Big Beer not getting Smaller?

[duffman2]

My Breakfast Stout seemed to go real good on brewday, but my Gravity has been a little tricky trying to get down. I brewed on 6-4 and had a preboil OG of 1.084 and postboil OG of 1.078. It bubbled like a madman for a week and a half, and now nothing. On 6-13 I got 1.034 and added S-05 dry yeast, stirred and warmed up to 72-74.

1 week later, I still have a krausen on top but my gravity is still holding at 1.034. So, WTF?? It seems to be still slightly active, but gravity isn't going anywhere. Shoud I repitch again?

Thanks

 

[r_flagg]

Your post-boil OG went down? Something's wrong there. What else did you do? Add water? Did you make a nice big starter for your yeast beasts, or just pitch it straight in?

 

[mullenite]

What is the recipe?

 

[KayaBrew]

Pardon my ignorance, but isn't a B-fast Stout supposed to be low OG, low ABV...like 1.030ish and <3.5% ABV?

 

[duffman2]

What is the recipe?

13.2 lbs 2-row pale malt
22 ozs flaked oats
1 lb Chocolate malt (350 L)
12 ozs roast barley malt (450 L)
9 ozs debittered black malt
7 ozs crystal malt (120 L)
2 ozs ground Sumatran coffee
2 ozs ground Kona coffee
2.5 ozs dark bittersweet bakers chocolate
1.5 ozs unsweetened chocolate baking nibs (no idea what this is exactly but I used 100% cacao unsweetened bakers chocolate which I would think would work and is in the grocery)
14.3 AAU Nugget pellet hops 60 min (1 oz @ 13% AA) (I used Yakima Magnum of the same AA)
2.5 AAU Willamette pellet hops 30 min (1/2 oz @ 5% AA)
2.5 AAU Willamette pellet hops 0 min
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient 15 min
1/2 tsp Irish moss 15 min
WLP 001 or Wyeast 1056

OG 1.078 FG 1.020 ABV 7.5%

No, I didn't add water but I did have two samples to the side after cleanup - one was preboil and one was postboil. Then I took and recorded the gravities, so I could've mixed them up but I was pretty sure I had them right

 

[duffman2]

Pardon my ignorance, but isn't a B-fast Stout supposed to be low OG, low ABV...like 1.030ish and <3.5% ABV?

Not this one! Big beer with lots of good stuff in it

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

Mash temp? if you overshot your mash temp, then you'd have a ton of unfermentables in there and you could be close to done with the 1030

I also wonder if you're mixed up on your preboil/post boil. Gravity should never go down during the boil...

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

S-04 is a Medium attenuating yeast and you got 45% Real Attenuation.

Maybe it's just done.

 

[mullenite]

For a 5 gallon batch I get an OG of 1.090 before the coffee and chocolate additions using 75% efficiency which would make slightly more sense with your pre-boil gravity being higher than your post boil unless you topped up with water to hit 1.078.

1.090 -> 1.034 is about 7.5% ABV... I think this one may be done, though leaving it on the yeast for a couple more days won't hurt it.

 

[duffman2]

For a 5 gallon batch I get an OG of 1.090 before the coffee and chocolate additions using 75% efficiency which would make slightly more sense with your pre-boil gravity being higher than your post boil unless you topped up with water to hit 1.078.

1.090 -> 1.034 is about 7.5% ABV... I think this one may be done, though leaving it on the yeast for a couple more days won't hurt it.

Yeah, I definitely didn't add water. And I did take my preboil before chocolate and coffee of course. But my OG was definitely lower than 90 so I'm still hoping to get down lower than 1.034.

Should I pitch again? Or will this be kinda like kicking a dead horse?

 

[Blauvelt]

how does it taste?

maybe this would be a good job for some amylase enzyme. check out the "Miller lite really triple hopped" recipe under light hybrid beers in the recipe section. there is some really good advise on how to use it. you basically add it to the secondary and it turns some polysaccharides into simpler glucose chains. i.e. lower FG.

 

[snowveil]

14.3 AAU Nugget pellet hops 60 min (1 oz @ 13% AA)

1oz of 13%AA hops is 14.3AAU? Man I've been brewing all out of whack!


Anyway, I think your mash temp here is pretty important. Like noted before, if your mash temp was too high your attenuation will suffer quite a bit. Did you pitch a starter? 1090 is a pretty big beer and would really benefit from a nice healthy starter as well. S-04 should be able to handle that alcohol just fine....but if you mashed too high you could be left with a lot of unfermentables.


Also check your hydrometer in plain water to make sure it reads 1.000. Never hurts to double check in case it's reading incorrectly

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

If you really want to try to get it lower, throw in some champagne yeast. That stuff will eat all sorts of stuff that the S-04 won't go near...

 

[SumnerH]

Pardon my ignorance, but isn't a B-fast Stout supposed to be low OG, low ABV...like 1.030ish and <3.5% ABV?

Probably the premier commercial example is Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout, which is > 11% ABV.

 

[duffman2]

Tastes pretty good - smooth chocolatey but a little sour.

Didn't pitch a starter - used 2 packs of Notty hydrated

Might use a champagne yeast - I was pretty sure that from 1.084 I wanted to go down to around 1.020 or lower but maybe I'm wrong and it'll be just fine. Not really sure