Should I pitch more yeast?

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Brak23

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I have a sweet stout that is heavy on the ingredients. I used about 5 oz of course ground coffee in the boil as well. Its been a bit warmer this summer, and this is the first summer ive brewed. So I put it into a water bath and kept the water around 70-75 degrees. The fermentation was slow to start, usually my beers really take off in 12 hours, but this took close to 24 hours to start the major fermentation portion, but it didn't last as long as the others have. Of course, it bubbled strongly through the airlock for the next week.

My original gravity was 1.060, which is about on target according to my brew program. Im supposed to be at ~1.023 for my FG. Im at week 2.5 and just at 1.040. Which, seems kinda high. I'd hate to let it sit and do nothing and then ruin my beer. So im here to ask.

Also, a "mistake" I had made (which im not sure if it matters). I had the White Labs Yeast. And I left it on the counter for about 7-8 hours on accident before pitching.

My ingredients are:


1) 7 lbs. Dark Malt Extract
2) 1 lb. Black Malt
3) 1 lb. Chocolate Malt
4) 1 lb. Roasted Barley
5) ¾ lb. Crystal Malt (40L)
6) 1 oz Eroica (60 minute boil)


What do the beer gods recommend? Should I ride this one out? Or do I need take some action to get things moving?



UPDATE IN POST #11:
"So its stalled. Its been about a full month (less two days) and has been at 1.040 for the last 3 weeks.

I have another thing of yeast and ready to plop it in. My question now is, Do I need to re-Aerate the wort with the new batch of yeast? (transfer to clean carboy, pitch yeast, shake shake). Or can I just dump it in the current carboy with yeast cake and skip the aeration?"
 
The yeast will generally take care of themselves, population-wise. If you want to goose them, perhaps some yeast nutrient will help.
 
That gravity is way high. Has the gravity been sitting there for 3 days?

If so try to rouse some of the yeast back into suspension. Gently sqirl the fermentor, or use a sanatized brew spoon to gently dig up the yeast cake.

The other recommendation would be to raise the temps, but at 75-80 degrees already, I don't see that doing much good!
 
Big beers usually take longer to ferment,so let it ride. I also don't think the yeast came to any harm. They might have even become a bit more active in that time. A small starter would've been a good idea to insure viability of the yeast. Not to mention getting them in a state of reproduction,so they're ready to go to work quickly.
 
Just my $.02, darker extracts tend to not attenuate well. They're not just base malt, they add specialty grains to make it dark. So that combined with the specialty grains you added, which was ALOT, too much IMO, there may be alot of non fermentable sugar in your brew. Even for my darker beers, I use light or extra light dme and get my color and flavor from specialty grains. Darker extracts add too many unknown variables, unless you know EXACTLY what they use to make it.
As for your ?, I'd go with rousing and letting it sit another few weeks and see where you're at.
 
I've found that to be true with amber & dark malts. My Whiskely Ale took about 2 weeks to finally clear in the bottles. They def don't attenuate as quickly. Def need more patience with them.
 
I've found that to be true with amber & dark malts. My Whiskely Ale took about 2 weeks to finally clear in the bottles. They def don't attenuate as quickly. Def need more patience with them.

Or just skip them and use light extract. That way, you control the specialty grains, not the maltster that made the extract.
 
Well,I've found just getting the color with specialty grains isn't enough. The amber & dark malts,for example,have different flavor qualities that I'd have to play around with for a few batches to match what the extract malts already have. I just tailor my process to make them work.
It's kind of an old school thing I have. It don't wanna work,make it work.
 
That gravity is way high. Has the gravity been sitting there for 3 days?

If so try to rouse some of the yeast back into suspension. Gently sqirl the fermentor, or use a sanatized brew spoon to gently dig up the yeast cake.

The other recommendation would be to raise the temps, but at 75-80 degrees already, I don't see that doing much good!

I checked it two days ago. I'll check it tonight and rouse them if it's the same.

Big beers usually take longer to ferment,so let it ride. I also don't think the yeast came to any harm. They might have even become a bit more active in that time. A small starter would've been a good idea to insure viability of the yeast. Not to mention getting them in a state of reproduction,so they're ready to go to work quickly.

Yeah. I made the mistake of listening to a brew shop guy telling me not to. Because my "edenburg yeast should be enough on it's own". He's really smart, but his methods are a bit outdated.
Just my $.02, darker extracts tend to not attenuate well. They're not just base malt, they add specialty grains to make it dark. So that combined with the specialty grains you added, which was ALOT, too much IMO, there may be alot of non fermentable sugar in your brew. Even for my darker beers, I use light or extra light dme and get my color and flavor from specialty grains. Darker extracts add too many unknown variables, unless you know EXACTLY what they use to make it.
As for your ?, I'd go with rousing and letting it sit another few weeks and see where you're at.


I got the recipe from a shop owner who has made it dozens of times. He said it was his favorite. But I'll keep that in mind for next time. Thanks for the advice!
 
1.060 really isn't a big beer. Your problem lies in all your specialty grains on top of dark Malt extract. This will be a super bitter/roasty beer thats going to take a long time to age out. I'd leave it in primary for at least 1.5 months and I'd probably bulk age it in a secondary for another month. I just did a 1.125 Imperial Stout and after 2 weeks its lower than your 1.060 beer using White Labs 001. Why are you using a scottish yeast for a stout anyway? Will be an interesting combo I'd like to try.

To answer your question, rouse the yeast and give it another 2 weeks. If nothing changes try to pitch a more attenuative yeast and cross your fingers. Or it'll be sweet enough to call a milk stout :D
 
So its stalled. Its been about a full month (less two days) and has been at 1.040 for the last 3 weeks.

I have another thing of yeast and ready to plop it in. My question now is, Do I need to re-Aerate the wort with the new batch of yeast? (transfer to clean carboy, pitch yeast, shake shake). Or can I just dump it in the current carboy with yeast cake and skip the aeration?
 
Added more white labs Edinburgh yeast on Sunday. Has had almost zero airlock activity (which doesn't mean much). But the gravity has gone from 1.040 to 1.035 in about 4 days. So I'm crossing my fingers that it keeps munching away. I'm supposed to get to about 1.023 I believe
 
Its been the exact same read out for 4 days straight now. The added yeast only dropped it about .005 total.

Im just frustrated because im really not sure what to do, what I did wrong. I was told by a guy who has brewed this specific recipe 20-30 times that its great and tasty. Yet for whatever reason I can't seem to get mine to ferment. I've followed the exact processes that ive used in previous brews that have been successful, but nothing seems to be working.

On top of that, people have been giving me advice that is all over the map. So im really not sure what to do at this point. Its been about 5 weeks since I started this brew.

Should I keep letting it sit and do its thing? How long do I give before I end up having to pitch it because its not fermenting out?
 
Its been the exact same read out for 4 days straight now. The added yeast only dropped it about .005 total.

Im just frustrated because im really not sure what to do, what I did wrong. I was told by a guy who has brewed this specific recipe 20-30 times that its great and tasty. Yet for whatever reason I can't seem to get mine to ferment. I've followed the exact processes that ive used in previous brews that have been successful, but nothing seems to be working.

On top of that, people have been giving me advice that is all over the map. So im really not sure what to do at this point. Its been about 5 weeks since I started this brew.

Should I keep letting it sit and do its thing? How long do I give before I end up having to pitch it because its not fermenting out?

brew something else while you wait for this stout to do it's thing and come back to it in another month...or two. you could also pitch some nottingham (or some other neutral flavor yeast) dry yeast but i would bring the temp down to around 65 if i did that.
 
Why bring it down to 65? Does that work better for that kind of yeast versus the 70-75?
 
Why bring it down to 65? Does that work better for that kind of yeast versus the 70-75?

yes. at a higher temp you may get some unwanted flavors. i ferment all of my beers at the lower end of their temp range, that and pure O2 have put my last 4-5 batches in a whole new category of good.
 
Like I already stated, you should have pitched a more attenuative yeast that's neutral like WLP001. You have a ton of dextrinous malts in there so don't expect it to go much lower using the edinburgh.

Also, never aerate after its already been fermenting.
 
Like I already stated, you should have pitched a more attenuative yeast that's neutral like WLP001. You have a ton of dextrinous malts in there so don't expect it to go much lower using the edinburgh.

Also, never aerate after its already been fermenting.

With the WLP001, should I make a starter prior? Or should I just pour it right into the fermenter.

I never aerated after fermentation, read it was bad bad bad. So I left it alone.
 
With the WLP001, should I make a starter prior? Or should I just pour it right into the fermenter.

I never aerated after fermentation, read it was bad bad bad. So I left it alone.

I'd make a small starter just to get the yeast active before throwing them in but its probably not necessary. At the point your at now I'd consider just letting it go with what you've done. Unless you've taken samples and they tasted far sweeter than you wanted, just give it a little more time and bottle it up and save the new yeast for the next batch. I'm sure the beer will be still be very drinkable, it just won't be to style. Who really cares about styles anyways as long as you like it.
 
A couple of my local beer friends and the beer shop said I should try Champagne yeast. I told them to story on how my beer is stopping so quickly, and he basically told me if the Champagne yeast cant do it, then nothing really can. So I used it as my last resort, and it brought it down to ~1.032... Which tells me that there is too many unfermentables in my batch. Im going to keg it, and taste it. If its bad, ill toss it. But maybe it will be good, and just have a high gravity and low alcohol content.
 
1.032 won't be bad. It'll be sweet, but it will certainly be drinkable and even very good. Lots of Imperial beers finish in that range.
 
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