What Happened To My Ferment Here?

Three weekes ago I did this recipe with a 3.5 gal boil and topped up to 5 gal after cooling to 80 and aereating the heck out of it with a paint stirrer on a drill. It bubbled away at 68 - 70 degrees in a water bath for 12 days and has sat for another week and a half at the same. I didn't do an original hydrometer reading but it now reads 1.030. I have a layer of one inch trub or more on the bottom of the bucket. SOmething just didn't seem right and after I get it all in the bottles I check and find this. Any ideas what happened? One tube WLP 001 added to a 2 day starter with dregs from two bottles of Boulevard Double Wide IPA and two bottles of Boulevard Dark Truth.

6 lbs Pilsen DME
3 lbs Golden Light DME
1 lb Crystal 40
1 lb Special B
1 lb piloncillo
5 tsp yeast nutrient
1 oz zeus
1.25 oz centennial
.5 oz amarillo
.5 oz hungarian oak
60 min boil, steeped the specialty grains for 30 min at 155

Never had one do this before and I'm ready to pour it down the drain becuase I know that I'll oxidate it by putting it back in a bucket.

Thanks for any insight you may have to offer,
GTG

You could rouse the yeast by shaking the bucket (like a washing machine). Also, you could raise the temp to help the yeast finish. Most likely it just needs more time. That seems like a high gravity beer (>1.090), so it will take longer to finish. Sometimes the last few points take as long as the first 75%. Your FG maybe only get as low as 1.024-6.

1.030 = I'm quite sure it wasn't finished fermenting, and you shouldn't have bottled. As far as the yeast.. Are you saying you mixed wlp001 with yeast from two types of bottle harvested yeast? Suggesting you used possibly 3 different yeasts?

slarkin712 said:

You could rouse the yeast by shaking the bucket (like a washing machine). Also, you could raise the temp to help the yeast finish. Most likely it just needs more time.

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Thats what I figured but it's in the bottles waiting for caps currently. Stupid rookie mistake I know but I also know if I pur it back it's likely to taste very oxidized if it finishes.

GTG

Stauffbier said:

1.030 = I'm quite sure it wasn't finished fermenting, and you shouldn't have bottled. As far as the yeast.. Are you saying you mixed wlp001 with yeast from two types of bottle harvested yeast? Suggesting you used possibly 3 different yeasts?

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Yes, I used three different yeasts. Not really all that uncommon from what I've read and done with other yeasts previously.

GTG

I'm not entirely clear on what you are asking. You have 9 lbs of dme which is a sh!tload for a 5 gal batch. It's definitely fermentable, but it would definitely need a starter and massive aeration. What was the OG eatimate from you recipe ( since you couldnt collect one). Did you do a starter?

With 3 different yeasts I'm surprised it didn't attenuate better in the time you had it fermenting. How do you aerate?

GTG said:

Thats what I figured but it's in the bottles waiting for caps currently. Stupid rookie mistake I know but I also know if I pur it back it's likely to taste very oxidized if it finishes.

GTG

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Stupid me. I didn't see that it was in bottles. Looks like you might get some gushers. When you see that there are some gushers you could pop the caps, let them sit, and then recap them. Other than that you've just learned a tough lesson.

slarkin712 said:

Stupid me. I didn't see that it was in bottles. Looks like you might get some gushers. When you see that there are some gushers you could pop the caps, let them sit, and then recap them. Other than that you've just learned a tough lesson.

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No caps on them, just poured them back in a bucket, yep, important lesson to be learned here. I will never do this again. I may add in some more hops to dry hop and add another belgian yeast to throw in a different flavor to try to hide the oxidation some.

dbreienrk1 said:

I'm not entirely clear on what you are asking. You have 9 lbs of dme which is a sh!tload for a 5 gal batch. It's definitely fermentable, but it would definitely need a starter and massive aeration. What was the OG eatimate from you recipe ( since you couldnt collect one). Did you do a starter?

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OG from Beer Smith is 1.079
Yes I used a starter, see my original post.
I am asking, why didn't this finish? Not a lot for even a single tube of 001 is it? Plus there was a starter to go with it and nutrient.

GTG

Stauffbier said:

With 3 different yeasts I'm surprised it didn't attenuate better in the time you had it fermenting. How do you aerate?

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Aereated for 4 minutes or so with a drill and paint stirrer.

GTG

To follow up-
I poured it back into the bucket as my original post shows. I added about half a cake of WLP 500 and let it sit for another month in the bucket. I checked and the gravity did drop even further but was still way too sweet. I bottled anyway expecting to have to throw it out. I have let it sit for two months in the bottles and believe it or not, it has turned out great! Very good flavor profile finally. Not too sweet and good hop flavoring.

GTG