Help - I think I'm stuck

I am attempting my first Belgian Tripel. It is primarily extract with candi sugar and some Belgian biscuit. I made a large starter with WLP530 and pitched at an OG of 1.104. I started getting action within a couple hours, and still had some airlock action at 2 weeks. It has shown no bubbling now for 4 days, so I planned on transferring to secondary tonight, but my gravity is only 1.055. What's up? should I still up the yeast, wait a little longer, or go ahead to secondary since I'm not bubbling anymore?

Gently stir the yeast and wait a couple of days.

Check the walls of your fermenter. Belgian yeast has a tendency to be thick and carry a lot of the yeast to the walls and beach itself there.

Give the whole fermenter a swirk and knock down the yeast back into the solution.

See what happens cuz I been there, done that,

BierMuncher said:

Give the whole fermenter a swirk and knock down the yeast

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+1 Does not sound like the ferment is finished.

I swirled the yeast up, and it is doing a very slow but persistent bubble. After 2 days, it has dropped 10 points, and still is doing something. I guess being patient is the answer.

RDWHHB!

Gotta watch that Belgian yeast man. It wants to crawl up and out of your fermenter.

neuron555 said:

I swirled the yeast up, and it is doing a very slow but persistent bubble. After 2 days, it has dropped 10 points, and still is doing something. I guess being patient is the answer.

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who cares about airlock activity, what is the gravity down to? its the only way to know.

Here's an update - 4 days more (now a full three weeks) and the gravity has dropped from around 1.060, down to only 1.050. I'll keep watching but it has a long way to go. Any point in pitching more yeast?

neuron555 said:

I guess being patient is the answer.

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patience is second only to good sanitation habits when it comes to making great beer.

Three more days have gone by since I last checked, and my gravity is stopped at 1.050. This was nearly all extract with only 1/2 pound of Belgian biscuit, plus candi sugar, so it should be nearly all fermentable. How much longer do I wait before deciding it is stuck, and if so, what are my options? I could try another vial of the same yeast, but I pitched a 500 cc starter to begin with. The problem is that this should end with a high ABV, though I thought the Trappist yeast was OK with this.