Gravity too heavy during bottling?

[moeser]

Hi guys, I need some advice with my current brew.

I'm brewing a Cream Stout from extract. It's been in the primary fermenter for 3 weeks. I decided to go directly to bottle today, and assumed that the fermentation would be complete after 3 weeks. I stupidly didn't check the SG first before adding a pound of lactose and some priming sugar.

After bottling, I had half a bottle left that I decided to taste test, and it was incredibly syrupy. I also noticed that there was a lot less yeast in the bottom of the fermentation bucket than I'm used to seeing (at the time, I figured it was a side effect of the yeast strain).

Anyhow, after tasting how syrupy it was, I checked the SG, and it was at 1.040, but that's after adding a bit of priming sugar and a pound of lactose. The OG was 1.068. The current reading *seems* a lot heavier than it should be, even after adding a pound of lactose and some priming sugar. I don't know exactly how much priming sugar, but it's nowhere near a pound.

The question is, am I going to have a bunch of exploding bottles? Or does this sound about right? I'm trying to decide if I should dump these bottles back into a secondary fermenter and let it sit for a week or two more.

 

[homebrewdad]

Edit: I am removing my post because I don't know enough about lactose additions to post intelligently.

 

[barneygumble]

I have never heard of adding lactose at bottling either. The yeast wont ferment it, all it will do is add sweetness to the beer. Typically half that amount is added to a 5 gal batch at 15 mins to sweeten a milk stout and give it that milk/cream taste.

 

[moeser]

I added lactose at bottling before and it worked out great. I had read a post somewhere that as a non-fermentable sugar it didn't really matter much when it was added. I know some bacterias can process lactose, so I figured I'd be reducing my chances of a bacteria taking hold if I added it at bottling.

So if I add it back into the secondary, would the priming sugar re-absorb the oxygenation from moving it around so much? Or should I just wait until a bottle explodes, then move it all to my fridge?

 

[moeser]

I forgot to mention. The yeast should have been pretty good. It was one of those Wyeast smack packs and we let it expand for 5 hours before pitching. The beer has been fermenting at a stable temperature of 68F. I'm not entirely sure why it stuck, or whether I'm just misinterpreting the 1.040 as high because of the lactose/priming sugar that's in the beer right now.

 

[moeser]

I just had a thought! I'm using flip top bottles instead of bottle caps. Should I just wait until one explodes, then flip the tops to vent the rest? Would that be enough to save the beer?

 

[barneygumble]

Your final gravity was definitely impacted by the sugars you added. Also, you really underpitched your yeast. A beer with an OG of 1.068 needed a 2l starter, minimum. 3 would have been ideal. Three weeks may or may not have been enough (it should have been anyway, but expect off flavors from the underpitching). The sweetness is definitely from unfermented sugars. The priming sugar should be consumed. The lactose not. Did you shake the hell outta the fermenter before pitching the yeast or use an aeration device to get O2 into the cool wort? If not, it could have stuck due to lack of oxygen for the yeast to do their magic. The underpitch would have compounded this.

You could be looking at bottle bombs, but its hard to know because of all that lactose added at bottling affecting your sg, and tastebuds.

Again, I have never heard of adding lactose at bottling before, not saying it cant be done, I just personally never heard of it. Typically that is added with 15 mins left in the boil to enhance the milk/cream flavor, mellow, blend, and balance the sugar flavor and most importantly to kill off any nasties (lacto) that may have found their way into the sugar. With a proper pitch, good sanitation, good aeration, there is no real danger from infection that way. The way you did it...hmmmm.

Just to be safe, store the bottles inside a plastic tote or something until they are finished.

 

[pabloj13]

A pound of lactose would add about 8 points for a 5 gallon batch and the priming sugar around 2. So you would still be looking at 1.030 for a FG. That is WAY too high for your extract batch.

 

[Calder]

1) The bottles will explode. It may take a couple of months, but from everything you have provided, it's pretty much guaranteed.

2) Don't wait for one to go. They can make a real mess.

3) 1.040 is way too sweet to be enjoyable.

As Pablo said, Lactose and priming sugar will affect the FG by about .009. That still leaves you around 1.030. You would need to be well under 1.020 to be safe.

 

[barneygumble]

A pound of lactose would add about 8 points for a 5 gallon batch and the priming sugar around 2. So you would still be looking at 1.030 for a FG. That is WAY too high for your extract batch.

1) The bottles will explode. It may take a couple of months, but from everything you have provided, it's pretty much guaranteed.

2) Don't wait for one to go. They can make a real mess.

3) 1.040 is way too sweet to be enjoyable.

As Pablo said, Lactose and priming sugar will affect the FG by about .009. That still leaves you around 1.030. You would need to be well under 1.020 to be safe.

Thanks. I was guessing around ten points but was at work and couldn't answer the OP accurately. I am guessing a stuck fermentation due to underpitch and poor aeration of the wort.