10 years later, my first beer… again. High Gravity in fermenter

[BanjosLaughter]

Hello all; I took a 10 year break from brewing to raise kiddos. I brewed my first batch since the hiatus two weekends ago. Someone brought to the brew day a 13% stout and the end of the brew is a bit fuzzy. I didn’t take a gravity reading before pitching yeast. It’s been 12 days since it started fermenting. It went wild for the first 3 days then continued to ferment gently till two days ago. Yesterday I decided to start my dry hop and took a gravity reading and it is at 1.044. I know this is nowhere near where it should be; But I never ran into this should I pitch more yeast? Should I drink it, dump it? I think my temps may have been too high in the room where I fermented (probably between 69 and 73 degrees. Any suggestions are welcomed.

 

[OzzyPeeps]

Target OG?

 

[hotbeer]

Ale, lager or what kind of beer? What yeast did you use?

69 - 73°F isn't bad for most ale yeast. You can with some get more expression of some taste and/or aroma notes at one end of their temp range as opposed to the other. But it should still ferment out to the apparent attenuation the yeast gives and also down to it's tolerance level for alcohol.

Personally, I'd leave it alone and let it sit for several weeks if not a month more. Keep the ambient temps as consistent as you can.

Extract or all-grain? If you have the recipe and/or ingredient list, then post that and someone can figure out what it should have been. Provided of course that stout didn't have you just eyeballing the ingredient amounts when you added them.

 

[Somesaymybeerisdrinkable]

Refractometer or hydrometer?

 

[BanjosLaughter]

The estimate was 1.083. My pre-boil reading was spot on at 1.05

 

[BanjosLaughter]

Refractometer or hydrometer?

Refractometer; I checked calibration and it’s correct.

 

[Somesaymybeerisdrinkable]

Refractometer; I checked calibration and it’s correct.

Did you use a calculator to correct for the fermented wort? Refractometers are calibrated for sugar not alcohol.

I entered 1.083 O.G. and 11 Brix into Brewfather and it gave a gravity estimate of 1.022.

 

[BanjosLaughter]

Ale, lager or what kind of beer? What yeast did you use?

69 - 73°F isn't bad for most ale yeast. You can with some get more expression of some taste and/or aroma notes at one end of their temp range as opposed to the other. But it should still ferment out to the apparent attenuation the yeast gives and also down to it's tolerance level for alcohol.

Personally, I'd leave it alone and let it sit for several weeks if not a month more. Keep the ambient temps as consistent as you can.

Extract or all-grain? If you have the recipe and/or ingredient list, then post that and someone can figure out what it should have been. Provided of course that stout didn't have you just eyeballing the ingredient amounts when you added them.

Great questions (apologies, still getting my feet under me) it was an all grain double IPA. I ended up using WLP041 because my supplier was out of 007. I made a yeast starter three days prior, cold crashed the yeast the night before, decanted and brought to temp.

The recipe is as follows:
13 lbs 12 oz Pale Two Row
14.4 oz cara-pills
14.4 oz caramel/crystal 10
14.4 oz Munich
6.4 oz honey malt
6.4 oz white wheat malt

Water profile- Started with Distilled and added salts to match a pacific coast brewery.

 

[BanjosLaughter]

Did you use a calculator to correct for the fermented wort? Refractometers are calibrated for sugar not alcohol.

I entered 1.083 O.G. and 11 Brix into Brewfather and it gave a gravity estimate of 1.022.

I did not..... My brain is absolutely blanking now. I know I used to use a calculator, but I thought it was because my refractometer was ONLY in Brix. I can't even remember now why or what I used. Time to go back to the basics I guess.

 

[IslandLizard]

Welcome back to homebrewing!

I think my temps may have been too high in the room where I fermented (probably between 69 and 73 degrees.

For future brews, try to control the actual ferm temps to the lower end of the range of the yeast you're using. Seasonal temps are dropping, so maybe there's an area in the home that remains coolish. It helps in making better tasting beer.