Hamsterbite
Well-Known Member
Evening HBT.
On my third extract brew, a Belgian dark ale, I seem to have run into a stuck fermentation. It's a 1.072 OG that I had in primary for 1 week at 65f. I racked it off to a glass carboy and kept it at 65 for another 2 weeks. The gravity seems to be stuck at 1.030.
Considering I will be bottle conditioning, what do I need to do to either bottle now without risk of over carbing (it tastes good now and I could live with a lower ABV), or get it to attenuate down to the yeasts full potential?
I used two vials of WLP540 (74-82%) and made a 1 liter starter. So my expected FG should be between 1.012 and 1.018. My method of pre pitch wort aeration is as follows...while my wort is immersion chilling, I counter flow stir for approx 20 minutes. I believe this helps to oxygenate as it produces a nice amount of froth. When it's fully chilled, I dump the kettle into my ferm bucket, and then back again several times.
I racked to secondary after a week mainly because I used pureed raisins in the recipe and didn't want the beer sitting on this trub too long. As I've been reading, this step probably wasn't necessary, and doing it too early may have caused my problem.
I did save and wash the yeast when I racked. Should I repitch? Should I add some nutrients before doing so?
I did raise the temp two days ago to 74 to try to stimulate the yeast, but no measurable changes yet. The airlock does have some very slow action though.
Would I be able to bottle at this point? I assume the yeast will still go to town on dextrose, but I'm obviously wary of over carbing.
Ideas?
On my third extract brew, a Belgian dark ale, I seem to have run into a stuck fermentation. It's a 1.072 OG that I had in primary for 1 week at 65f. I racked it off to a glass carboy and kept it at 65 for another 2 weeks. The gravity seems to be stuck at 1.030.
Considering I will be bottle conditioning, what do I need to do to either bottle now without risk of over carbing (it tastes good now and I could live with a lower ABV), or get it to attenuate down to the yeasts full potential?
I used two vials of WLP540 (74-82%) and made a 1 liter starter. So my expected FG should be between 1.012 and 1.018. My method of pre pitch wort aeration is as follows...while my wort is immersion chilling, I counter flow stir for approx 20 minutes. I believe this helps to oxygenate as it produces a nice amount of froth. When it's fully chilled, I dump the kettle into my ferm bucket, and then back again several times.
I racked to secondary after a week mainly because I used pureed raisins in the recipe and didn't want the beer sitting on this trub too long. As I've been reading, this step probably wasn't necessary, and doing it too early may have caused my problem.
I did save and wash the yeast when I racked. Should I repitch? Should I add some nutrients before doing so?
I did raise the temp two days ago to 74 to try to stimulate the yeast, but no measurable changes yet. The airlock does have some very slow action though.
Would I be able to bottle at this point? I assume the yeast will still go to town on dextrose, but I'm obviously wary of over carbing.
Ideas?