Milk Stout Gravity not falling.

I currently have an extract BB Milk Stout in the fermenter I did the directions exactly except I added 8 ounces of cocoa powder with 15 minutes left in the boil. My OG was 1064. It has been in the fermenter for 2 weeks and my gravity is only 1030. I checked it last week and it was 1030 also. Whats going on with my beer, surely it cant be ready to bottle at 1030. Nottingham yeast was used.

You aren't terribly far off of what the FG should be per recipe (20-24). I have a batch that finished cooking awhile back and have continued top put off bottling/kegging.. sheesh. I will do it today. We'll see what my FG is.. and I'll get back.

A few thoughts.. how old the it was, how old the yeast was and how it was kept. Fermentation temps.. correct range and held with as little fluctuation as possible. I've gone to hydrating my yeast for a couple hours before pitching and it seems to take off with a bang.. in fact the MS that I'm ready to bottle had the biggest krausen I've ever had.. needed a blowoff.

Also, what is the temp in the fermenter now? If you can raise it up to 70-72.. even giving the carboy/bucket a swirl w/o creating suckback thru the airlock, you might get it restarted.

Good luck.. I'll get back tonight or tomorrow sometime.

What was the OG supposed to be before you added the cocoa powder and what was the FG supposed to be?

Rouse the yeast and warm the fermentor a bit. But I think maybe you added a bunch of unfermentables and you have reached your FG. Give it a couple more weeks.

It was kept at 66-68 contsant tempetureduring fermenting. I saw lots of action in the airlockfor the first week slowed down a bit the second week. The Krausen has dropped and the beer tastes fine. I think its probably ready to bottle. OF course this was a milk stout so there was .5 pound of lactose in addition to the 8 ounces of cocoa powder

kwingert the recpies OG was to be 1057-1061 and the FG was to be 1020-1024 before adding the cocoa powder

By what you have described sounds like your yeast have finished working. It happens that way sometimes. It may have a little lower abv ......... but if it taste good and your gravity reading is not falling any further I'd say its done.

BTW I had a similar issue with a recent batch of chocolate milk stout. I used cocoa nibs in the secondary tho. I didnt quite hit my FG. But it was a excellent beer and I still have a few bottles left. I will brew it again and see if I get the same results.

Did the recipe call for any lactose sugar? It is not fermentable so between that, the cocoa addition and just a high FG you are probably good.

I like to keep my FG on the high end or slightly over style guidelines, I like it a little thicker/mouthfeel.

I would not be overly concerned

If it tastes good, then you're good. Taste always trumps numbers.

I think its done. Those 6-10 extra gravity points are probably from the cocoa powder. I tried to run it through BeerSmith put it didn't have cocoa powder. Cocoa powder is probably made of unfermentable sugars.

I bet it will be one tasty, thick beer.

kwingert said:

I think its done. Those 6-10 extra gravity points are probably from the cocoa powder. I tried to run it through BeerSmith put it didn't have cocoa powder. Cocoa powder is probably made of unfermentable sugars.

I bet it will be one tasty, thick beer.

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I'm not sure how much cocoa powder impacts the gravity of the beer. Most of the cocoa is not soluble, so it shouldn't have that big of an effect.

Most of cocoa is not soluble? I would think at a boil you could get most of it into solution.

jman added 8 oz, and it was the only deviation from the recipe. Something added 5-7 points to his OG; I gotta think its the cocoa. 8 oz is an entire container, maybe it was enough to raise the OG.

Then again it could have been cheap extract that didn't finish like it was supposed too.

jman, what brand was the extract? Can you give us the recipe?

kwingert said:

Most of cocoa is not soluble? I would think at a boil you could get most of it into solution.

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Nope...most of cocoa is not soluble. Ever notice the bottom of your mug of hot chocolate is usually a chocolatey sludge? That's the cocoa powder. Cocoa powder forms a suspension when mixed with water and most of it will eventually settle out given enough time. Since only dissolved compounds impact the specific gravity, cocoa powder should not have an appreciable effect (unless it happens to contain a lot of sugars like if you used hot chocolate mix)

ThreeGnomes said:

Good luck.. I'll get back tonight or tomorrow sometime.

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Well, bottled and kegged today. My FG ended up at 23 with temp correction. I started at 57. I'm happy with that. Tastes good.. can't wait. Guess I could tap the keg in a few days.. but, the bottles.. well, I'm going to wait for about two more months for those. The last time I did a stout it came into it's own in about 3 months. Don't know why. It was good before that.. but later.. it was over the top.

JLem said:

Nope...most of cocoa is not soluble. Ever notice the bottom of your mug of hot chocolate is usually a chocolatey sludge? That's the cocoa powder. Cocoa powder forms a suspension when mixed with water and most of it will eventually settle out given enough time. Since only dissolved compounds impact the specific gravity, cocoa powder should not have an appreciable effect (unless it happens to contain a lot of sugars like if you used hot chocolate mix)

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That makes sense, thanks for the education. ipe:

He. Me and friend just bottled this very creature up last night. It started on the high side of the OG with a 1.068 and at bottling time gave us a 1.027 while using a Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale for the eating and pooping part. I gave it three weeks on the fermenting with a temperature in the 60 - 68ºf range, maybe up to 72 for a day cos my partner was sick all the while taking SG's after 10 days and thereafter every handful of days followed by a tasting.
You might be able see a drop in the sg with another week on it. I did from week two to week three: only a 1.028 to a 1.027, but it made me and my brew partner happy. More importantly. How's it taste? If it's ready. It's ready.