Help me finish my big stout "finished" at 1.030

[mwsenoj]

Brewed a big fat stout that came in at 1.105 SG - all 10 gallons. I pitched a whopping 9 packets of rehydrated Safale 04, oxygenated, and the fermentation went off like a shot. We tasted the beer a week after and it was delicious. I took a gravity reading today, 5 days later, and it was only down to 1.030. How can I get this Stone RIS clone down where it ought to be?

 

[BarrelAgedForrest]

Where is it supposed to finish? Did you add any lactose or unfermentables? Also may I add 1.030, assuming it is not cloyingly sweet to your tastes, is a perfectly fine place to finish. My recent stone Xocoveza clone finished in the high 20s and was my best beer yet.

 

[brewshki]

Brewed a big fat stout that came in at 1.105 SG - all 10 gallons. I pitched a whopping 9 packets of rehydrated Safale 04, oxygenated, and the fermentation went off like a shot. We tasted the beer a week after and it was delicious. I took a gravity reading today, 5 days later, and it was only down to 1.030. How can I get this Stone RIS clone down where it ought to be?

do you use BeerSmith or any other brewing software? That seems like a pretty good finishing gravity for a beer so big. Either way, I'm on the side of the fence that would leave it as it is and try and adjust it the next time I made it.

 

[mwsenoj]

Looking at an attenuation calc, I should have ended up around 1.027 but, after correcting for temp, I'm at 1.031 and about .5% short on ABV. After posting I saw more on amylase enzymes and was wondering about using some. Been out of brewing for a year or two n feeling a bit rusty.

 

[Ogri]

9.9% ABV is quite respectable for an imperial stout, isn't it? If as you stated, in your original post, "We tasted the beer a week after and it was delicious." why not just go with a great tasting beer, rather than chucking amylase in and having it attenuate into something that tastes totally out of balance??

 

[brewshki]

^ seconded. you aren't that far off.

 

[mwsenoj]

I'm taking the advice given here. Cold crashing now and will keg half of it Sunday and the rest will be "coconutted" in the conical for 3 days and will come out with a delicious oil slick of coconut from the 1.25 lb/gal ��

 

[mwsenoj]

One last idea, though. I have some SafAle-05 and even some Montrachet wine yeast. Would either drop the gravity down a bit without taking it too far?

 

[JordanKnudson]

I'm not sure why you feel the need to drop the gravity any more...Well, actually, I guess I do understand. It's clearly because your calculator estimated a slightly different FG and you are feeling like that is a concrete number, which it is not; and 1.030 probably seems high considering where average-strength ales finish. However, 1.030 is not uncommon for a RIS. I've heard of commercial stouts (like Dark Lord) finishing even significantly higher. Don't fiddle with it needlessly and risk messing up what is currently a good batch.

 

[brewshki]

I'm taking the advice given here. Cold crashing now and will keg half of it Sunday and the rest will be "coconutted" in the conical for 3 days and will come out with a delicious oil slick of coconut from the 1.25 lb/gal ��

this sounds awesome. you should report back with how it comes out

 

[secondbase]

1.030 is a gorgeous finish for a stout that big. Assuming you have a nice amount of roasted grains and a solid bittering charge, that's about what I would aim for. Let that sucker age for at least six months to smooth out the rough edges. Send me a bottle!

 

[jschein]

1.030 is a gorgeous finish for a stout that big. Assuming you have a nice amount of roasted grains and a solid bittering charge, that's about what I would aim for. Let that sucker age for at least six months to smooth out the rough edges. Send me a bottle!

This ^^^ and send me a sample too!

 

[mwsenoj]

Read up on my thread if you want to coconut your beer: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=492652

 

[mwsenoj]

1.030 is a gorgeous finish for a stout that big. Assuming you have a nice amount of roasted grains and a solid bittering charge, that's about what I would aim for. Let that sucker age for at least six months to smooth out the rough edges. Send me a bottle!

Ya, I had 2.5 lbs roasted barley (500 °L) and 2.5lbs black malt with 32lbs of 2 row and a few lbs of amber DME. A pretty light dose of hops too - 3 oz of warrior.

 

[breckenridge]

10/10 would drink

 

[kh54s10]

Since you initially pitched about twice the amount of yeast necessary, I doubt that adding any more yeast will do anything.

For what it's worth any beer that I do I only expect to be within +/- 3 points. So for an average beer that is supposed to end up at 1.010 I am satisfied with 1.013 down to 1.007. I like it close but yeast will do what yeast will do. They can't read hydrometers.

1.030 sounds excellent for the beer. If it tastes too sweet you might try something. If not consider it done.

 

[mwsenoj]

Since you initially pitched about twice the amount of yeast necessary....

I used the calculator here: http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

and used the 1 million cells/ml/°Plato since it was s high gravity beer.

5 of my packets were fresh, the 4 remaining were expired in late 2015, but had been refrigerated the whole time.

Did I really pitch double what was needed for good beer?

 

[jmitchell3]

I used the calculator here: http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

and used the 1 million cells/ml/°Plato since it was s high gravity beer.

5 of my packets were fresh, the 4 remaining were expired in late 2015, but had been refrigerated the whole time.

Did I really pitch double what was needed for good beer?

the calcs i see for yeast pitching are based on production date rather than expiration date. but assuming you pitched 5 fresh packs (< 6 months old and cold-stored), that would have been plenty.

 

[Rush]

A 5 gallon batch of 1.100 OG beer would need around 350 billion yeast cells, which is right around 4 fresh packets of dry yeast. Unless you made a larger batch, you definitely pitched double what you needed to. Hell, I brewed a 1.120 Imperial Stout earlier this year and only pitched 3 packs of US-05, since that's all I had on hand. The beer fermented down to 1.028. with no yeast associated off flavors.

 

[kh54s10]

I used the calculator here: http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

and used the 1 million cells/ml/°Plato since it was s high gravity beer.

5 of my packets were fresh, the 4 remaining were expired in late 2015, but had been refrigerated the whole time.

Did I really pitch double what was needed for good beer?

I just looked at that calculator and don't like it. It does not take production date into account and does not give you packages you need to use.

I used Mrmalty and estimated 2.5 week old yeast. It says to use 3.4 packs.

 

[quijiba]

If you're really looking to drop it further and don't mind embarking on a little bit wilder a path you can try pitching some Brettanomyces. It would take another 3-6 months for it to chomp down on the rest of those unfermentables but could give your RIS a pretty weird unique twist (kind of a risk with 10 gallons though!)

 

[mwsenoj]

A 5 gallon batch of 1.100 OG beer would need around 350 billion yeast cells, which is right around 4 fresh packets of dry yeast. Unless you made a larger batch, you definitely pitched double what you needed to. ...

Its an 11 gallon batch.

 

[wingnutbrew]

Looking at an attenuation calc, I should have ended up around 1.027 but, after correcting for temp, I'm at 1.031 and about .5% short on ABV. After posting I saw more on amylase enzymes and was wondering about using some. Been out of brewing for a year or two n feeling a bit rusty.

Amylase has saved a couple of my beers. You may have some say it will take it down too far but so far has not been the case for me.

I've not read all the posts that have replied here but using S04 1.031 is not off the mark at all for that yeast and your OG. I just did an ESB 1.058 using S04 (1 packet re-hydrated) and stopped at 1.022, amylase has is at 1.017 right now and another point I will be happy.