Stalled fermentation

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Auspice

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Alright, I'm pretty sure I stalled out the fermentation on my first bock. I brewed it about a month ago and got an OG of 1.044; taking a refractometer reading I'm getting 7 brix and Beersmith is telling me the estimated OG was .998. The beer does still smell worty sweet and I was afraid fermentation had stalled since I'm fermenting in my kegerator which is dialed up to mid to high 40s but does drop to low 40s overnight.

Do I need to buy more yeast and repitch or can I shake up the fermenter and throw a heated blanket on it to warm it up and get things going again?

I don't have the capability of reaching the ideal 46-56 fermentation temp required by the yeast any other way than with the kegerator. :/
 
first, was the OG of .998 actually your FG? if so you need to temp adjust both readings. but from the sound of it you have more than hit an acceptable FG.

if it is stuck adding heat and shaking will do the trick.
 
I'm new to using a refractometer so I guess I could've entered information in wrong.

My OG with a hydrometer was 1.044 and the refractometer reading I took told me 7 brix. I've already calibrated the refractometer against my hydrometer so I know there's nothing wrong there. I plugged in the 7 brix into the refractometer tool in Beersmith and under "Finished Beer ABV/OG" I have 7 brix and it says "Corrected specific gravity OG is .998"; when I change the drop down from finished to fermenting it says the corrected OG is 1.017 which is still well below the 1.044 that I recorded.

I'm confusing myself, haha.

Assuming I'm stalled, will a heating pad wrapped around half the bucket do the trick? If so, what should I turn the temp to? I'm planning on leaving it in the kegerator so it will still stay in the correct range.
 
You might not be stalled, you might be done. You need to check the FG to be sure. I wouldn't heat up a bock that may or may not be done. I can't make any sense out of your readings, sorry!
 
ok sanity check. you said you measured your OG with a hydrometer and got 1.044. stop using the refractometer for now and use your hydrometer to get the current SG and report back.
 
Alright, I'm pretty sure I stalled out the fermentation on my first bock. I brewed it about a month ago and got an OG of 1.044; taking a refractometer reading I'm getting 7 brix and Beersmith is telling me the estimated OG was .998. The beer does still smell worty sweet and I was afraid fermentation had stalled since I'm fermenting in my kegerator which is dialed up to mid to high 40s but does drop to low 40s overnight.

Do I need to buy more yeast and repitch or can I shake up the fermenter and throw a heated blanket on it to warm it up and get things going again?

I don't have the capability of reaching the ideal 46-56 fermentation temp required by the yeast any other way than with the kegerator. :/
If your OG was really 1.044, and you are reading 7 brix now with the refractometer, then your gravity is approximately 1.018. (Beersmith cannot estimate an OG reading from a post fermentation refractometer reading.)
I agree with Yooper, when she suggested you check the gravity with a hydrometer.

-a.
 
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