20 gallons stuck!!

[seedyram]

Hey guys! I need help. About 3 weeks ago I brewed two 10g batches. The first was a very simple blonde ale, and the other was a wheat beer. The idea was to brew 2 very agreeable beers that I could bring for my friends on a camping trip. The brews both went well, nothing out of the ordinary, and both beers ended up with an og of about 1.060. I pitched safale s-04 in the blondes. I split the wheat beer and pitched safbrew t-58 in 5gs and wyeast bavarian wheat (3638) in the other 5 gs.
The t-58 was the only of the 4 that showed any significant airlock activity (and it wasn't that significant). They have all stalled at around 1025- 1030. I have since then tried rousing the yeast, raising the temperature, and repitching new yeast in every beer. I am somewhat concerned I may not have oxygenated enough, but I have never had this problem before and didn't drastically under oxygenate from what I normally do, and they are not particularly big beers.
This trip is coming up and I really don't want to dissapoint (mostly myself).
This is really keeping me up at night. What do you think?

 

[501irishred]

Sounds VERY odd indeed! Would be looking at a "common denominator" for an answer....

1. I know you used different yeast, but ; how old was it, where did you buy it, can you trust that it was treated properly before you purchased, and did you keep it refrigerated prior to using?

2. What temp did you begin fermenting, and what did you raise it to?

3. Did you re pitch with yeast from the same vendor as the first? (Also was it the same strains)

I've had trouble with stuck fermentation (about the same gravity as you're seeing) from the 04, but a healthy 3638 should have tried to blow the top off the bucket!.... (I've never used T-58..).

If you have another source of yeast, you might try pitching 1/2 pack of something like S05 per 5 gal and see what happens. I would be skeptical that maybe an entire order of yeast might have sat on the back of your vendors loading dock in the sun before being stocked.

 

[seedyram]

Yeah that's a good point. I have never bought yeast from this shop before. The guy who runs the place seems like a pretty straight shooter, but that's as much as I can say for that.

All the yeast were the same strains and from the same vendor the second time.

I pitched the yeast at 70 degrees originally, fermented at around the same (just room temperature 70-75), the second time I pitched was at room temp, and now I have raised the t58 to 85, and got nothing.

I have heard that sometimes racking your beer into secondary can kick start it so I may try that soon, but I am losing confidence.

Is there a time issue with leaving these beers in the vessels they are in if they are no longer fermenting? Should I get them off of that yeast?

 

[two_one_seven]

I recently had a stuck fermentation with the S-04. First one I have ever had. I tried all the things you did with no luck either. Rousing yeast, Raising temp, reptiching from a rolling starter, and moving to secondary. Nothing. I am just going to keg it up and call it a "sweet beer". Frustrating for sure but no other options at this point. I personally am going to stay away from the 04. Sorry to hear it happened to you as well.

 

[two_one_seven]

They will be ok for quite some time. Autolysis takes a long time to kick in.

 

[smokinghole]

I would say that considering you used various yeast strains the culprit is a mash temp or grist composition. I can't imagine that all the yeast you pitched was old and caused an under attenuation issue. Oxygen may have a slight impact but not what I would guess is a 1.012-1.015 gravity impact on your beers final gravity. You can try rebrewing a beer that closely matches color mash really low so it dries out and then blend, or you can venture into playing with a little amylase enzyme. I've used amylase enzyme in a beer that never fully attenuated as I hoped it would. It finished at 1.010 it doesn't just keep going. Amylase enzyme will only hydrolyze specific sugar bonds and once those bonds are cleaved it stops. It could be the cheapest and easiest thing for you to do.

 

[cshamilton]

Did you check the final gravity with a properly calibrated hydrometer?

If you aren't sure, then check the hydrometer in water. If you used a refractometer you cannot get an accurate final gravity.

If that checks out, check your thermometer - if you mash was too high you will finish high.

 

[wailingguitar]

Since dry yeast already has a sufficient supply of fatty acids and sterols, aeration is not the problem.

 

[seedyram]

Thanks for all of the quick replies. I have calibrated, and used multiple hydrometers, and I'm all good on that front. Same story for the thermometer.
I didn't have a recipe for either of these beers. I was just winging it, so I don't have specific expectations for them (I'm still fairly new), but I just mashed for 60 mins at 150 for both of them, and it held pretty steady the whole time. What kind of temp range are you dealing with before you start getting unfermentable sugars (if that is in fact what happens)?

If it is the wort and not the yeast, would it be appropriate to use some DME or dextrose to bump up the alcohol volume? I would still end up with sweet beer, but hopefully not sweet and 3%.

 

[smokinghole]

Sprinkle in some amylase enzyme if you have it at your homebrew store. It'll do what you want, is minimal effort, and is cheap.