Stuck fermentation nightmare

Hi Guys,

I'm having a bit of a nightmare with the yeast I've chosen hopefully someone can give me a bit of advice.

First of all a bit of the story, last week 24hrs before my brew I made up a starter from previously washed S-04 yeast. The next day the starter STANK of sour milk so I decided not to risk it and ditch it. So off I go to my LHBS to pick up some S-04, after a 2mile walk in searing heat I get there only to find he didn't have any S-04, instead he recommended Muntons Gold, he pointed in the general direction of the sachet, I pick one up and off I go.

That evening I brew 25L of a 1037 beer, "perfect" I thought. I rehydrated my pack of muntons, pitch and within the a few hours my airlock is bubbling away like a maniac. The brew was last Wednesday, come Saturday the bubbling had pretty much stopped dead. On the Sunday I thought ok about time I measured the gravity again "1017", hmmm I hope that drops a fair bit more I thought.

Tuesday morning I measure the gravity again, still only 1017, damn that 6g sachet of yeast obviously wasn't enough. Pop along to my LHBS again to pick up some more of the Muntons, when I get there I find a pack of the Gold realise it was different to the pack I originally bought, but buy it anyway (I've since learnt what I actually bought before was "Muntons active brewing yeast" which is intended for use with kit beers and not AG!!!!!).

I get home, rehydrate the yeast pitch give it a stir and hope for the best, 24 hours later nothing. At this stage I thought ok I'll try rousing it and then I'll do some research as to what I should do next.

Everything I read suggested that I should of pitched the dry yeast into a small starter and pitch the starter into the beer an hour or so later when it started to fizz on the surface, so one more sachet of Muntons Gold (it was Gold this time) into the brew.

So I now have in my beer
1*6g Muntons active brewing yeast
2*6g Muntons Gold brewing yeast

Measured the gravity again last night "Please please be lower", again 1017!!! "CRAP!!!!!"

So where do I go next? Do I?

(1) Accept I have a 2.5% yeasty beer and get it in the keg
(2) Rack it into a secondary (I don't usually use secondarys) I've heard doing this like "rousing" can kick the yeast back into life
(3) Something else

Help me!!!!!

Paul

You can try racking it to another container if you have the space. It worked for me the one time I was stuck about where you are. Dunno why. How does the hydro sample taste?

Poindexter said:

You can try racking it to another container if you have the space. It worked for me the one time I was stuck about where you are. Dunno why. How does the hydro sample taste?

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It tastes fine if a bit more yeasty and cloudy than when I originally tasted it

Right ok I'll give that a go tonight

2 different yeast don't move the FG, maybe she is just done.

I wouldn't think a starter is necessary for a 1.037 beer with dry yeast. Dry yeast should tackle that kinda gravity with one hand tied behind their backs.

What are the fermentation temps?

What is the recipe, and if all grain do you know the mash temps and are you confident of them?

Just to confirm the original yeast I pitched wasn't in a starter, just rehydrated. I made a small 500ml starter for the 3rd pack of yeast in an attempt to get it started again as I heard it had to be active in order to start fermentation again.

Fermentation temp is around 20C. The mashing temps weren't perfect as although I did get the 67C I forgot to cover the mash tun and at some point it did drop below 60C during the 90 minute mash. I did however think I got away with this as the wort was like I said at 1037 going into the FV.

And yes it was All grain, here's the recipe (25 litres)

MARIS OTTER PALE MALT 3480 gms
AMBER MALT 390 gms
WHEAT MALT 76 gms

HOPS 90 minute boil no EBU given so 28 EBU

FIRST GOLD 30 gms

Add 15 gms FIST GOLD last15 minutes

your fermentation temp seems OK. My concern was that maybe you mashed at too high a temp and made a bunch of unfermentable sugars.67 deg C (152.6 deg F) doesn't seem too high. I'd think you'd get a bit lower than that gravity. Are you sure your thermometer is accurate.

Basically I don't think your fermentation is stuck, I think you have fermented all your fermentable sugar. It seems unlikely 3 packs of yeast couldn't get it lower if it could get lower.

Your options seem to be

1) Rack to a secondary and let all that yeast settle out before you rack to a keg and have a low ABV beer.

2) Add some more fermentable sugars as either more DME wort or some boiled water andcorn sugar to get some more alcohol fermented into the beer. This would be a bit of a crap shoot as to how it would turn out.

Also you should try to verify the temp device used to take the readings from the mash and gravity readings.

Wish I could offer you more. It's the middle of the nite in the US, I'm just a nite owl. Maybe some others will chime in a couple hours from now with some other suggestions.

I don't have a digital thermometer, it seems pretty accurate from what I can tell it hits around about 100C when my wort starts boiling, so that seems accurate.

This is my 8th AG brew and the others have worked fine, I think I'm going to rack to secondary anyway, at the very least it should allow the beer to clear some more.

Check your themometer in a cup of ice water and in a pan of boiling water. You need an accurate thermometer for mashing.

I would agree that your pretty much done after all that yeast, but you could try gently stirring with sanitized spoon and warming up the fermentation area a bit if it is not near the higher end of the yeasts range.

I would advise against washing S-04 for future batches as most people don't recommend washing dry yeast. It is pretty cheap to pitch a new package and just not worth the effort or risk, plus not designed for that.

I have a package of that Muntons yeast and just keep it around to remind me not to use it.

RayInUT said:

Check your themometer in a cup of ice water and in a pan of boiling water. You need an accurate thermometer for mashing.

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That helps but it still doesn't guarantee accuracy in the mashing range.

OP, you sure your hydro is accurate?

CharlosCarlies said:

That helps but it still doesn't guarantee accuracy in the mashing range.

OP, you sure your hydro is accurate?

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No idea, how would I test that? Like I said this is my 8th AG brew and I've not had problems like this before, so I'd be inclined to say yes it is

Not sure what you have at your LHS but Amylase Enzyme can be added now to convert any thing thats not converted to fermentable sugars. A beer with a FG of 1.017 might drop all the way down to 1.007+-.002.

Well worth the shot. I would guess the fermentable sugars are gone at this point.

+1 for the amylase enzyme.

amylase enzyme is also often packaged with metabisulfite, which kills yeast.

FYI, OP, just because the original Munton's is designed for their kits, doesn't mean it can't ferment an AG batch. Kit extracts come from grain at one point, too. Sacch. c. is sacch c. most of the time.