At what point is stuck fermentation "stuck"?

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mojo_wire

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Well, here's a new one for me.

I put together a pilsner recipie and brewed on Feb 5. 5 gallon recipie, OG was 1.047. Pitched a 1.5 liter starter and put it in my wine cellar which is a consistent 51 degrees this time of year.

It took a couple of days to kick off and then went .... Slowly. Fermentation was going fine but it built up a couple inches of krausen and then just sat there .... For days .... With the airlock bubbling every 5 seconds ... For two weeks.

Just to see, I checked the gravity . It was all the way to .... 1.024???? What have those lazy yeasts been eating all this time?

I just checked my yeast supplies and realized I pitched the wrong one. I made the starter with Wyeast 2112. Steam beer yeast. Yeah, as in Wyeast's website says:

"This strain is particularly well suited for producing California Common-style beers. It retains lager characteristics at temperatures up to 65°F (18°C) and produces malty, brilliantly clear beers. This strain is not recommended for cold temperature fermentation."

Great. So there it is, chugging along at a bubble every 5 seconds at 51 degrees.

So what do I do here? My options appear to be:

1: Leave it in primary until my wine cellar reaches 60 degrees sometime in July
2: move it elsewhere in my house where ambient temps will be 64-66 degrees (weeklong diaceytl rest!)
3: pitch 34/70

I got nothing against Steam beers, in fact that's why I had the 2112 in the first place. But I got to dry this beer out.

I guess it's got to be option #2, and then back to the cellar and #3 if that's not working.
 
Yep, I just wasted a smack pack of Wyeast London ESB yeast doing that. Just dropped to the bottom lol. My milk stout seems to have stopped 12-14 points away :( hasn't moved in days. I roused them, and warmed them from 65 to 70. Half tempted to let it sit out tomorrow while I am at work, but I don;t want to ruin it lol I live in Florida, and it is going to be like 84 tomorrow. I will be moving my saision outside though ;) that one is chugging along!
 
Interesting, I moved it upstairs. The ambient temp (in an extra shower) is about 66 degrees.

Within a couple of hours fermentation has picked up noticeably -- airlock bubbles every 2-3 seconds -- and the krausen completely changed character. Before it was puffy and crusty looking, almost looking like wet expanding foam adhesive. Now it's already thicker, bubblier and a clean white color. And that's with the fermenter only up to 55 degrees.
 
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