Racking onto a fresh cake to restart a stuck Ferm....bad tastes?

Hi all,

I'm brewing the St. Paul Porter extract kit from NB. (Recipe at bottom of post). I used S-05. In 2.5 weeks, it has come down to 1.021 and stopped, (OG 1.052). This is only about 60% apparent attenuation. I was hoping to see 1.012ish, (75% apparent).

So, here's the thing. It tastes pretty damn good, (slight bite at the end, but I think that's what we were going for with all the hops)....but I also don't want a beer that only clocks in at 3.9 abv....(I know, I brew to drink good beer, not to get drunk....but still, feels like a waste to spend all this time and come up short, no?)

So, the main advice according to my search-foo is to re-pitch or rack onto a fresh healthy cake. I have a Centennial Blonde made with S-05 that will be coming due for a kegging in a week....If I rack onto its cake, will I have to wait another 3 full weeks to have a beer that doesn't taste "green"?

Basically, will an aged beer "green up" if racked onto an active cake? Or will it just attenuate more while staying nice and mellow?

Thanks!


(Edit: Recipe:
Recipe Specifications

--------------------------

Batch Size: 5.00 gal

Boil Size: 6.36 gal

Estimated OG: 1.053 SG

Estimated Color: 26.8 SRM

Estimated IBU: 47.4 IBU

Brewhouse Efficiency: - %

Boil Time: 90 Minutes



Ingredients:

------------

Amount Item Type % or IBU

1 lbs Dark Dry Extract (17.5 SRM) Dry Extract 12.50 %

6 lbs Dark Liquid Extract (17.5 SRM) Extract 75.00 %

8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 6.25 %

8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6.25 %

1.00 oz Nugget [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 46.6 IBU

1.00 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (1 min) Hops 0.8 IBU

1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-05) Yeast-Ale

)

I'm trying to figure out why your S-05 stalled at 60% apparent attenuation.

First, at what temperature did you conduct your ferment?

Second, note that dark extracts - because they contain a significant amount of non-fermentables - will always attenuate less than pale. I've never known them to show that great a discrepancy, but it's one factor to consider.

Third, you say you used S-05, but your recipe says "SafAle English Ale", which is S-04. S-04 is less attenuative than S-05.

I strongly suspect the culprit is the dark extract, which makes racking onto a yeast cake irrelevant; if that is indeed the case, racking won't make any real difference.

But it can't hurt. I'm usually dead against using yeast cakes, but in this instance it might attenuate your beer a little further.

Whether or not it'll "green up" an aged beer is irrelevant. Your beer is not aged at all; it's still green. So don't worry about that.

Cheers,

Bob

I'm trying to figure out why your S-05 stalled at 60% apparent attenuation.

First, at what temperature did you conduct your ferment?

Click to expand...

Swamp cooler in a 68 degree room. Fermometer read 64-66 at peak fermentation...after a week, (and all activity dying down), I removed it from the swamp cooler, and it's held steady at 68 degrees.

Second, note that dark extracts - because they contain a significant amount of non-fermentables - will always attenuate less than pale. I've never known them to show that great a discrepancy, but it's one factor to consider.

Third, you say you used S-05, but your recipe says "SafAle English Ale", which is S-04. S-04 is less attenuative than S-05.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's just me being lazy. Beersmith doesn't have an entry for S-05, so I duplicated S-04's entry and just changed the #. I definitely used S-05.

I strongly suspect the culprit is the dark extract, which makes racking onto a yeast cake irrelevant; if that is indeed the case, racking won't make any real difference.

But it can't hurt. I'm usually dead against using yeast cakes, but in this instance it might attenuate your beer a little further.

Whether or not it'll "green up" an aged beer is irrelevant. Your beer is not aged at all; it's still green. So don't worry about that.

Click to expand...

I just don't want to get 3 weeks farther behind the 8 ball....sigh...I want so bad to let them age, but I want so bad to drink them! I'm trying desperately to get a pipeline in gear....brewing like a madman! Thanks for the help.