Stalled fermentation?

Hi all,

On sunday we brewed our new smoked porter recipe Recipe Here./. We used Danstar nottingham yeast, we prepared a starter about 18 hours before pitiching to our wort. The yeast was pitched to the wort and started fermenting quite quickly. A day into fermentation and it's bubbling allong nicely. It's now been 3 days since we pitched the yeast and fermentation has slowed down to an almost stop the gravity is currently 1.024 after starting at 1.054. The starter was made with 700ml wort made from DME and at a gravity of 1.040.

We don't really do anything to airate the wort and the temperature has been steady at about 21-22 degrees celsius the whole time.

Is it likely that the gravity isn't going to drop much further from here?

For one, there is no need to make a starter with dry yeast, there are 200 billion cells in there. lots more reasons but thats not the question...

It is early to tell if it is stalled or not. Wait 2 weeks and see what it is then.

Not aerating the wort is a very bad thing. This could be a reason for a less than great beer and/or attenuation.

i've read so many conflicting recommendations re: starters for dry yeasts, some say sprinkle it in as it is, some say just re-shydrate and pitch, some say make a starter. Also, where does 200 billion come from? the datasheet from danstar says 5 billion?


If it does turn out that it ends up at, say 1.022.... then can I do anything to get it to ferment further?

Edit: the data sheet says 5 billion per gram..... but that's still only 57billion cells?

+1 wait. If it still isn't going down after a week or two, pitch more Nottingham.

The dry yeast manufacturers package yeast at the peak of health, and starters are not recommended. Read the manufacturer's recommendation for pitching. Some say to rehydrate and some say to pitch dry. The 200 billion cells comes from people who have rehydrated a pack and counted the cells under a microscope. The spec. on the data sheet is assuming a less than ideal scenario where the yeast is somewhat old and has been stored in less than favorable conditions. Next time if you want to pitch more than one pack of dry yeast, just buy two. They are cheap and it's easier than a starter.