Trouble with Oatmeal Stout? Need Advice!!!!

I am having pretty close to the same problem with a Brewers Best Oatmeal Stout. Being new to the brewing world and this being my third kit so far, I decided to go with a more intermediate kit. Followed directions exactly and transferred to primary with a OG of 1.052, saw vigorous bubbling from airlock within 24 hours and all of a sudden, it stopped within two days. Waited 5 days and checked gravity and I was at 1.034, kit instructions say FG should be between 1.010-1.016. I called the Brew Supply shop I purchased the kit from and they said to transfer to secondary and re-pitch yeast. I completed this and saw vigorous bubbling from airlock for another two days, then again it stopped. Took another hydro. reading and what do ya know, still at 1.034. I moved to a warmer location of my house and wrapped a towel around the bucket and roused the yeast. What do you think could be the problem, I still want to get this Stout to the range listed on the instructions of 1.010-1.016. Any advice would great?

That's pretty weird that a second pitch of yeast didn't do the trick... or anything for that matter.

What temp is it sitting right now?

Also, did you add anything to the kit? Extra malt extract?

Also, what strain of yeast did you use?

Nothing extra added. Spke to my local brew store and they said to repitch yeast again using a stronger strain. If that doesnt do the trick, to just bottle. You agree

I really don't know what to say - I'm skeptical that a third pitch of yeast is worth trying. How about some yeast nutrient or yeast energizer if you don't mind spending a couple more bucks? I've never heard of yeast quitting on such a relatively low gravity beer.

I'm usually an advocate of not turning our beers into science experiments but I'm just too curious about this one. I wonder what would happen if you added just a quarter pound of granulated sugar to the batch? Just boiled in a pint of water, then cooled and pitched in. That would certainly test to see if something's wrong with the yeast. After all, if they won't ferment that sugar, then they sure won't ferment any priming sugar in the bottle.

You know better then I do, I'll give it a shot.....if the yeast ferments it, I would think that means that I just need to play the waiting game on any sugar that remains in the batch to get it to the correct FG right? sorry if what I am saying sounds irrelevant, I just do not have enough experience with brewing. My first two brews....a wheat and an IPA turned out fantastic and now I am hit with this dilemma.....im pretty much just lost right now.
If it doesn't ferment, should I re-pitch?

So I did exactly what you said Kanzimonson, quarter pound granulated sugar with a pint of water, pitched and within 30 min, the airlock started bubbling. So the yeast is still active...at this point do I assume that it's a slow fermentation and just continue to wait while monitoring the gravity?

Or will adding sugar increase alcohol content, in this sense, making it a sweeter stout, and just continue to add sugar until the final gravity I want is reached?

I really dont know what my options are from here, once the airlock stops bubbling after adding the recommended sugar...where do I go from here to get this batch fixed?

Before doing anything else, let's see where the FG is in a week.

At least we know your yeast are still alive and able to ferment, so there's no need to pitch more yeast (not yet at least).

Since you said the gravity has been at 1.034 for awhile, I don't think the yeast are very slowly working on the beer - it sounds like they really were done. We'll just have to see if the sugar gave them a jump start to ferment anything else.

Here's a question: do you trust your hydrometer? It's probably worth checking it in water to make sure it reads 1.000 We should have done this first.

You might want to check on the accuracy of your hydrometer. I had one start giving me bad readings and it took a lot of hair pulling before I finally realized it was wacko. Drop it in some water and see if it is at least reading accurately.

My local brew store recommended checking the hydrometer to see if it was calibrated correctly and it definately is spot on....1.0....

I like the advice...I will re-visit in one week and check the FG, do you recommend every few days giving the batch a quick stir...I was told that by a friend who also brews...said it keeps the yeast on their toes?

If in one week the FG does NOT change...what do you recommend from there...re-pitching? adding more sugar? (would adding more sugar increase alcohol content, and if so, how much needs to be added to lower the gravity from 1.032 to 1.012?), bottling? I just really want to get this in the correct gravity range, plus learn a few things in case this ever happens with another batch. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

It is possible that for whatever reason you just have alot of unfermentable sugar. So adding fermentable sugar will get the yeast going again, but only to the degree that they eat up the new sugar you put in. The thing that doesn't make sense to me is that you had vigorous fermentation after the second pitch but your gravity didn't change at all. This is why I questioned your hydrometer. Are you adjusting the gravity for temperature?

What is the temp right now? I roused my yeast and wrapped a heating blanket around it, and got it up to about 75. It went nuts(3+weeks into ferm) and finally got down from 1.022 to 1.015. I doubt a towel is really getting you much more heat. Also what temp did you steep your specialty grains? I do all-grain, so I was going to ask mash temp, but I think if you heated the grains too much it may have left some unfermentables(also check your thermometer to make sure your readings were right during brewday). Heat it up as much as you can! That's what did the trick for me. Even after pitching new yeast and heating to about 70 didn't budge my gravity. As soon as I hit 74-75 I practically had a whole new fermentation. Good luck! Stick with it, and get to brewing your next batch!

Keep it warm, add some yeast nutrient (It's good stuff to have on hand or mead & cider and problems like this. I even add some to my high gravity beers that I don't do a starter on, but probably should).

what was your mash temp?
how much oatmeal?
what was the recipe & instructions (not familiar with that kit)
what yeast?

Oatmeal needs 2 row in the mash to convert.

most hydrometers are accurate at 60° and need converting +/- that temp.

If your worried about getting alcohol up you could add some corn sugar... I'd hesitate on more malt extract as it will add even more body... Sounds like you have a really nice thick chewy breakfast stout coming! (I love those!) let it ride than nutrient, if no change bottle!

Honestly, thats what I can't understand in regards to re-pitching and seeing no gravity change after vigorous bubbling.

The brew store I bought the kit from, I do not know how long this kit was sitting on the shelf, so I am contemplating the yeast package from the kit I was bad....it was a Nottingham Sachet dry yeast package.

A brew friend of mine said it would be a good idea to try a liquid yeast, re-pitch and see if that does the trick...he said there just may not be enough live yeast cells to complete the fermentation...what do you think, give it a shot? Yes or No?

I'm with "oldyote"- The thing that doesn't make sense to me is that you had vigorous fermentation after the second pitch but your gravity didn't change at all.

Since you've already repitched, I probably wouldn't a 3rd time... yeast nutrient & time may be your best bet.

So let's do a for instance and say that after re-pitching the hydrometer reading did drop and I just mis-read the hydrometer. At this point I am still not seeing bubbling from the airlock. Would your advice be the same in regards to using yeast nutrient?

I order a liquid white labs yeast online which is said to be good with stouts, once I get it in the mail I am going to add this to the batch and see if can save this beer. I honestly think I received some bad packages of dry yeast from my supply store. I'll give you an update in a few days. Thanks for all the advice and I will keep you posted....wow, the science of beer brewing keeps you thinking...I love it, and enjoy learning from it.

Seriously, don't waste the vial of yeast. As we mentioned above, the fact that the yeast became active again when you added some plain sugar indicates that they're still alive. Either:

1) There's nothing left for them to eat and you have a lot of unfermentable sugars left in your beer that are leaving a high FG. OR
2) They were severely under-supplied with nutrients when they began fermentation, and now that the environment has become a little more stressful for them, they decided that it's more beneficial for their survival to go dormant rather than continue to try fermenting the complex sugars that are usually the last to be consumed during fermentation.

I cannot say it enough times that you will be wasting a vial of yeast if you pitch it in. When the manufacturer says "good for stouts," they mean from a flavor-profile standpoint, and really it has nothing to do with its ability to ferment the types of sugars found in stouts.

Furthermore, dumping a vial of yeast directly into a beer is the worst way to restart a stuck fermentation (if in fact we are dealing with a stuck ferment). You have to build a small starter (500mL or so), pitch the vial into this, and when the starter is visibly active you can pitch the entire thing into the stuck beer. This ensures that the yeast that are entering the beer have the nutrients they need and are ready for fermentation.

Don't do it!

seeing bubbling from the airlock, is not a good indication of fermentation... I'd say yeast nutrient and give it 2 more weeks. take a gravity reading and bottle.

So if i add yeast nutrient, and that does not do he trick, what would be my next best bet to get the ABV up....do I add some corn sugar? what are my options at this point?

Thanks

andoniu83 said:

So if i add yeast nutrient, and that does not do he trick, what would be my next best bet to get the ABV up....do I add some corn sugar? what are my options at this point?

Thanks

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Yeah, that's where I'd go with it if you wanted to raise final abv. corn sugar will jack up the alcohol without adding more body.

Will adding corn sugar jack up th sweetness of the stout? How do I get yeast nutrient to take it's effect, just toss it in the bath and stir it in?

Corn Sugar will ferment out very dry and not leave any residual sweetness.

I boil about a 4-6 oz of water in the microwave, add reccomended amount of yeast nutrient for a 5 gallon batch to this water, let cool a bit and pour directly into fermenter with out stirring. the yeast will get it. on my ciders I sometimes just add the dry nutrient directly to fermenter and let it disolve on its own.

If you do add corn sugar I'd follow similar procedure as yeast nutrient. Boil a volume of water, add corn sugar bring back to a boil for a few minutes, let it cool down a bit and add this liquid to fermenter.

If your doing both add yeast nutrient to boiled corn sugar.

Thank for the help starfish, I'll post again with the results.

Im going to be doing a Robust Porter Brewers Best Kit next, but I'm thinking of adding some Orange flavor to it. What is everyones recommendations in regards to using packaged bittered orange peel or just using orange zest? When to add to the process (during boil?, in the secondary?)

So instead I purchased some DME from my local brew store and also some yeast nutrient. Hopefully this will take care of raising the ABV on the Oatmeal Stout, I will keep everyone posted. Thanks

Let us know how that goes, I still probably would have used corn sugar as it doesn't add anything to body like dry malt extract will. Check gravity again, if it's dropping just add nutrient.

I have a Oatmeal Mild coming up (supposed to come out at just under 3%ABV) using a full pound of oats. I've done a few Oat beers in the past (not as many as I'd of liked), but I did see in my old brew notes last night, that 1 of them was a very slow fermenter.

Aright, here's the update...two days in to adding the DME and yeast nutrient, the yeast is back in action and the airlock has been bubbling...actually started bubbling within20 minutes of adding the ingredients.

Im waiting until 48 hours with no bubbling, gonna take a FG and see where I am at with taste and ABV. I'll keep everyone posted.

With adding 3/4 lb DME I was able to get the ABV to 3.7 % for the Oatmeal Stout. Im bottling it this weekend. Tastes great.

Thanks for all your help

nice! glad it worked out for ya!