Two stuck fermentations

I have two beers in primary at the moment who seem to have stopped fermentation. Here are the brew details:

Death by Dunkel - Was in primary for two weeks, and has been in secondary for just over a week. I did a 1L starter without a stirplate, after 2 weeks it was stuck at 1.026. I repitched another 1L starter a week ago, shook the carboy a bit, and it did not ferment anymore (last reading took two days ago).

Dale's Pale Ale Clone - Was in primary for two weeks, just transferred to secondary. The OG was 1.062, and I pitched a 1L starter. I have taken a couple of readings, and this one is stuck at 1.032.

Should I repitch both of them again, this time with some yeast nutrient, or would they be fine to throw in a keg? Both of them were fermented around 70°. I have fermented many batches successfully under the same conditions as these, but for some reason they are being stubborn.

Why are you transferring to secondary if fermentation is not complete? It's very hard to get one to start-up again after it's been transferred. What made you think they were stuck?

COLObrewer said:

Why are you transferring to secondary if fermentation is not complete? It's very hard to get one to start-up again after it's been transferred. What made you think they were stuck?

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I transferred to second out of habit. Out of the couple dozen batches I have done, I have never had a problem hitting FG in 7-9 days, and I left these in for 14. Granted, I didn't measure the FG BEFORE I transferred to the secondary each time (must have had too many homebrews)

Now that they are in secondary, is it going to be too hard to bring them back to life?

How are measuring gravity? Could it be a measurement issue? Does the beer taste really underattenuated?

I am using a glass hydrometer, and i verified that it is reading water as 1.000.

The beers definitely do taste under attenuated.

I have heard about people using Beano or amalyze enzymes to save stuck fermentations, would this work for me with both beers being in secondary (remember, one has some yeast in it from the failed re-starter I tried)?

Would any of you drink a beer that is this under attenuated?

Fighthouse said:

Would any of you drink a beer that is this under attenuated?

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Depends how it tastes. I would imagine it's pretty sweet...your not going to get sick from drinking under attenuated beer or anything like that.

Fighthouse said:

. . . . I have heard about people using Beano or amalyze enzymes to save stuck fermentations, would this work for me with both beers being in secondary (remember, one has some yeast in it from the failed re-starter I tried)? . . . . .

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It's a crap shoot, if you've checked gravity and it's the same over a span of 3 days, try whatever you want, sometimes it works and sometimes not. There are so many different variables that go into fermentation that it's hard to venture a guess.

I'd consider contacting some local brewers and see if they'll be kind enough to fill a couple of mason jars worth of yeast for you. A friend of mine had a stuck barleywine and was able to get it going again with the help of a huge yeast addition thanks to a local brewer who was sympathetic to the plight of homebrewers.

Is it possible that your thermometer is off and your mash temp is way off?

I do believe that one of the mashes was under target temp, possibly even in the 140s. I remember that being an 'Oh S***!' moment. I thought that this might produce unexpected flavor(s), but could it have caused the yeast to underattenuate?

I threw a teaspoon of AE into each batch, and gave each a good swirl. This stuff seemed to act pretty fast, literally within seconds my airlock was bubbling, but that subsided pretty quick.

The airlock bubble was from swirling the carboys. The enzyme will probably help but at the same time, your FG will probably be lower than expected. That's better than too high, though. Also, try adding some yeast nutrient.

bknifefight said:

The airlock bubble was from swirling the carboys. The enzyme will probably help but at the same time, your FG will probably be lower than expected. That's better than too high, though. Also, try adding some yeast nutrient.

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I should have mentioned that the airlock was bubbling before I swirled the enzyme into the wort (or is it considered beer yet?).

I checked it again this morning and the airlock was still bubbling about every 15-30 seconds. Does this enzyme usually take a few days or a week or two to work out? Either way, I am going to wait until the airlock activity subsides before taking a gravity reading.

Also, how does the enzyme work? Ideally the yeast converts the fermentable sugars into alcohol, does the enzyme do the same thing?

The enzyme will break down complex sugars that the yeast cannot eat into simple sugars they can eat. I will take some time and also needs the yeast to be awake and eating as well. I'd give it a few days (maybe a week) and if the gravity hasn't dropped, add in some yeast or yeast nutrient to get them up and eating again.

So the purpose of the enzyme it to break down the complex sugars that the yeast could not convert in the first place into simple sugars it can convert?

If this is the case, wouldn't it be a better idea to add the enzyme to the primary when the majority of the yeast is still around? Most of the instructions I have seen tell you to add it to the secondary vessel.

Also, I might have pinpointed what cause my stuck fermentations. The only thing I did differently with these two batches was I used starsan to sanitize everything rather than B-brite. I used the recommended dosage of sanitizer, btu when I sprayed my water on top of it, a HUGE amount of bubbles formed. I have heard don't fear the foam, but this was a ridiculous amount. Could the large amount of residual sanitizer have blocked my yeast from doing their full potential?

The airlocks on these guys are still going, and I took gravity readings to check out how much the enzyme has done. The Dunkel that was at 1.026 is now at 1.016, and the Pale Ale dropped from 1.032 to 1.026. With the airlock activity over the past few days, I was expecting a little more of a drop, but this is absolutely better than nothing at all!

The starsan has nothing to do with the stuck fermentations. If anything, it helps things as it is a yeast nutrient. As far as the primary/secondary for the enzyme, I would use it in the primary since I wouldn't rack a beer off the yeast if it was stuck in the first place. I'm glad to see they started fermenting again. Hopefully you'll get that pale ale down a bit more.