Fermentation not progressing

[PapaBach]

3 days at 70 degrees after boiling this recipe exactly and pitching without a starter I had no bubble. Distraught, I made a starter and added on Day 5. Fermentation started up. Today, Day 10, I again have no bubble. Checked gravity at 1.042. Added yeast nutrient, 4 tsp. Any helpful tips from the pros about what might be wrong or how to proceed?

OG was 1.062

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=243503

Thanks in advance,

 

[PapaBach]

I forgot, Krausen is visible, but most of surface taken up by muslin bag w/ orange peel.

 

[aiptasia]

Off the top of my head, probably dramatically underpitched the yeast and a lack of oxygen. That's not a very high gravity beer and I doubt you really needed yeast nutrients or energizer on it unless you used distilled/bottled water.

Remember to pitch adequate amounts of yeast and then aerate the hell out of your wort. Yeast really do need a lot of oxygen to reproduce and form strong cellular membranes when they're in their heavy growth phase. I use pure oxygen and a steel rod airstone to oxygenate my wort, but putting a lid over the fermenter and then shaking the hell out of it for five minutes by rocking it back and forth while tilted on it's bottom edge will also do the trick. While it's WORT, oxygen is good. When it's BEER, oxygen is bad.

 

[BigFloyd]

Have you taken any gravity readings? That's the only way you can really know.

 

[PapaBach]

Aiptasia, would recommend then that I aerate at this point, or am I too late? I briefly aerated before and after pitch, but maybe not sufficiently.

 

[BigFloyd]

Aiptasia, would recommend then that I aerate at this point, or am I too late? I briefly aerated before and after pitch, but maybe not sufficiently.

I would definitely NOT aerate at this point unless you are 100% certain that you are still at OG and are going to do that as part of pitching new yeast.

Without a gravity reading, you are flying blind. If the yeast have gotten past the aerobic reproductive stage and have transitioned to anaerobic fermentation, introducing oxygen into the beer is a very bad idea.

 

[PapaBach]

From original post

Today, Day 10, I again have no bubble. Checked gravity at 1.042.

OG was 1.062

Floyd, we are definitely past OG. Gravity today was 1.042.

 

[BigFloyd]

From original post




Floyd, we are definitely past OG. Gravity today was 1.042.

Please forgive me for missing that.

Just to eliminate one potential issue, would you happen to be using a refractometer instead of a hydrometer to get that reading?

 

[PapaBach]

No, I'm using a hydrometer, adjusting for temperature.

 

[BigFloyd]

Hmmm.

About the only "fix" that comes to mind for a 1.062 beer that has hung at 1.042 is to make a starter of the same strain and pitch it at high krausen or pitch a rescue packet of rehydrated dry yeast.

 

[PapaBach]

Ok, day 14. Took SG reading at 1.040. Racked to glass Carboy to get off old yeast bed, will pitch rehydrated dry yeast tonight.