2.0 oz northern brewing pellet hops
0.5 lbs malto-dextrin
London Ale yeast Wyeast 1028
24 oz. soured Guinness
I steeped the crystal malt, roasted barley and black patent in 2.5 gallons of 155F water for 30 minutes. Strained out the grains and brought to boil. Added extract, hops and malto-dextrin. Boiled for 60 minutes, adding the soured Guinness for the last 20 minutes. With all the grains and perhaps the malto-dextrin, the wort boiled over easily. I strain and sparge the wort after boiling into the fermenter. Pitch yeast at 75F. OG measures 1.056. Fermentation takes a long time to begin, finally starting to burp on 10-22. Take a 1.036 gravity reading on 10-26. Take a second one on 10-28 and its still 1.036. I move it back upstairs as the basement is below 60F and it starts burping again within a few hours. On 11-3, the day that I bottle Batch 6 (Amber/apricot ale), I test again and it has barely fallen in 6 days to 1.035. I decide to rack it over to the irish yeast cake in the carboy from Batch 6 in an effort to rouse the yeast and finish the fermentation.
So...am I being impatient?
Batch 5 - Irish Stout 10-18-10
6.6 lbs. Bries traditional dark extract
1.0 lbs. crystal malt
1.0 lbs roasted barley
0.5 lbs. black patent malt
2.0 oz northern brewing pellet hops
0.5 lbs malto-dextrin
London Ale yeast Wyeast 1028
24 oz. soured Guinness
I steeped the crystal malt, roasted barley and black patent in 2.5 gallons of 155F water for 30 minutes. Strained out the grains and brought to boil. Added extract, hops and malto-dextrin. Boiled for 60 minutes, adding the soured Guinness for the last 20 minutes. With all the grains and perhaps the malto-dextrin, the wort boiled over easily. I strain and sparge the wort after boiling into the fermenter. Pitch yeast at 75F. OG measures 1.056. Fermentation takes a long time to begin, finally starting to burp on 10-22. Take a 1.036 gravity reading on 10-26. Take a second one on 10-28 and its still 1.036. I move it back upstairs as the basement is below 60F and it starts burping again within a few hours. On 11-3, the day that I bottle Batch 6 (Amber/apricot ale), I test again and it has barely fallen in 6 days to 1.035. I decide to rack it over to the irish yeast cake in the carboy from Batch 6 in an effort to rouse the yeast and finish the fermentation.
So...am I being impatient?