Restart fermentation

I am brewing a Dogfish Head clone that went into the fermenter with a 1.075 OG. I pitched a 2L starter of Wyeast 1099. Fermentation began almost immediately and went crazy for days. After 9 days, it died. I checked and the SG was 1.040. I swirled it in the carboy and let it sit, hoping it would keep going. Now, at day 12, it's still at 1.040.

How do I restart the fermentation process and get it down under 1.020? I don't have any more 1099 but I do have a couple of pkgs of Munton's Brewer's Yeast. Should I pitch them? Thanks for any suggestions.

Did it experience a sudden drop in temp? You can try warming it up a bit but it might be a tad late now. There are lots of other issues that can cause a stuck fermentation, what was your exact process once the wort left the kettle? You can try pitching the dry yeast... it certainly won't hurt.

I chilled the wort and poured it through a strainer/funnel into the carboy. I aerated it for about 15 minutes then pitched the yeast. Both the yeast starter and the wort were in the 72-75 degree range at the time. Sat the fermenter in a rubbermaid container of water with an aquarium heater. Water's been at 69 degrees constantly. At 10 days, I upped the thermometer to 72 and that's where it sits now.

Hmm that's interesting. I'd ask about yeast viability but you made a nice big starter so that's out of the question...

Was this all-grain? What was your mash temp? A far-too-high mash temp could cause this (i.e. there are no more fermentables for the yeasties) due to a mis- or uncalibrated thermometer.

To jump start fermentation you could either add more yeast (but if the above is true, that won't help unless it's champagne yeast) or you could boil up some sugar and add it to the primary to wake the yeast up.

It was an extract brew with steeped grains. Shouldn't be any big temp problems. Would sugar really make that much of a difference? Seems as if there's still a good amount of sugars in there.

Yeah, if it's extract then it's clearly not a temp problem considering there was no mash

You could try a solution of sugar and yeast nutrient/energizer. Then again, DME would do the same thing.

I'd like to see what others would do but if all else fails I'd try repitch and DME addition.

I'm with you - I'll see what others have to say tonight, then if all else fails, pitch the Muntons with a 1/2 lb. of DME.

Oh, duh... your post just made me think of the obvious solution. Instead of pitching them separately into the primary, make a starter with the 0.5# DME and yeast. Pitch that mofo at just before the strong, primary fermentation.

If it was mine... I would taste it... Does it taste sweet and sugary... or does it taste thick and malty with that characteristic flavor of un-fermentables....... which goes along with the question of what sort of DME did you use? Last trip I took to the LHBS -- they had about 100 flavors...

I would try re-starting a small sample with a bit of yeast nutrient and see what happens....

If all else fails and you *GOTTA* have it lower... There's always Beano...

Alright - here's the plan for tonight. I'm going to boil a 1/2 gal. batch of wort with .5# DME and pitch 12g of Muntons into it. Once I see signs of fermentation, I'm going to pitch the whole thing into my primary, swirl it around, and pray. We'll see what happens! Of course, this will screw up all my hydrometer readings, so I don't know what the ABV will be, but as long as I get the FG down under 1.020 I'll be happy.

Taste wise, it's pretty darn close to Dogfish Head 90. The hop bitterness at this point is at finished levels. So, my next question is, do I still dry-hop it at the planned rate or back it off a notch or just forget dry-hopping it? Decisions, decisions.

HackInBlack said:

Taste wise, it's pretty darn close to Dogfish Head 90.

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Sounds like you need to quit fooling with it and let it be... 1.04 SG is icky sweet if it's fermentable sugars...

1.02 is sweet hard cider that is definately sweet but not gooey tasting.....

If you are at 1.04 and it tastes about right..... then you are reading lots of suspended sediment and unfermentables....

Personally... I would not fool with it... Let it sit a while to settle out and clear...

Thanks

John

So, I pitched some DME in 1/2 gal of water with 12 grams of Munton's yeast. Fermented for a couple of days then stopped. SG=1.040. I'm thinking #11 is onto something - it's the sediment and unfermentables. I racked to secondary with some oak chips and hops. It started fermenting like crazy, then stopped today. Took another reading: SG=1.040. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. It HAS to be the sediment - I can't think of anything else. Plus, it tastes awesome, so I'm going to cold crash it for a few days and bottle it.

Maybe your hydrometer is out of whack? Did the internal piece of paper with the numbers on it slip out of place? Test the hydro with some H20 for a 1.000 reading. Sediment would settle to the bottom of the test jar and you would get a true reading.

HackInBlack said:

Took another reading: SG=1.040. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. It HAS to be the sediment - I can't think of anything else. Plus, it tastes awesome, so I'm going to cold crash it for a few days and bottle it.

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Relax.... Let it be. It will settle out and clear just fine if you let it be.... Nothing good comes out of rushing beer....

You are worrying way too much about numbers and the numbers don't make beer good or bad -- they are just numbers..... After a few batches, they may start to tell you something useful about your process -- like tracking down a high final SG where your mash temp was a little too high -- like say 160 vs 153...... but that in and of itself doesn't make a bad beer.... just a different beer....

You may have stumbled on something in your recipe.... That higher finished SG probably means you have a whole lot more body and flavor... I bet it makes one heck of a head too.... which sounds like a pretty good beer to me....

RDWHAHB......

John

truckjohn said:

You are worrying way too much about numbers and the numbers don't make beer good or bad -- they are just numbers.....
After a few batches, they may start to tell you something useful about your process -- like tracking down a high final SG where your mash temp was a little too high -- like say 160 vs 153...... but that in and of itself doesn't make a bad beer.... just a different beer....

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It's extract.

And they really aren't "just numbers." Exact measurements go into every single step in the brew process. 4oz of hops in the boil of a 5 gallon batch will work well; 4kg won't. Similarly, the numbers are important considering if it's at 1.040 and still has fermentables, if he bottles they will likely be overcarbed or explode.

Reno_eNVy_446 said:

It's extract.

And they really aren't "just numbers." Exact measurements go into every single step in the brew process. 4oz of hops in the boil of a 5 gallon batch will work well; 4kg won't. Similarly, the numbers are important considering if it's at 1.040 and still has fermentables, if he bottles they will likely be overcarbed or explode.

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And that friends is how you argue a straw man.....

Here's a really dumb question.... What is the calibration temperature of your hydrometer?

Most standard hydros are calibrated at 59*F --

You said it is sitting at 72*F -- where you checked it.... Assuming your thermometer is dead on.... that is about a 0.015 sg shift -- so your 1.04 reading is really 1.025 -- which is close enough to call it done

If your temp is really 75F -- that would give you a SG of 1.02..... and you hit your target dead on... Nothing to see here... Proceed to bottling....

Thanks

John

truckjohn said:

You said it is sitting at 72*F -- where you checked it.... Assuming your thermometer is dead on.... that is about a 0.015 sg shift -- so your 1.04 reading is really 1.025 -- which is close enough to call it done

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No, that's a shift of 0.0015... and with higher temperatures you add points to your SG. With rounding, that would be a specific gravity of 1.042

SCIENCE!

I ordered extracts online and ended up with a dealer repackage. Had NO idea what brand. Attenuation sucked. The fact you put in an active starter and it still ended up at the same reading indicates to me you have most likely reached the limit of the extract. When I bottled mine it carbed up so that was further indication that the yeast were eating everything they could. Bottled about 8 months now and no bottle bombs. I use it for cooking though.

So here's the weird thing - it had quit fermenting - SG was constant at 1.040 for two days. So I toss it in the lagering fridge to cold crash it and drop the sediment out. It's at 38 degrees for two days and I open the fridge and it's fermenting like crazy - airlock is bubbling like there's no tomorrow. Once it slows down, I'll check the SG again. I know I'm pretty new to this, but this is some crazy brew. . .

Yeah, thaaaat's really weird. I've heard of airlocks bubbling inward when they are put in a cold container but regular fermentation-like bubbling? Odd... especially considering you're using Wyeast #1099 which tolerates (maybe enjoys?) warmer temperatures well.

I would also suggest it's just off-gasing from being moved but two days after being moved? Probably not...

I'm really quite interested to see how this all plays out!

Reno_eNVy_446 said:

I'm really quite interested to see how this all plays out!

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Yea, me too.

Pulled it out of the lagering fridge yesterday and let it sit. Very minimal airlock activity. Took SG today - 1.040. There's still a touch of sediment in it, but even after letting it settle - 1.040. I can't judge fermentation by the SG, obviously, and I don't want bottle bombs, so I'm going to let it sit at room temp for a few days, then bottle it. I think I'll rename it Bizarro Beer.

Oh, and the taste is dead on for a Dogfish 90. Now if I can only get it bottled without everything exploding. . .

HackInBlack said:

So here's the weird thing - it had quit fermenting - SG was constant at 1.040 for two days. So I toss it in the lagering fridge to cold crash it and drop the sediment out. It's at 38 degrees for two days and I open the fridge and it's fermenting like crazy - airlock is bubbling like there's no tomorrow. Once it slows down, I'll check the SG again. I know I'm pretty new to this, but this is some crazy brew. . .

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If it's in an air-tight fridge and it starts to show lots of bubbling in the lock after it's been open for about 10-15 seconds then what you're experiencing is probably off-gassing. The CO2 is trapped inside the fermenter if the fridge is airtight. So, when you open the door there is a pressure change and the gas is allowed to escape. Which probably means that your beer was still fermenting (slowly), even though you didn't always see visible signs of fermentation in the airlock at room temps. I was so nervous when I made my first lager and was so confused because of this same exact occurrence. Every time I opened the fridge, I didn't see activity until like 10-15 seconds then it was as if the airlock was boiling because there was so much activity. LEAVE IT ALONE and let the yeast do their thing.