High Final Gravity Question

Ok so I brewed my Nut Brown Ale 3 weeks ago. Brewed it several times never had any problems. Everything was the same except SWMBO messing with me, partly my fault. And it was cold as a well diggers ass!!! Og was 1.064 Fg was going to be 1.012. Nope Fg is 1.031. Mash was to be at 158 degrees for 60 minutes, 27.50 lb of grain 35 qts of water. Sparge 14 qts of water for 12.5 gallons of wort. So during all of this confusion did I get my mash to high or what? I would really like to know. A little unhappy with the Fg, but this has got to be the best Nut Brown Ale I have made. And I need help figuring this one out, so I can do it again!!!!

Was the digger's ass temperature affecting your fermentation temp as well. If so they may have quit on you. What was the yeast?

Sorry Nottingham yeast 2 packs.

Can you post recipe, fermentation temp, and how long it took to reach 1.031?

There's no way you were going to hit 1.012 with that high of mash temp, but I would sure think nottingham would get it below 1.031. 50% AA is pretty out of character for that yeast.

This is how it was suppose to go?


Type: All Grain
Date: 12/26/2009
Batch Size: 10.00 gal
Brewer: Jud
Boil Size: 11.45 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
22.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 80.00 %
2.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.27 %
2.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 7.27 %
1.00 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3.64 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 1.82 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 7.5 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (15 min) Hops 4.1 IBU
2 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale


Primary 18 days
Secondary Today!!!
Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.061 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.064 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.031 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.2 %
Bitterness: 11.6 IBU Calories: 288 cal/pint
Est Color: 17.6 SRM Color: Color


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body Total Grain Weight: 27.50 lb
Sparge Water: 2.72 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Full Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 34.38 qt of water at 170.5 F 158.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 13.75 qt of water at 196.6 F 168.0 F



Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 21.6 PSI Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 60.0 F Age for: 0.0 days
Storage Temperature: 52.0 F

20% character malt is high. But notty attenuates over 85% for me. So 20% crystal, oat, etc combined with 158F mash temp will have a high FG. But 1.031 is still too high for those variables.

Almost there, one more time, what's the fermentation temp? Is it tht 52F storage temp listed at the bottom. If so that's too cold and your yeast went dormant.

158 seems really high to expect a 1.012 FG. I do have a couple of ideas, though.

As noted, if it's been fermented too cold, warming it back up may rouse the yeast and it may start again.

Your packets may have been old or gotten too hot, reducing viability. My suggestion for this (if you have the space!) is to brew a new beer, keep an eye on the ferm temp, and when you hit FG on that, rack it off of the yeast, and rack the Nut Brown onto the yeast. If you put it on fresh, active healthy yeast, it'll probably drop it a bit more. I don't know that I'd expect 1.012, but it should definitely drop it. You can use Notty for this, or try a different strain, though Notty is a bit more aggressive than many others.

Option three is to enjoy a sweeter, low alcohol beer and try again from scratch. This not only gets you going on the same thing (being more observant!) to track down the problem, but means you don't spend forever screwing around on the one batch.

I kept the Ferm Temp at 65. Yeah I put it in secondary already. It tastes a little sweeter, but still really good. This is the 5th batch of this I have made, and never had a problem. Oh well still taste better then what they sell for $10 a six pack!!!! Yeah I will have to pay better attention when brewing. Guess I got complacent. Thanks guys!!!