Pitching different yeast strain on stuck fermentation?

All suggestions very much appreciated... I'm dealing with my 1st stuck fermentation. The quick and dirty...It's a breakfast stout kit that I modified into a partial mash. Mashed 2 extra pounds of grain and kicked up the OG from intended 1030 to 1052. Aerated by shaking for a few minutes and pitched 1 packet of Danstar Nottingham yeast. Temps leveled out at mid 60's for a day. Warmed it up to low 70's on day 2 after no start. Day 3 and I'm seeing little to no activity with stable temps. I don't have anymore Nottingham yeast on hand, but I do have a 2 packets of dry Danstar Windsor Ale yeast. Should I pitch a packet of the Windsor going on day 4 or wait until I can get a packet of Nottingham from my LHBS? Any other alternatives?

It sounds like you didn't get any fermentation at all, rather than a stuck fermentation, if I'm reading your comment right. Did you observe any krausen? Your SG was 1.052 -- what is it now?

Assuming you are still pretty close to 1.052, I would pitch both packets of your Windsor Ale yeast without delay. I'm guessing (and that's all it is, without more information) that your Nottingham yeast was no good. After 72 hours, you should be seeing at least a moderate amount of activity. You want to pitch both packets to ensure you have a sufficient yeast population, and to get your fermentation jump started to minimize the risk of contamination.

Now, if you've actually had more fermentation -- say your gravity is down to around 1.035 or so -- then you might just try gently swirling your beer to rouse the yeast a bit.

A VERY thin layer of what appears to be a weak krausen formed on day 3, but without any noticeable activity. I haven't taken any gravity measurements because I was hoping to avoid risking any contamination until I can get a better idea of what I'm dealing with. Does the risk of taking too long to acquire another packet of Nottingham outweigh using Windsor ale yeast for this style of beer? Thanks for responding.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/nottingham-yeast-recall-135065/

I'd go with a different yeast.

PressurePoint said:

A VERY thin layer of what appears to be a weak krausen formed on day 3, but without any noticeable activity. I haven't taken any gravity measurements because I was hoping to avoid risking any contamination until I can get a better idea of what I'm dealing with. Does the risk of taking too long to acquire another packet of Nottingham outweigh using Windsor ale yeast for this style of beer? Thanks for responding.

Click to expand...

Okay, then how do you know you had a stuck or not fermentation??????

You had a krauzen, it doesn't matter the size..That means you have fermetation. If you haven't taken a hydro reading, then how do you know fermentation has stopped?

If your airlock was bubbling and stopped---It doesn't mean fermentation has stopped.

If you airlock isn't bubbling, it doesn't mean your fermentation hasn't started....

If your airlock starts bubbling, it really doesn't matter.

If your airlock NEVER bubbles, it doesn't mean anything is wrong or right.

Your airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it is a VALVE to release excess co2. And the peak of fermentation has already wound down, so there's simply no need to vent off any excess co2.

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....

Thinking about "doing anything" without taking a hydrometer reading is tantamount to the doctor deciding to cut you open without running any diagnostic tests....Taking one look at you and saying, "Yeah I'm going in." You would really want the doctor to use all means to properly diagnose what's going on. It's exactly the same thing when you try to go by airlock.... Thinking about re-pitching without taking a hydro reading is tantamount to doing the same thing.

You'll be much happier if you get out of that habit...you will find that fermentations rarely don't take off, or just Stop...In fact I've never had a beer not ferment. BUT half of my fermentations, spread out across 9 different fermenters, never blip once in the airlock.

I can't stress this part enough...Stopped airlock bubbling doesn't mean a stuck fermentation, or that fermentation is done. It means that there is simply not enough co2 to need to be vented by the airlock. The airlock is a VENT not a fermentation gauge.

Fermentation is not always "dynamic," just because you don't SEE anything happening, doesn't mean that any-thing's wrong,, and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working diligently away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years..

You had a krauzen, that's a more importnat "activity" then whether or not your airlock blipped.

If there were such a risk with takiing a hydromter reading then why do you think every book, video, and forum advocates using your hydrometer?

You know, there is so much telling brewers, what not to do do you actually think folks would be saying to use your hydrometer so much? Is it a vast conspiracy to ruin millions of new brewer's batches, so that they flee the hobby and give it a bad rap?

Using basic sanitization, taking a hydrometer reading is no risk at all.

This is what I use, and it works with both buckets and carboys



And



Here's what I do....

1) With a spray bottle filled with starsan I spray the lid of my bucket, or the mouth of the carboy, including the bung. Then I spray my turkey baster inside and out with sanitize (or dunking it in a container of sanitizer).

2) Open fermenter.

3) Draw Sample

4) fill sample jar (usualy 2-3 turky baster draws

5)Spray bung or lid with sanitizer again

6) Close lid or bung

6) take reading

It is less than 30 seconds from the time the lid is removed until it is closed again.

Probably less if you have help.

And unless a bird swoops down and poops in your fermenter, you wont have any trouble.

Thank you sincerely for the advice. Having followed topics on this forum a little, I did anticipate being cautioned about relying on observation of activity or lack of activity in the fermenter and airlock over using the always reliable hydrometer readings to gather more information. I've brewed about 32 batches of beer and haven't yet encountered a problem like this. My initial reaction was perhaps this is a stuck fermentation and I would do well to seek advice before taking any action. So, no I didn't take a hydrometer reading to determine if it was actually a stuck fermentation or not. That was an assumption, but thankfully there are more experienced brewers willing to offer advice on how to proceed and next time something unusual like this happens I will immediately go to the hydrometer as a diagnostic tool. I didn't realize there was a Nottingham yeast recall. The pack I used was manufactured around the time the recall was issued, so thanks for this information as well.