Final Gravity Issue with DogFish 120 clone

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NcBrewer35

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I recently did the Dogfish 120 clone recipe that is posted online based on a "Can You Brew It" segment on Brewing Network. My issue with it is that even though I followed all the instructions, the Super High Gravity Yeast strain tuckered out at about 18.5% abv and is sitting stuck @ 1.046.

I have done a few checks over the past week and a half and it has not dropped in FG at all leading me to believe that it is finished. Initial tastes prior to chilling and carbonating, and this beer is just way to sweet!

Any suggestions on a way to get the FG to drop when the abv is already @ 18.5%, meaning most yeast would not be able to survive if I pitched another starter of yeast.
 
Yes, I followed the recipe exactly, only I stopped the dextrose additions at 20lbs in a 10gal batch as opposed to the 22lbs that Sean Paxton did. I know his version stopped with an FG of 1.050 which the people on the segment mentioned his was to sweet for a true clone.

I initially pitched using San Diego Super Yeast which was a limited release from WLP that is very similar to California Ale. I aerated as instructed for the first 4 days and then on the 5th day I pitched a huge starter of Super High Gravity WLP yeast. I then started my corn sugar additions and added 12oz in the morning and 12oz in the evening for almost 2 weeks. My Super High Gravity pitch starter was over a gallon starter that was very active.
 
I'm guessing you finished/figured this out since it's 2 months ago and I finally checked this thread again, but here's a couple suggestions for next time:

1. Try swirling the beer - take the whole carboy/bucket and slosh/swirl everything around. Don't worry about oxidation, as there's no oxygen in the carboy to oxidize with (assuming you don't ever open it). Reason for this is that sometimes all the crap that settles on the bottom can limit how much yeast is actually exposed to the wort. It worked on my last IPA to help bring the gravity down that extra 0.010 to where I needed it.

2. Some of these enormously big beers need a pack of yeast nutrient to keep everything going at such a high Alcohol content. Even prior to the thing finishing it's way up there. It's probably still really sweet due to all the sugar additions, maybe next time you'll have to titrate the sugar additions a little more closely, since everyone's methods, environments, etc. are all different.

Hopefully it all worked out well, since I know this is an expensive beer to have ruined :/
 
I actually ended up scratching that beer. Its a good thing I know someone who distills because we did turn it into liquor. I did attempt this a second time and its still in the fermentor. It is currently at 1.012 and bubbling a little bit.

Here is what I changed...

I aerated the first 4 days and on the fifth day when I pitched the Super High Gravity Yeast I started out with a 2200ml starter of Super High Gravity for a 10 gallon batch. I also aerated the first 3 days after pitching the Super High Gravity yeast. I also added 2x the MFG recommended amount of Yeast Nutrient and Energizer per White Labs instructions when I added the SHG yeast. I decided on this after reading the White Labs FAQ on this yeast. It does say you must aerate and add nutrient to get it over 16%. I also only ended up adding 13.5lbs of Corn Sugar instead of 20lbs. It is currently dry hopping and is at 1.012 which gives it an ABV of a little over 18%. This was exactly what I was going for.

I will update once I bottle and compare this side by side to a DFH 120
 
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