Help! My black Russian baby is stuck!

[muenchk]

I'm brewing a clone of a Stone RIS. The recipe is a mini mash and has a starting gravity of 1.096. I hit it dead-on and everything was per instructions, but I screwed up my fermentation temp. Instead of 68, I fermented at 77. I know, I know. Fusels and banana stuff. But I'm getting a fridge soon. Anyway, it's been 2 weeks now and it should've gone down to 1.020 (it's still in primary). Unfortunately, it's at 1.032 and doesn't seem to want to come down more. I'm using WLP-002, English Ale Yeast

I tried it and it's delicious. Chocolaty, coffee black goodness with tons of hops...but a bit on the sweet side.

I'd really like to bring it down to 1.020 and I have a few ideas and need some advice!

Which of these sound better?

The recipe comes from BYO Magazine and was created with the help of Stone...so I'm guessing it's me, not the recipe that screwed up.

(I'm planning on letting it sit for another week in primary, see if it drops any more)
If it doesn't drop,

1- Get some WLP-001, California Ale Yeast. High alcohol resistance and clean taste. Make a starter (1L), aerate the starter and chuck it in. Hopefully it'll bring it down closer to 1.020?

2- Brew up some more wort, aerate and dump in? Maybe it'll reactivate???

3- Rack to secondary, hope something happens there?

4- Make a new starter with WLP 002, English Ale Yeast and pitch again?

5- Bottle it and drink it as is?


Any advice is welcome, and desperately needed!!

 

[mr_clean]

number 3,give it more time.

 

[BillTheSlink]

Agreed on #3. I have a Belgian that stuck and then lingered for a while and slowly trailed off...SUPER SLOWLY. If you start running three-four weeks I would post again, but it isn't going to hurt anything to set in the primary or secondary for a while. My cream ale sat in the primary for seven weeks +. I've tried one and didn't like it, but it was the style not yeast die off. I was expecting a "Little Kings" type cream ale, but turns out it's an Upper-Midwest type cream ale. Nothing funky about it. I just didn't like the style. Mom tasted it and enjoyed it, so I am going to give it to her with the promise I get my bottles back clean.

 

[muenchk]

Thanks!

Now, would you say leave it in the primary (even if is a bit too warm for the yeast 77vs68) or rack to secondary?

And how slowly is slowly? Could it potentially take 2 more weeks to get from 1.032 to 1.020? Or are you talking 3 months?

 

[muenchk]

OK. Now I'm a bit confused. I just looked up the attenuation rate of the yeast and it's low: 63-70%. So maybe I'm not stuck????

Am I calculating this right?

OG: 1.096
Attenuation rate: 70% (best case scenario)
Expected FG: 96x.3 = 1.029!!!

The recipe calls for a FG of 1.020.

How can I get 1.020 if the best case scenario is a 70% attenuation rate?

Isn't that impossible?

If I want 1.020, I'd need an attenuation rate of 80%! (96 x .2 = 1.019)

Or am I full of it?

 

[enderwig]

First off, you are at about the attenuation limit of that yeast, if you wanted it dryer, you should have used Cal Ale. Secondly, if you truly think its stuck, moving it off the yeast will only ensure that it stalls completely. Rouse your yeast and give it some more time, it may come down another couple of points, but with english ale yeast, thats probably where it will finish.

 

[BillTheSlink]

When mine was stuck I took it out of the swamp cooler, sat it on the floor, and then swirled it around for just a few min. At first it didn't look like it would do anything, but fermentation began again in a day or so.

That being said, if you have reached the attenuation limit of the yeast that isn't going to help. Sorry, I didn't see that part of the phrase "rack to secondary" I only saw "give it some more time". You don't want fermentation in the secondary anyway. I had assumed the recipe called for the right yeast to get you to terminal gravity.

 

[muenchk]

Thanks Enderwig and Bill, I think you and I were typing the same conclusion at the same moment.

The beer tastes truly fantastic. My favorite ever. Is it a bit sweet? Yeah, probably.

But is it unheard of to drink a beer with a FG of 1.030? It has 100 IBU's, so it sort of helps with the sweetness. But now I'm really struggling with bringing it down to 1.020 with Cal Ale or just drinking as is.

I know it's a matter of preferences, but in your experience, is a FG of 1.030 just to sweet for a beer...even if it's a russian Imperial stout?

 

[enderwig]

It may be a touch sweet, but not that bad. You're gonna wanna age that bad boy for 6-12 months anyway, its gonna change a lot in that time.