FG issue

I started a stout 11 days ago and the final gravity has leveled off and I believe fermentation is done. The problem is it's 11 points off from the estimated FG (est 1.019-actual 1.030). Is this a problem or is it ok to miss it by that much? My abv is still at 5.3, I'm just not sure if I did something wrong.

Thanks!

Yeah, let it ferment for 3-4 weeks before worrying about a high gravity reading. RDWHAHB and you'll have good beer in a few more weeks.

what was your recipe and fermentation temps? 11 days is enough that it should be done. seems like its a stuck ferment to me

I pitched at 68, fermentation temp was around 75

ok, those temps are fine. sounds like your OG was about 1.07, so you're only around 57% attenuation, so unless you used a ton of unfermentables (lactose, maltodextrin) or racked too early, it should be lower than that. if you post the recipe, can get a better idea of the problem.

6.5 pale lme
3.5 dark lme
1.5 crystal 60l
1.5 chocolate malt
.5 black patent malt
.5 roasted barley
1oz brewers gold hops
1 oz east Kent goldings
1pkg wyeast 1084 Irish ale yeast

nm, sounds like thats actually done. your OG shoulda been around 1.085 if this was a 5gal batch. whered you get an est. 1.019 from?

I got the est from putting the recipe in in my brew software, I think it's brewmaster that I have

I may have measured my sg wrong if you think it should have been in the .08 range, I'm still not very good at making out the lines on my hydro yet

well its possible that your volume was off so it was lower (or this was a partial boil and you checked after topping off), but the LME alone should have put it at 1.072. the grains should have added about another 14points to that. I'd guess the lowest you'd get this to is about 1.024, so its possible there is a few more points to come, but it could very well be done since you have 4lbs of specialty malt thats mostly unfermentable that the calculators dont account for. its also a relatively low attenuating yeast and was underpitched, so that isn't helping.

how did the sample taste? if it wasn't overly sweet and the gravity hasn't moved by the weekend, I think you're safe to bottle it. if you want to be sure, you could make a starter and pitch it in and give it another week to see if it comes down any further. you can read about starters and pitching rates here if you are unfamiliar: http://www.mrmalty.com/

I didn't realize any of that with yeast! I thought (wrong, obviously) that yeast reproduced in the batch, so one packet was always enough, a starter just got things going faster. Thanks for the info!

nope, you weren't wrong, the yeast do reproduce in the batch. underpitching can lead to excess esters, fusel alcohol formation, and higher fg tho, not to mention increased chance of infection due to the longer lag time.