SavageSteve
Well-Known Member
I need to vent a little and perhaps get some reassurance (hint, hint). Sorry in advance for the long post. Feel free to skip if your eyes start to glaze over or you get the "crap, not another 'is my beer OK' post" feeling.
I'm in the twelfth day of fermentation for my annual Oktoberfest, and it appears to have flatlined at ~1.020 or 1.019. OG was 1.058, pitched yeast slurry from a 2L starter plus an Activator pack (Wyeast 2633 Oktoberfest Lager Blend). Wort temperature at pitching was 44 deg. F. and I let it rise to 48 deg. F. over the course of ~16 hours. Fermentation was quick to start and continued strong, but started waning after 5 or 6 days.
SG hit 1.020 after 7 days. Started diacetyl rest by raising temperature controller to 61 deg. F.; however, it took 2 days to get to 59 deg. F. because of the very cool ambient basement temperature.
Anyway, after 5 days, the SG is only 1.019 (even that might be a wishful interpretation of the refractometer reading). The krausen is gone and the beer has cleared significantly. Not wanting to leave the beer at an elevated temperature for any longer, I have set the temperature controller to 56 deg. F. and will step it down to 51 deg. F. over the next day or so.
I'm concerned (read worrying) about the seemingly high SG and the fact that it was steady after raising the temperature for the diacetyl rest, presumably to boost yeast activity. My batch last year (nearly identical) went flawlessly and finished at 1.013 quickly.
This is only my fourth lager ever. Does this fermentation story fall within the normal lager experiences of other HBTers?
I'm holding some hope that the yeast are just a little sluggish and will eventually bring it down to the 1.013 range-- a sample I pulled tonight still seems pretty yeasty. I've swirled the fermenter for several days in a row, but to no avail. Maybe I should play some Pogues for the yeast to get them roused up?
Should I just shut up and not worry? Help me HBT, you're my only hope!
End boring fermentation story. Thanks for listening.
-Steve
I'm in the twelfth day of fermentation for my annual Oktoberfest, and it appears to have flatlined at ~1.020 or 1.019. OG was 1.058, pitched yeast slurry from a 2L starter plus an Activator pack (Wyeast 2633 Oktoberfest Lager Blend). Wort temperature at pitching was 44 deg. F. and I let it rise to 48 deg. F. over the course of ~16 hours. Fermentation was quick to start and continued strong, but started waning after 5 or 6 days.
SG hit 1.020 after 7 days. Started diacetyl rest by raising temperature controller to 61 deg. F.; however, it took 2 days to get to 59 deg. F. because of the very cool ambient basement temperature.
Anyway, after 5 days, the SG is only 1.019 (even that might be a wishful interpretation of the refractometer reading). The krausen is gone and the beer has cleared significantly. Not wanting to leave the beer at an elevated temperature for any longer, I have set the temperature controller to 56 deg. F. and will step it down to 51 deg. F. over the next day or so.
I'm concerned (read worrying) about the seemingly high SG and the fact that it was steady after raising the temperature for the diacetyl rest, presumably to boost yeast activity. My batch last year (nearly identical) went flawlessly and finished at 1.013 quickly.
This is only my fourth lager ever. Does this fermentation story fall within the normal lager experiences of other HBTers?
I'm holding some hope that the yeast are just a little sluggish and will eventually bring it down to the 1.013 range-- a sample I pulled tonight still seems pretty yeasty. I've swirled the fermenter for several days in a row, but to no avail. Maybe I should play some Pogues for the yeast to get them roused up?
Should I just shut up and not worry? Help me HBT, you're my only hope!
End boring fermentation story. Thanks for listening.
-Steve