is .004 points too high to bottle?

I made a big honkin stout from Northern Brewer. The original gravity was 1.072. The expected gravity was 1.020-1.024. The actually standing gravity is 1.028. Is that too high to bottle?

-I made a huge yeast starter of wyeast 1332 northwest ale (67%-71% atten)

-I fermented at 68 degrees (band of temps is 65-75)

-I have had it sitting in the primary for 5 weeks

HELP!

Was this a grain or extract brew?

Anyway, even with the attenuation of that yeast, it's still a bit on the high side. Have you swirled the fermenter a bit to rouse the yeast?

It's certainly possible you're done at 1.028, but given the information you've listed here you probably should have finished closer to the 1.024 number.

I've been looking around and there may be a couple things giving me this result.

-I steeped my grains high at one point for 30 mins. This apparently gives unfermentables when around 170.


-This is extract.



So all in all, I cant decide to wait or just bottle it. I just really thought it would be done after 5 weeks solid.

I'm pretty sure that you're done at 1.028. What ingredients did you have in there? Malto Dextrin will get your FG numbers up.
You might try to pitch a pack of s-05 on there but I doubt you'll get lower. My ferments are usually done by the 7th day. And I bottle around week number 3.

I think I'm just going to bottle and see what happens.

Man, isn't the answer, "does it taste good enough to bottle?" Believe it or not, numbers are subjective (don't flame me ). There is a ton of science to be done, but the answer to "should this be bottled" is always subjective. You are the only person to answer that question.

--as an aside, one of the main reasons is that beverages will age more consistently in a larger volume, as in the entire volume will be more consistent versus lots of bottles aged during the same time. So, depending on what you want bottle at the last minute based on taste (or not)

Honestly, it tastes awesome. It is sweet, bitter, hops, coffee, caramel, semisweet chocolate, STOUT. Its great. I just don't want it to explode or gush everywhere! I have some 1 liter bottles that I want to open for new years. So a lot is riding on this. I'm starting to bottle right now.

The the critical question is how has the gravity been over the last two weeks. If it has been stable, bottle and celebrate. but if it has been declining you gotta wait, other wise gusher/exploder might be the result. what you are looking at is just stability if it tastes good, and that's damn important--especially in glass.

or you can keg and invite your friends over for a few dozen

My rule of thumb is... when in doubt about whether it's finished or not, give it another week and see what happens. More time in the fermenter is rarely, RARELY ever a bad thing. It may well be done and ready to bottle, but it'll be just as done and ready to bottle in a week.

I checked it the last few days. The gravity reading was the same. I bottled it and I hope it doesn't explode. I think there just must be a lot of unfermentables in there.

Just an update.

I popped open the stout yesterday and it's perfect. Tastes great and no gushers. I suppose I really did get too many unfermentables.

suenodos said:

Just an update.

I popped open the stout yesterday and it's perfect. Tastes great and no gushers. I suppose I really did get too many unfermentables.

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Well it's good to hear everything has gone well so far. At 2 weeks they should be properly carbonated if stored at 70*F... but the general rule of thumb on here is 3 weeks at 70*F. I'm not trying to jinx you but be sure to keep an eye on them as weeks 3 and 4 roll around.

Reno_eNVy_446 said:

Well it's good to hear everything has gone well so far. At 2 weeks they should be properly carbonated if stored at 70*F... but the general rule of thumb on here is 3 weeks at 70*F. I'm not trying to jinx you but be sure to keep an eye on them as weeks 3 and 4 roll around.

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For a stout that big, I would expect it to take 4 to 6 weeks to carbonate. If they are fully carbonated at 2 weeks, it might not be a bad idea to keep them in a tub or refrigerate.

Nurmey said:

For a stout that big, I would expect it to take 4 to 6 weeks to carbonate. If they are fully carbonated at 2 weeks, it might not be a bad idea to keep them in a tub or refrigerate.

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Oh dang, yeah I didn't even think about that. An OG of 1.072 should take a bit longer than that for proper carbonation.

If you choose to keep storing them in a tub at 70*F as Nurmey rightly suggested, be sure to keep the entire thing in a trash bag. That should contain splatter in the event of grenades.

It was in the fermenter for 5 weeks and wouldn't drop. You put in some sugar to carb and the yeast responded. That tells me they were out of sugar before. With extract you really have no control over fermentability.

It isn't fully carbed yet. It's barely carbed to be honest. I'm going to wait a couple more weeks before I open another taster. I'm just excited that it appears to be alright. I hope I'm not just being naive...

If it's not fully carbed at 2 weeks you are probably good.