Is this the classic "stuck" fermentation?

Hello all,

Last Friday (8/22) I made some Brewer's Best Robust porter. Did everything fine, but now its a week later, and the gravity went from 1.055 down to 1.022, and stayed there for two days. The expected final gravity is supposed to be between 1.012 and 1.015.. Also, there was no evidence of a vigorous fermentation. I did not hear a peep from the blowoff tube, but (obviously) SOME fermentation happened, i just think it stopped. What to do, what to do... my first idea was to repitch.. what do you all think?

There is no "classic" stuck fermentation, most "apparant stuck" fermentatio's on here are new brewers using airlocks as a sign of fermentation activity, and NOT the hydromteter.

Which obviously is not your case.

Before repitching, try to give the carboy or fermenter a gentle swirl...If it's a carboy, just grab the neck and rock it once clockwise. Basically you just want to re-rouse the yeast and see if that will get them working again.

Also raising the temp a few degrees above the temp it is as may help as well. The yeasties are nice and cozy and accustomed to the temp they're at now, so wrapping a blanket around the fermenter will wake them up as well.

I would do both of those, and leave it alone for another 5 days, or so, and if there is no change, THEN re-pitch.

I personally try to do all I can BEFORE repitching more yeast.

What kind of yeast was it btw?

Beer yeast? I dont remember. The package was thrown away a long time ago, and the only list of ingredients simply says "Beer Yeast"

It's the Brewer's Best Robust Porter, if anyone else can chime in..

Eight days is really not that long enough to cry stuck. Yeast doesn't go by a calendar and some batches just take their time fermenting. Revvy's advice is good, let it go are a week or so longer, then worry about repitching.

Did you aerate well at pitching time? Also, depending on the age of the yeast and assuming it's dry yeast, did you rehydrate? An OG of 1.055 isn't all that high-gravity, but it's not low either. If you pitched a pretty old packet of dry yeast without rehydrating into an all-extract batch of 1.055, that could result in less-than-stellar attenuation. At this point, as others have said, just try swirling. You could try to add yeast nutrients, but since this isn't all-extract, there should have been enough nutrients in there.

As a last resort, you could try re-pitching with a yeast that attenuates a little more (Nottingham), but I doubt it will do much. You might get a few more points out of it, but you could just as well be stuck with a somewhat sweet porter. If all this fails and you want to get your gravity down a little, you could add some pre-boiled/cooled water at bottling time. But you'll also be sacrificing IBUs and ABV. You could dilute it to a point or two below your final gravity and you probably won't notice it much. If you decide to do this, to figure out your resultant gravity, IBUs and ABV, use the following equation: C1V1 = C2V2 where C means "concentration" and V means "volume". The 1's side is before dilution and the 2's side is after dilution. You can do this each for gravity, IBUs and ABV. So for gravity, if you're stuck at 1.022 and you want to dilute to 1.020 on a 5 gallon batch take: 22 X 5 = 20 X V2... or 110/20 = 5.5, so add 1/2 gallon. Then, use 5.5 for V2, your ABV or IBUs for C1, and solve for C2 to see how much they will drop.

Damn. I just checked again.. ambient temperature is 80°.. I wonder if i should put it in a bath of cold water for a few days... what do you guys think? I still havent gotten anything active..

The SG is still at 1.022 and has been since Friday, which is when I rocked the bucket a bit..

Like i said, I guess 80° is a bit high, but I had the same scenario last time I brewed beer down here and it turned out fine..

So, I'm lost. It smells like beer, nothing looks infected, and I obviously do not want to waste it..

Another day, still no activity. =(...

So my resolution was to actually put the fermentor in a cooler with cold water and frozen water bottles.

However, I got some info this morning.. the kit that I used was about a year old. (It was given to me in good shape, had no idea..)

So, the yeast might have been half good.. or half bad.

Any input is appreciated.

Just an update.. i repitched with a nottingham yeast after two weeks at 1.022.. i noticed some air bubble activity in the airlock, but not a lot... so we will see if this finishes out like its supposed to..

Like i said, i found out the kit was a year old after i had already brewed it and put it in primary, so i told the guy (who wants half..) that it might not taste right, or even work for that matter.. but my hopes are a little higher now due to some activity..

Thanks for all your help,
SSL

SSL,

Depending on the recipe (not familiar with the BB robust porter kit) coupled with the age of the malt and yeast, it may be done. If you can get a few more points out of it with Nottingham, great, if not let it settle a week or 2 and then bottle. Pay closer attention to your temps from the beginning on the next one, try to keep it cooler from the getgo. Cooling it down after fermentation settles down will do nothing but help the yeast drop.

I never had an extract kit hit the listed FG. I even tried pure o2 with a stone from morebeer. Never got below 1.016. Still made good beer, but some residual sweetness. Once I started doing all grain, I finally hit 1.012.

Yea Im hoping to get closer to 10 or 11 points .. Im getting bubbles out of my airlock every 15-20 seconds (last night and this morning..) so Im not sure if its going to take off or if it is actually at the end of fermentation.. im just going to ride it out. Like I said, Free kit.. if i have to chalk it up as a failure (at the worst, a not-as-good-as-it-could-have-been batch,) so be it..

Well, team, it stopped at 1.019 or so.. not close enough to the expected FG for me to comfortably bottle, but I think I will try transfering to secondary, and maybe that will do something for me *shrug*.

Sometimes when you transfer to the secondary it will start the yeast up again also. It has happened to an Ale I brewed recently.

Revvy was correct on his suggestions though. I would try all them before pitching ever pitching again. He has given good solid advice from what I have read on this forum.

im not sure Re-re-pitching is the best idea... or is it??? If i only get a few points per yeast packet..financially i am better off dumping.. ofcourse I wont actually do that.. just saying. :rockin:

I wouldn't pitch again. I think you'll have to live with what you got. Remember, beers 150 years ago weren't near as attenuated as we expect them to be now. It will still be good. Jut think of it a hearty breakfast porter.

I'm just curious - why all the resistance to re-pitching? Is it just because of the expense of the yeast?

I dont care about the cost, but I mean, if it didnt work the first time, why would it work this time?

Winesburg Ale said:

I'm just curious - why all the resistance to re-pitching? Is it just because of the expense of the yeast?

Click to expand...

He re-pitched with Nottingham. Nottingham is a relatively high attenuation yeast. Whatever he got with that is all he's going to get (apart from maybe Champagne yeasts:cross. Plus, the one time I repitched in a similar situation, it didn't do crap.

man i got the same issue right now ! i got and old kit for free and didn't know the extract was out of date ! yeast was brand new. i rehydrated 2 packets of muntons gold for the pitch. very very slow fermentation stuck at 1.020 after 8 days !

Yeah, and i used to live by "Free is for me!".. just not in this case (anymore.) I told the guy who gave it to me that it might not work, so.. he cant be mad or anything.

TRUE !!!!!:rockin:

the main reason i did it is so i could mess with the recipe. kinda make my first custom batch without waistin to much loot !

I just brewed a Brewer's Best English brown ale which came with Munton's dry yeast. I pitched two packets of yeast that I rehydrated and my fermentation was stuck at about 1.016 after a week. My reading did not change for an entire week. Every forum I've read about this problem suggests that Munton's yeast is notorious for finishing higher than the recipe suggests. I've recently transferred to a secondary, but I have not taken another hydrometer reading to see if transferring helped at all.