premington
Well-Known Member
Hi Folks... We seem to have a stuck fermentation here. I'm hoping someone can give us some advice.
So we're brewing a gruit, which is basically a Scotch ale grain bill with various herbs added, no hops. I developed this recipe and made it at my home a while ago, and it came out great! Now my buddy, who is new to brewing, wants to give it a go as his first brew.
We used WLP005 English ale yeast. Various problems occurred with this brew simply because my friend is new to brewing and made a few mistakes. He created a starter, but didn't realize you need a good size starter. He thought a few ounces of water with some DME was enough. The starter sat in a ~55 F environment and of course never did anything. Come brew day, this is all we had, so I said we should pitch it. Not aware of what starter he made before I arrived, we had no other choice. We had no other yeast, and the brew store was closed.
After the mash and boil, we took it outside to cool. I had to leave, so he did this. Turns out, he was never able to cool it enough. He stirred in his cold and snowy back yard for close to an hour. It remained way too warm (I think over 100 F), so he left it there overnight. The next morning it was cooled into the 70s. He aerated with pure oxygen, pitched the yeast, and put it to bed to ferment.
Next mistake: He put it in his brewing cellar, which is about 55 F. This was my mistake... I forgot to check and tell him the optimum brewing temperature. The optimum temp for WLP005 is 65 to 70 F. The starting gravity was 1.050. It took off and went fine, but once the temp dropped to the ambient brewing room temp, the yeast went dormant--Stuck!
So I came over and checked it. Gravity was 1.036 (corrected refractometer reading). He removed the yeast he had previously (fermenter has yeast settle in a Ball jar he removed and discarded). So I had him get two packs of WLP005 and create a proper yeast starter. He said the starter was at 1.040 and active. He pitched it at the same temp as the beer and stored it in a room that was heated in the upper 60s.
The yeast took off, then stopped. Gravity is still about the same. WTF?!
I'm trying to think what could be the problem. Not knowing anything about his water, I had him start with Poland Springs. We looked at the water profile in BeerSmith and added gypsum and calcium chloride in an amount that gave decent values in Bru'n Water. I think magnesium was a little anemic, but the yeast nutrient provides that... no?
His beer is just sitting right now, and I'm not really sure what to do. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this beer to ferment out?
So we're brewing a gruit, which is basically a Scotch ale grain bill with various herbs added, no hops. I developed this recipe and made it at my home a while ago, and it came out great! Now my buddy, who is new to brewing, wants to give it a go as his first brew.
We used WLP005 English ale yeast. Various problems occurred with this brew simply because my friend is new to brewing and made a few mistakes. He created a starter, but didn't realize you need a good size starter. He thought a few ounces of water with some DME was enough. The starter sat in a ~55 F environment and of course never did anything. Come brew day, this is all we had, so I said we should pitch it. Not aware of what starter he made before I arrived, we had no other choice. We had no other yeast, and the brew store was closed.
After the mash and boil, we took it outside to cool. I had to leave, so he did this. Turns out, he was never able to cool it enough. He stirred in his cold and snowy back yard for close to an hour. It remained way too warm (I think over 100 F), so he left it there overnight. The next morning it was cooled into the 70s. He aerated with pure oxygen, pitched the yeast, and put it to bed to ferment.
Next mistake: He put it in his brewing cellar, which is about 55 F. This was my mistake... I forgot to check and tell him the optimum brewing temperature. The optimum temp for WLP005 is 65 to 70 F. The starting gravity was 1.050. It took off and went fine, but once the temp dropped to the ambient brewing room temp, the yeast went dormant--Stuck!
So I came over and checked it. Gravity was 1.036 (corrected refractometer reading). He removed the yeast he had previously (fermenter has yeast settle in a Ball jar he removed and discarded). So I had him get two packs of WLP005 and create a proper yeast starter. He said the starter was at 1.040 and active. He pitched it at the same temp as the beer and stored it in a room that was heated in the upper 60s.
The yeast took off, then stopped. Gravity is still about the same. WTF?!
I'm trying to think what could be the problem. Not knowing anything about his water, I had him start with Poland Springs. We looked at the water profile in BeerSmith and added gypsum and calcium chloride in an amount that gave decent values in Bru'n Water. I think magnesium was a little anemic, but the yeast nutrient provides that... no?
His beer is just sitting right now, and I'm not really sure what to do. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this beer to ferment out?
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