Big Beer - Stuck Fermentation

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rwing7486

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So I dont want to ramble to long so to sum up I brewed a big olde ale with a theoretical SG of 1.21. Mashed my grains at 148, and ended with a post boil gravity 0f 1.14. I siphoned 2 gallons of the 1.14 wort onto a 1.5 gallon yeast starter already in the fermenter I made from 2 vials of WLP099 high gravity yeast and added O2 for 2 minutes . To not try and shock the yeast i siphoned the remaining wort into sanitized into 1/2 gallon mason jars. I monitored the fermentation and continued to add 1/2 of the wort about every other day to the fermenter (when the wort was getting to high krausen). I repeated this process until i ran out of wort and then proceeded to add corn sugar that i boiled in water to the fermenter. I dont remember the gravity of the corn sugar off the top of my head but the gravity/volume ratio theoretically would raise the gravity of the wort to 1.21. I let the beer ferment for 2 months and I take a gravity reading and I am at 1.056. I let it sit for another month and still I am stuck at 1.056. I am trying to get the gravity down around 1.035if possible as the beer tastes really sweet right now.

To get the fermentation going again I have tried gently knocking the fermenter, warming it up, stirring the trub and I have still had no luck in getting the yeast to finish eating the sugars.

My next move is to make a 1 liter yeast starter and pitch it into the fermenter. My question is what yeast do you guys recommend? I know WY3711 (french saisson) is good for stuck fermentation but will the yeast be still be able to perform with the high level of alcohol in the fermenter? or should i be good to go trying it? Or is a better option to buy another vial of WLP099 high gravity yeast and try pitching that?

If you want to read more about the beer i am attempting to brew then here is the thread in which i started my discussions: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=526470
 
So, you have some options but the beer may be done. What I have done with success is to boil up some yeast nutrient and simple sugar together, and add those to the fermenter, warming it up and resuspending some yeast at the same time. That should gain you a few gravity points. The other option is to get a fresh starter of WLP099 (not a saison yeast, IMO) and pitch it into the carboy at high krausen (rather than waiting for the starter to finish) and see what happens.
 
So, you have some options but the beer may be done. What I have done with success is to boil up some yeast nutrient and simple sugar together, and add those to the fermenter, warming it up and resuspending some yeast at the same time. That should gain you a few gravity points. The other option is to get a fresh starter of WLP099 (not a saison yeast, IMO) and pitch it into the carboy at high krausen (rather than waiting for the starter to finish) and see what happens.



I forgot to mention i have tried pitching a yeast starter of WLP001 at high krausen since I had some in the house. The end result was that the yeast did not any of the sugars. So my question is the beer really done fermenting? or did the yest die off because of the high amount of alcohol present in the beer?

WY3711 is a good yeast for getting stuck fermentations going again. There will be no flavor added from pitching it this late into the beer. My only worry is if the high level alcohol in the fermenter stop this yeast from eating the sugars.
 
If you added enough sugar to get to 1.21 (you should probably post how much sugar you added so we can check that math), and it fermented out to 1.056 your alcohol content is somewhere between 20 and 28% ABV, near the theoretical limit of WLP099. WLP001 and 3711 aren't going to touch that. 3711 tops out at 12% ABV and WLP001 somewhere around 15%.
 
If you added enough sugar to get to 1.21 (you should probably post how much sugar you added so we can check that math), and it fermented out to 1.056 your alcohol content is somewhere between 20 and 28% ABV, near the theoretical limit of WLP099. WLP001 and 3711 aren't going to touch that. 3711 tops out at 12% ABV and WLP001 somewhere around 15%.

I will be able to when I get home. I am traveling for work. BUT I used the equation below to calculate the SG of dissolved dextrose in 1 gallon of water to raise the 1.14 wort to 1.21. I think it ended up being like 9 lbs. I kept adding pounds of dextrose to a 1 gallon batch of water until my estimated gravity was around the number i calculated with the equation below.

((V_wort*SG_wort)+(V_dex*SG_dex))/(V_wort+V_dex) = 1.21

Here is my thought process for next steps. first I will bring the carboy up from the basement where the temp reading is at 67 degrees and let it warm up to 72-75 degrees. I will then stir the trub and see if any fermentation gets going again. If not I will then pitch another yeast starter of WL099 High gravity yeast - Maybe add 5 crushed beano pills if the yeast starter doesnt work? If this doesnt work my last resort will to try and some Brett (even though it doesnt like high alcohol).
Only concern I potentially have about the beano is that it might dry the beer out too much


How does it taste?

Too sweet for my liking. I need the gravity to drop.
 
Anyone else have any input? I have been traveling allot for work recently and haven't touched the beer yet since my previous posts. My thinking is will adding WY3711 do anything to the beer if there is a high mount of alcohol in the fermenter? I was thinking of adding Brett but not sure if that will handle it either.
 
3711 is likely a waste of time since your beer is already double its alcohol tolerance. If I were to try anything else, I would make another moderate batch (not starter) of 5-7% beer with 099 and then rack this beer on to that cake.
 
If your beer truly had an OG of 1.21 and it's at 1.056 then that puts it at about 22% alcohol which means it's probably done fermenting. The attenuation on that is about 74% which is within a normal range for yeast to be in. I am gonna say there is probably not much you could do to get it down to 1.035 which would put it 25%. You could maybe try to build up a starter to a similar gravity as your brew and pitch it in and see what happens.
 
If your beer truly had an OG of 1.21 and it's at 1.056 then that puts it at about 22% alcohol which means it's probably done fermenting. The attenuation on that is about 74% which is within a normal range for yeast to be in. I am gonna say there is probably not much you could do to get it down to 1.035 which would put it 25%. You could maybe try to build up a starter to a similar gravity as your brew and pitch it in and see what happens.

Ya I am going to try using the WY3711 and pitch at high krausen. If nothing happens I will say the beer is done and nothing i can do. I was trying to get rid of some of that sweetness.
 
I understand but I dunno if that yeast will be able to handle that high of alcohol. I did a big beer that I was able to get up to about 16%, right before the fermentation stopped I put in an additional pound of corn sugar (I had been feeding it daily) and it didn't ferment it. I tried to add other yeasts an such but nothing worked. Thus, I can understand why you don't want the sweetness.
 
I understand but I dunno if that yeast will be able to handle that high of alcohol. I did a big beer that I was able to get up to about 16%, right before the fermentation stopped I put in an additional pound of corn sugar (I had been feeding it daily) and it didn't ferment it. I tried to add other yeasts an such but nothing worked. Thus, I can understand why you don't want the sweetness.

Well I am glad you know my pain :) Did you try using a yeast like WY3711 (french saison) when you got to that situation? I have the same concerns about the high amount of alcohol being present in the beer, but I am hoping it wont affect it as much as this yeast is not starting with such a high gravity like 1.21 but at 1.056.
 
No I didn't try that yeast, I tried to re-pitch wlp99 and champagne and it's didn't work. Good luck!
 
I would brew a full 5 gallon batch with WLP 099, rack it off when done, put another full 5 gallons of wort on that cake, rack that off when done, THEN put you big beer on top of THAT cake. Possibly hit with some O2 too.
 
I think the main issue is alcohol tolerance of the yeast... at 22% it's going to be hard to get much to keep fermenting that
 
im not sure you can get any sort of yeast to thrive in that high alcohol your best bet might be to blend it with something else to cut that sweetness.
 
When my beer that I got to 16% got stuck what I ended up doing after about a year was cut it in half with 50% pre-boiled water, pitched some champagne yeast into it to dry it out further and dry hopped it to make a nice alcoholic dry IPA
 

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