Big Brewed Braggot Stalled

I recently brewed a Braggot. The 5 gallon recipe included

1 lb Crystal 60L
4 oz Special B
6 lb DME Light
7.2 lb Honey (light local varietal)
Hops schedule included multiple additions of Columbus and Cascade

Wort was quite yummy.

Some of the ingredient selections were made just to use up what I had available. In looking back at my notes, for an OG of 1.117, I under pitched the yeast (1 pkg of EC-1118 re-hydrated). I aerated, but did not add nutrients -- my rationale being that the specialty grains and DME should be sufficient.

Fermentation got off to a roaring start, but has now stalled at about 1.036. Without much forethought, I pitched another re-hydrated packet of EC-1118 a couple of days ago. Now, there is no visible ferm activity and no discernible change in SG.

My conclusion is that obviously the wort is missing something it needs for additional ferm activity. Could be that I ended up with a lot of unfermentables, but with all the DME and Honey I think not. Here's my thoughts on what to do next and I'm looking for other insights/suggestions.

1. Nothing. Just let it do it's thing and hope for the best.

2. Add nutrients and rouse the yeast. Too late in the process to aerate I think, but maybe nutrients would help.


Other ideas?

Thanks.

Nutrient and energizer additions may help, they certainly wont hurt.

You might want to check the pH of the wort/must, if for some reason you're out of range your yeast may get stressed and stop fermenting.

Illuveatar said:

Nutrient and energizer additions may help, they certainly wont hurt.

You might want to check the pH of the wort/must, if for some reason you're out of range your yeast may get stressed and stop fermenting.

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Thanks for the idea, will check the Ph too.

Added 1 tsp of Ferm-K, roused the yeast by gently end-for-ending the keg a few times.

Ph = 4.4, EC-1118 data sheet lists "wide ph range" as one of the positive traits of the yeast, but gives no specific numbers. Anyone know Ph ranges for EC-1118? (I'm not having much luck finding anything specific).

Ph can go as low as 3.0 and can be much higher but I hope no one has a braggot wort/must above 5.0 tops. If you still have trouble with it starting after these nutrient additions then try making a proper steped starter.

1/4 cup honey
2 cups water
1/4 tsp yeast nutrient
Sprinkle yeast on top and every two hours add 1/4 cup of your must/wort till you have about a 4 1/4 cup starter. Yeast should be well active after first two hours and stay active the whole time. If yeast stalls in the starter add 1/4 cup water 1tsp honey and wait another two hours, should wake up then resume the must/wort additions.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Yes, I thought about the option of pitching a starter also. Will see how this nutrient addition goes and if not then may try the stepped starter.

Thanks.

Curtis2010 said:

Yes, I thought about the option of pitching a starter also. Will see how this nutrient addition goes and if not then may try the stepped starter.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Dear Curtis--

I am curious as to how this turned out for you? Did you find the stepped starter necessary? I just made a braggot (7.5lbs grain and 4lbs honey) and forgot to add nutrient. It's been in primary fermentation for 14hours now and while I can see the liquid being pushed up in the airlock, no bubbles. Should I toss some nutrient in at this stage? In boiled water?

Mine was approximately that OG, and also stalled at that point. Never did get it started again.

Pitching more yeast was vetoed though, the family liked it where it was, with the flavours I used.

Did not have any luck dropping mine much further. Left it to condition for a few months while traveling.

Re nutrients. My assumption is that due to the grain content nutrient additions are less important for braggots than meads. I made an initial nutrient addition and the one later when ferm had slowed just in case. Also areated well before pitching. Ferm got off to a vigoruos start (more like a beer than a mead)

Next time I think I will start ferm at a cooler temp so that start and primary are moderated a bit. Less chance of off flavors and maybe a longer and more complete ferm too.

My GF likes the residual sweetness to so in the end not a big issue.