stuck in the mud

few months back i brewed a big scotch ale. being a noob i had no idea about aeration(no more big brews till i get a pump and stone). OG was 1.080. it stalled out at 1.060 from the cold. moved it and swirled and it dropped to 1.040 and stayed there. pitched 2 packets of dry yeast. nothing. made a big ass starter. still nothing. threw in another packet of dry as a last attempt and still nothing.

am i stuck with a thick as mud scotch ale? it tastes pretty good, but i'm worried about bottle bombs.

Well, if your gravity is not changing then I wouldn't worry about bottle bombs. What was your FG supposed to be?

48% attenuation? Sketchy. You'll need to post the recipe, as well as any info about the processes (especially mash schedule, if applicable). If you used a few pounds of cara-____, for example, or you mashed at 156, then this would make a difference on what proportion of your sugars are fermentable.

I recently had a similar problem (though not quite as dire as yorus). My double IPA started at at least 1.091 (probably higher, as it was 4:30am when I finished up, and I'd been steadily sipping homebrews all night). Finished at 1.040. Stirred it up, couldn't get it to do anything. So, wary of gushers, I conducted a rather involved experiment: I took an entire packet of nottingham yeast and hydrated it. I then added a boiled/cooled dextrose solution to the carboy along with the rehydrated nottingham.

A small fermentation started back up, and when it finished, I checked the gravity again. Just about 1.040. What this told me was that the yeast in there are still able to ferment sugars, but the remaining 1.040 of sugar is not fermentable...meaning probably no gushers.

This is really the best way I've come up with to test it out.