Belgian, 1.040 stuck fermentation

Hi all,

A month ago I made a belgian ale with the wyeast3942 (belgian wheat). OG was 1.090 and I expected a FG of 1.023. I made a decoction mash at 56°C, 66°C and 78°C.

I made a starter and everything seemed normal except now I am stuck at 1.040. The taste is right on what I wanted except it's too sweet. I would like to lose 10 points. What should I do?

First question is what type of instrument are you using to get that reading? If that's an uncorrected refractometer reading, it's artificially high due to alcohol being present.

Assuming the 1.040 reading is accurate (see what bigfloyd posted above) you can try rousing the yeast by swirling it gently and warming the fermenter up to 70 or 72F.

If this doesn't work, you can try pitching an actively fermenting yeast starter.

BigFloyd : I made the measurements with an hydrometer. I trust my reading since I have been using the same hydrometer for years without any issues. Anyhow, the beer tasted to sweet which is the big problem.

jro : I could warm the fermenter a little, but should I use the same yeast? I made a starter of WYEAST3942 when I first pitched the yeast and could see krausen 5 hours after...

Actually I don't think I am very clear. Let make that clearer.

I will have to do some sort of starter. Should I use the same yeast (Wyeast 3942) or should I use another one, like S-05.

Having the same issue with Wyeast Belgian 3724. Stalled as I feared it would after checking today. I'm warming into the 80's and did a stir and rechecking in a couple of days. It's only 3.2% after 6 days now and also too sweet for me. If no significant change I have a vial of wlp001 that I will toss in.

I split this froma 10 gallon batch and the other five I used Wyeast 3711 and it finished like a champ at 72 degrees.


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Since I posted, temps up and airlock burps are picking up. Will check again once they slow back done and hopefully if dries out enough. Chasing taste and not necessarily the number. Bonus points for not having to burn a fresh vial of yeast to boost it.



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lefort3 said:

Since I posted, temps up and airlock burps are picking up. Will check again once they slow back done and hopefully if dries out enough. Chasing taste and not necessarily the number. Bonus points for not having to burn a fresh vial of yeast to boost it.



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I hope you know that just tossing a vial of yeast in there would simply be a waste of a vial. If you've tried all else and had no luck, additional yeast should be in the form of a small starter at high krausen.

Sometimes a simple swirl and a bump of a few degrees does the trick. I have a cider going right now that was only down to 1.021 (from 1.062) after 12 days on Nottingham. Gave it a good swirl, bumped the temp to 66 and it was at 1.004 six days layer. It got moved immediately to cold crash.

If it continued to stall I was going to make a small starter. As it stands, it is bubbling and I'm much more optimistic with how it responded to jacking the temperature now than I was.



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Just to point out, airlock bubbling as a result of increasing temperature doesn't necessarily mean it is fermenting. The beer will off-gas CO2 as temp increases.

If it's really stuck, make a small starter of WLP099 super high gravity. Just know that it will get DRY, like sometimes awfully close to 1.00. You should keep a vial around at all times, and just refresh it by making a starter and packing some away to avoid this in the future.


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I am testing it again later to find out either way.


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Dropped to 1.34 and 4% at one week today and about 36 hrs after initial post. I plan to ride the time and temperature train, however so slowly. She is in the high 80's temp wise now. If the trend continues I will continue to relax and have a homebrew. If not, pitch my starter if not dry enough. The difference between Wyeast 3711 & 3724 fermentation and finishing wise is huge.





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