Pilsner stuck on 1.030

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redwing_al

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Brewed my first pilsner using Wyeast Czech pilser #2278 - I used a 2l starter.. Although I recall that the OG of the starter was higher than 1.040.. I think it was 1.060...

OG of the wort was 1.051 and I seem to be stuck on 1.030. It was 2 weeks fermenting at mid to low 50 temps.

Any ideas? I was thinking maybe the yeast was caught up in the trub that settled since it's a cooler ferm temperature, but I'm not sure what to do about it?

ideas? what to do?
 
I've had a thermometer come out of calibration, thought I mashed at 152F and was actually mashing at 162F needless to say the beer mysteriously got stuck at 1.027, that's always something to consider. I've only made 2 lagers so I can't really comment too much except I pitched a 5L starter (decanted of course) and they turned out great maybe try that next time?

In your current situation I would increase the temp to 60F for a few days and see what happens, if nothing, I would pitch 2 packets of dry lager yeast at 60F
 
Also, perhaps you might want to check your hydrometer with distilled water to ensure it's reading 1.000. If the little paper got dislodged it could be reading off. Then, if that's all good, bump up the ferm chamber temp to 63-65 for a few days. Did you do a D-rest?
 
Another thing could be ferm temps- if it got too cool your yeast may have gone semi dormant. If the gravity is correct, try warming them up a bit and rousing the fermenter to get some back in suspension.
 
Are you using a refractometer to measure gravity? If so, you need to use a calculator for correction after fermentation.


tell me more aobut this here correction calculation? I just tested gravity with my handy hydrometer and it was right on, within 1 pt of what I expect. What gives? My refractometer was 20pts or more off. ???

by the way, with Tap water it's reads 0
 
tell me more aobut this here correction calculation? I just tested gravity with my handy hydrometer and it was right on, within 1 pt of what I expect. What gives? My refractometer was 20pts or more off. ???

The refractometer wasn't off, at least not from what it measures.

A refractometer reads light via the refraction index, and in a sucrose solution it is pretty accurate. But once alcohol is in the mix, the reading is skewed by the alcohol. So while it's not "off", it's technically useless once fermentation starts, except to tell you when fermentation ends (since it won't change). Once fermentation ends, either take a hydrometer reading or use some software calculations to guestimate the likely FG.

They aren't all that accurate usually, but this one has pretty good results, especially if you know your wort correction factor: http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refractometer-calculator/
 
Yooper, you are awesome. I appreciate your participation and knowledge on this site. My OG was spot on where I expected, but my FG was way off relative to what I hoped. The Hydrometer confirmed it..

I think you said at one time you lived out of Michigan and you travel back. By any chance would you be at the fall beer festival in Marquette? I do plan to attend that. I'd love to meet you and share a beer. I have a place in SW of Munising.

thanks again! Beersmith said my Pilsner would finish at 1.011 and it finished at 1.012

The refractometer wasn't off, at least not from what it measures.

A refractometer reads light via the refraction index, and in a sucrose solution it is pretty accurate. But once alcohol is in the mix, the reading is skewed by the alcohol. So while it's not "off", it's technically useless once fermentation starts, except to tell you when fermentation ends (since it won't change). Once fermentation ends, either take a hydrometer reading or use some software calculations to guestimate the likely FG.

They aren't all that accurate usually, but this one has pretty good results, especially if you know your wort correction factor: http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refractometer-calculator/
 
Yooper, you are awesome. I appreciate your participation and knowledge on this site. My OG was spot on where I expected, but my FG was way off relative to what I hoped. The Hydrometer confirmed it..

I think you said at one time you lived out of Michigan and you travel back. By any chance would you be at the fall beer festival in Marquette? I do plan to attend that. I'd love to meet you and share a beer. I have a place in SW of Munising.

thanks again! Beersmith said my Pilsner would finish at 1.011 and it finished at 1.012

I live in the UP spring through winter, sort of. I just got back two weeks ago, and of course it's winter today as we got 7+ inches of snow, so I guess I still get winter-winter even though I'm gone for the worst part of the winter. We go to Texas for about 2 1/2 months, after Christmas.

I have never gone to the fall beer festival- but this year I should make an effort. We are in the central UP, so we'd need a motel, but we keep saying we're going to go every year, and every year something comes up. I think we need to make it a priority this year!
 
Made a yeast starter, brew day got pushed back a couple of days so the yeast starter was going for 4 days before pitched.
I was 4 points above my target OG. This put me at 1.060 which is getting into a higher gravity than what the US-05 is for. Fermentation went on extremly active for 4-5 days. I checkd the gravity on day 7. It was 1.020, I check it again on day 9, Still 1.020. I added a packet of US-05 and checked 4 days later, still the same 1.020. So before i put the plug back on the ferm, I stirred the beer up a bit.

I live in Ohio, Brew day was about 60 degrees, 3 days later the ass end dropped out and we were at 5 degrees. I ferm in my basement which typically holds pretty steady temps.
This is why i added more yeast because i though maybe my original yeasties went night night.


Any Ideas on what i did wrong?
 
Made a yeast starter, brew day got pushed back a couple of days so the yeast starter was going for 4 days before pitched.
I was 4 points above my target OG. This put me at 1.060 which is getting into a higher gravity than what the US-05 is for. Fermentation went on extremly active for 4-5 days. I checkd the gravity on day 7. It was 1.020, I check it again on day 9, Still 1.020. I added a packet of US-05 and checked 4 days later, still the same 1.020. So before i put the plug back on the ferm, I stirred the beer up a bit.

I live in Ohio, Brew day was about 60 degrees, 3 days later the ass end dropped out and we were at 5 degrees. I ferm in my basement which typically holds pretty steady temps.
This is why i added more yeast because i though maybe my original yeasties went night night.


Any Ideas on what i did wrong?

Are you measuring with a hydrometer like the OP was 9 months ago?
What was the temperature of fermentation when the outside temperatures were below 60?
Did you do anything to warm up fermentation?
 
I havent done anything to warm up the fermentor

and yes i Measure with a Hydrometer, I just tested it and it was at 1.000 in water.

i would say temp at Ferm was around 65-70
 
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