Stalled @ 1.026?

I made my usual Fat Tire brew with washed 1056 yeast w/starter. Mash temp was 156, ferment was 68, OG was 1.058 It seems like the FG is stopped at 1.026. I tried adding dry yeast (cheap/fastest way to finish this batch) to kick it into gear again but it hasn't changed.

Anything I can do to get this to finish lower?

how was your aeration before pitching?

I knew that would come up. As of now, I only rigerously shake. I've never had a problem before with that method.

The starter seamed sluggish too but it did ferment out. If the starter was "bad", wouldn't the dry yeast still take off?

How much do you trust your thermometer? If it was reading 5 degrees off you could have issues with unfermentables in your wort.

I think I've read on here that Bean-o can help with that by breaking down complex sugars but I'm not sure I have that right. I've never tried it.

Edit: Here's a thread on it. Looks like you would want to proceed with caution if at all.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/when-how-use-beano-112926/

Ki-ri-n said:

I knew that would come up. As of now, I only rigerously shake. I've never had a problem before with that method.

The starter seamed sluggish too but it did ferment out. If the starter was "bad", wouldn't the dry yeast still take off?

Click to expand...

yeah, if there's still sugars, the dry should go at it.
for aeration, i use the stir and shake method too. i dump the wort though a strainer into the bucket, stir the $h*t outta it for several mins, rack into the carboy, allowing it to splash and foam up, then pitch the starter. never a problem.
when you say the starter was slow, did you mean abnormally for that strain? what strain is it? and have you used it before with better results?

Ive used the strain before, hence washed yeast It seemed slower than prior use (only 1 or 2 times being washed).

Thermo isn't lab grade but should be within a degree or so.

Ive heard of beano on here before but can't find a reference to it using search in the ingrediants forum.

What if I broke down and got an oxygen kit? More harm than good at this point?

You might want to check the thermo against boiling water. I've had them go out of cal before.

I've used O2 before but didn't find any difference from what Nordeast mentioned with the strainer. I certainly wouldn't oxygenate now and it looks like the Bean-o may be a bad idea. If your FG is stable I'd just bottle and see how it goes.

What temp are you fermenting at? Try warming it up a bit if you are in the low to mid 60's. I've had Cali ale crap out on me during the winter when it's sitting in a cold room. When fermentation slows I usually warm my brew up to the low 70's to help a yeast finish attenuating. In the summer it's easy just to pull the fermentor out of the ferm chamber and set it at room temp, but in the winter i set the bucket onto a seedling heat mat to heat up the brew to 72-74. It really helps it finish quickly so the yeast can drop.

Edit: oops, missed it that you are fermenting at 68. That's a good temp, but it still might help to warm it a bit more.

Guess Ill up the temp on the fermentatiom cabinet and see what happens.

Seems odd the dry yeast did nothing...

Reading this and what do you know. A BEAN-O commercial on tv. Coinkydink?
Or should I be afraid, really afraid!

I would not aerate any more at this point. Everything I have read says DO NOT aerate after fermentation has STARTED.

Swirl it, warm it a little and if nothing happens I would just continue and hope for the best.

So if you want to know for sure, you can do a forced ferment. pull a sample, add a pack of dry yeast to the sample, and put that at 80 degrees. If its still at 1.026 after a day or two, then you know its just not going anywhere.

kh54s10 said:

Reading this and what do you know. A BEAN-O commercial on tv. Coinkydink?
Or should I be afraid, really afraid!

Click to expand...

I cannot confirm nor deny any involvement in said commercial.

Anyone have sucess with adding yeast hulls or yeast energizer?

And please, more meaniningful posts than those in the "stuck at 1.07" thread:cross:

Bump! And I'm having the same issue now with a porter. Started at 1.068 @ 76°. After ten days I (stupidly) pulled it off the cake into a carboy, and now it's stuck at 1.026. I feel like it should end at 1.016. And how the heck am I going to prime if there's no yeast left? Should I pitch another pack into the carboy?