funked quad???

I brewed a quad, OG 1.080. Did everything right, 1.75L starter on stir plate, mashed at 150, 45 seconds pure O2, yeast nutrient, WLP530 starting at 66 and ramping to mid 70's with perfect temp control. Even with 3lbs of Candi Syrup the damn thing petered out at 1.030...I felt like the episode of Brew Masters where the 90 Minute stalled out for no apparent reason. I'm so used to never having fermentation issues I didn't realize it was stalled until I had racked it to the bottling bucket. I hit it with 1.5 packs of US-05, but highly doubut that will do anything. However, while frustrated that this is my first stuck ferment in 8 years I'm not ready to give up on it. So, any thoughts on letting bugs take this thing down the rest of the way? The other consideration is I have it in a 6 gallon BB and there is one gallon of headspace, recommendations on how to fill that...I was thinking raspberries or cherries?

If you want to keep it clean I say make another O2 addition with yeast nutrient. Alternatively you could employ some fresh yeast if you have some on hand. Make a starter and toss it in during high krausen.

If you want to sour it or make it funky, either a sour blend or brett would tear it down. Just be prepared to sit on it for 6-18 months.

I would add some funk, but I would add funk to anything.... And I think raspberries would be great with this.... or blackberries.... But like Apache said, let it wait at least 8 months before seeing what the flavor is, and seeing what fruit would pair best with it...

So if I wait 2/3 a year before adding fruit what should I do to fill the headspace? Add some wort from another brew? I'll probably rebrew this in the next couple of weeks as I wont be happy letting a style beat me so I can make an extra gallon.

Bensiff said:

So if I wait 2/3 a year before adding fruit what should I do to fill the headspace?

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A pellicle!

You could add another half gallon or so of wort if you are really concerned with headspace but I think you will be fine if you pitch bugs soon as long as you leave the pellicle undisturbed.

Good info guys. Saved me from having to thumb through Wild Brews hoping to find something worthwhile. Now let's hope my buddy pulls through and gets me some Bam Biere.

I had a very similar situation come up with a brew at the end of 2010. Belgian strong dark with a 1.078 OG fermented with WLP540. Got stuck at 1.024- it was way too sweet for the style. here is my timeline with the changes i made:

10/26/10- brewday
12/10- stuck at 1.024
12/13- dregs from two bottles of orval
12/29- added 2.5lbs sour cherries
1/14- gravity down to 1.017, cherry flavor starting to develop
2/10- added dregs from goose island fleur and jolly pumpkin autumn fire
4/1- gravity not taken, but taste sample. Starting to develop sour notes, but has a hot finish
5/24-gravity at 1.004. Initial taste has a strong cherry flavor, finish is sour.
7/31-kegged

Still drinking it now. Finish is still a bit hot, but the sourness masks most of that. I like it quite a bit, and it was fun to play around with it rather than waste a batch.

Bensiff said:

So if I wait 2/3 a year before adding fruit what should I do to fill the headspace?

Click to expand...

In my experience with brewing sours a bit of headspace is a good thing. I've got a Flanders Red with 18 months on just now starting to develop some acidity with almost no headspace. The beer is almost all the way up the neck of the carboy. Just about all my other sour beers have had a decent amount of headspace and develop heavy acidity within a year (I like them very sour).

My theory, and I could be completely wrong, is the decreased surface area to oxygen slowed the development to some degree.

Gritsak said:

I had a very similar situation come up with a brew at the end of 2010. Belgian strong dark with a 1.078 OG fermented with WLP540. Got stuck at 1.024- it was way too sweet for the style. here is my timeline with the changes i made:

10/26/10- brewday
12/10- stuck at 1.024
12/13- dregs from two bottles of orval
12/29- added 2.5lbs sour cherries
1/14- gravity down to 1.017, cherry flavor starting to develop
2/10- added dregs from goose island fleur and jolly pumpkin autumn fire
4/1- gravity not taken, but taste sample. Starting to develop sour notes, but has a hot finish
5/24-gravity at 1.004. Initial taste has a strong cherry flavor, finish is sour.
7/31-kegged

Still drinking it now. Finish is still a bit hot, but the sourness masks most of that. I like it quite a bit, and it was fun to play around with it rather than waste a batch.

Click to expand...

Sounds good, I think I'm going with raspberries though. Just waiting for my friend to hook me up with some JP so I can get the good bugs going.