Second AG brew, need some guidance on this stout

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mthhurley

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Hey all...Still new to this so bear with me if I'm not completely clear in what I'm talking about.

I brewed a Big Honkin Stout on June 30th, OG was 1.070. Dry pitched Safale 05 in it and it started churning in under 8 hours. By the third day, it was pretty much a constant bubble, then it all shut down, the krausen dropped and here I sit. I checked on it today and I'm at 1.021, which if I'm accurate in my understanding and using the calculators, is a 70% attenuation. I've been reading that Safale 05 should be 73-80+%.

So I guess I'll check it again in a couple days but just wanted to put this out there to see if I'm off base in my thinking.

Thanks all.
 
How long has it been in the fermenter? It may just need more time. The other possibility is your mash temperature. If you mash too hot you denature the enzymes needed to break down long chains of sugar, making it harder for the yeast to do its job. What was your mash temp? What is the temperature in the fermenter? Too cool (below 60f.) and the yeast may slow or go dormant. Hope this helps. By the way, 1.070 is high for a stout, what were you aiming for and what was your efficiency?
mark
Beer Diary...
Brew School Home Pg1
 
It went into primary on the 30th, so 9 days roughly.
Mashed at 153.
Temp in the fermentor is 65-69 (it's in my basement).

RE: efficiency, I have no idea...Remember, see post #1...I'm still pretty new to this. I'm happy to have "beer" come out of this right now. :)
 
to get higher attenuation on the bigger beers, I have found that I need 1) lower mash and longer mash for more fermentable sugars, and 2) large yeast pitches so they dont poop out so early. Big beers are challenging; easy to have them be too sweet.
 
Thanks! In regards to the "large yeast pitches" on these big beers, this recipe called for a packet of Safale 05...What would have been a better way to do this? Make a starter out of it (versus dry pitch)? Use 2 packets?
 
Dry-pitched Safale on big beer (1.060+) might lead to thin-walled yeast cells; while viable, not the strongest and are easier to stress.

SafAle recommends hydrating before (even though it doesnt say on the package): http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/HB/EN/Safale_US-05_HB.pdf

I almost always use liquid yeast and a starter; I think dry yeast has ~70x10^9 cells in an 11.5g package and liquid WLP vials/Wyeast smackpacks have 100x10^9

You want to pitch for ales: 0.75 million cells per ml of wort per deg Plato; for lagers 1.5 million cells per ml of wort per deg Plato

Plato/gravity conversion: Convert Plato to Gravity

Also, pitching rate calculator: Mr Malty Pitching Rate Calculator
 
It went into primary on the 30th, so 9 days roughly.
Mashed at 153.
Temp in the fermentor is 65-69 (it's in my basement).

RE: efficiency, I have no idea...Remember, see post #1...I'm still pretty new to this. I'm happy to have "beer" come out of this right now. :)
I would give this beer at least 14 days in the primary, 3 weeks would be even better, check the gravity again at 14 days, if it hasn't changed then it is finished, It might go a few points lower, if it doesn't, no worries, it will be a stout, and for me any stout is good, good luck.:mug:
 
Dry-pitched Safale on big beer (1.060+) might lead to thin-walled yeast cells; while viable, not the strongest and are easier to stress.

SafAle recommends hydrating before (even though it doesnt say on the package): http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/HB/EN/Safale_US-05_HB.pdf

I almost always use liquid yeast and a starter; I think dry yeast has ~70x10^9 cells in an 11.5g package and liquid WLP vials/Wyeast smackpacks have 100x10^9

You want to pitch for ales: 0.75 million cells per ml of wort per deg Plato; for lagers 1.5 million cells per ml of wort per deg Plato

Plato/gravity conversion: Convert Plato to Gravity

Also, pitching rate calculator: Mr Malty Pitching Rate Calculator


Thanks for the links Max, they help a ton and make a lot of sense now on how to do this better going forward. From the looks of the calculator, I underpitched by a bit...Needed 14g of dry yeast and I only put in 11. So the question is, should I pitch some more or just leave it alone? I have a smack pack of Wyeast Northwoods which was the liquid recommended for the recipe but I used the dry option of Safale.

Is it too late to repitch?
Do I risk screwing it up?
Can I repitch with a different yeast?
Do I need to oxygenate before I repitch?

phew...so many questions.

Thanks.
 
You could repitch rehydrated yeast, but there isnt much easy sugar there for the yeast to eat...

You could rebrew and then repitch on the cake now that you have a lot of yeast...

As to the oxygenation, I would *think* that you would not want to oxygenate as the yeast isnt going to go through a lot of activity and you expose oxygen to the alcohol which leads to staling; George Fix in Principles of Brewing Science (p.130) says, "Once the fermentation has started, however, oxygen returns to being a negative element."

I would let it ride and chalk it up to a learning experience. RDWAHAHB.
 
Wow....I checked again this morning, 9 brix. So OG was 1.070, I'm down to 1.014...7.5% ABV...I'm glad I have not pulled this out of primary yet because it seems to still be working after 12 days.
 
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