High FG

[BrewingChip]

13 days ago I brewed a 5 gallon BIAB stout, OG was 1.054. Below is my recipe…

7 gallons of purified water to start with

8 lbs. English Maris Otter
1 lbs. caramel 40L
1 lbs. flaked oats
0.5 lbs. roasted barley
0.5 lbs. Weyermann Carafa III
0.5 lbs. English Chocolate Malt

Mashed at 152 degrees

1 oz. Willamette (60 min)
1 lbs. lactose (60 min)
1 oz. Willamette (15 min)

Pitched S-04, making a yeast slurry. Yielded approximately 4.75 gallons of wort.

Today, I just transferred the beer to a smaller fermentor to clarify off the yeast cake, and the gravity is now 1.022. I’m not sure if it’s because the temperature is too low where I had the bucket (my apartment is low to mid 60s this winter), but ultimately I am disappointed in the gravity. I know it could very well drop a little before I bottle in a week or so, but not by much.

What can I do, if anything, to lower the FG at this point? Add more yeast? Find a way to keep the carboy with the beer warmer? I’m all ears as I was hoping this beer would be in the ballpark of 1.010, somewhere between 5.5% and 6% Abv.

 

[DBhomebrew]

81% attenuation with a pound of lactose? That's seems like a lot to ask of S-04.

 

[day_trippr]

Yeah, the C40, lactose and the other unfermentables are going to set a floor well above 1.010.
fwiw, I plugged that recipe into Beersmith 3 and it estimates an OG of 1.051 and FG of 1.020.
It may be done or close to it...

Cheers!

 

[hotbeer]

I just started brewing Porters/Stouts. Just 2 so far, but neither has gotten to the predicted FG and seem to stop about 4 to 6 points above.

For the many pale ales I've done I never had a problem making FG.

Wondering if pH of the wort is an issue or maybe for porters with all the dark malts, I should mash at a lower temp than the 154°F that I'm use to.

Despite the slightly higher FG, the first porter was pretty decent and not too sweet as was my fear. The second on is on day 15 in the FV. It reached what looks to be it's FG 11 days ago, but it still has some clearing up to do. So maybe a week out before bottling it.