Stout is stuck!

Hi guys...

Need a little advice...Brewing a 5 gal Irish Stout kit from Midwest Supplies. SG was around 1.045 (range was 1.042 - 1.046, so I was good there). FG is supposed to be 1.010 - 1.012 but after 2 weeks in the fermenter it was only down to 1.021. We called the folks at Midwest and they suggested stirring it up gently to re-suspend the yeast and give it a few more days. Did that last Saturday and just checked it....no change! Still sitting at 1.021 (now alomost 3 weeks in the primary). Temps were pretty consistent for first week and a half (68-71), but it got warm at the end of last week, so I moved things down to the basement (66-68). After the stir, I left it upstairs where it has stayed around 68 ever since. Any suggestions? I have a half a pack of Saffbrew s-33 from a 1 gal Belgian batch that I could toss in (I've been tempted)...what do you think???

Any/all advice would be appreciated!

-Todd

That is typical for that recipe kit. Bottle or keg it and age for a few weeks it will be gold

Cheers

It may be the infamous 1.020 curse. Sometimes extract brews just won't go below 1.020. I've had it happen a number of times, including with a Brewer's Best stout and they turn out fine in the end. If gravity has been stable for this long, it's probably done an ready for bottling.

How's it taste? Is it cloyingly sweet? If not and if it tastes like beer, you're probably ready to bottle. Cheers!

Thanks for the quick replies! Its not too sweet, but a bit more than I would prefer...My buddy wanted to try making it into an Espesso Stout by adding some cold-pressed espresso extract to the bottling bucket. Should we just bottle it as-is and see what happens? Try to go the coffee stout route? Does it matter? Thanks!

Another question...does it make sense to add less priming sugar to try to "balance things out", or will is just make for flat beer? Just curious...

Just carbonate ad usual. The priming sugar will all get consumed by the yeast. And Carbonation will add some carbonic acid, which will balance the sweetness a little bit.

If you want to add cold pressed espresso, if it was me, I'd bottle half as is, and when the bottling bucket is half empty add the espresso. That way, you can compare two versions. Cheers!