Idea for handling stuck fermentations...

[AR-Josh]

I'm pretty sure I have a stuck fermentation. I had a 1.5 hour drive today and was thinking about my stuck ferment. I had an idea for handling it without having to buy more of the same yeast I used or use a yeast I just had lying around to get it going again.

What if I rack the unfinished beer (SG 1.026) to another ale pale, then use the yeast at the bottom of the original ale pale to pitch into a starter. Only, don't continually aerate the starter so the yeast just start eating again. Then when the start shows signs that it is at the peak of fermentation, I pitch it back into the unfinished beer. Now I have my original yeast active and hopefully going to town on the rest of the sugers in the beer.

What do you think? If this is already a common thing to do then oh well. I have not run into any posts about doing this yet and I would rather post than search at the moment.

 

[WilliamWS]

What was your OG? What yeast are you using and what was is your target FG? How long has it been at 1.026? What temperature are you fermenting at?

 

[Denny]

How do you know it's stuck and not finished?

 

[AR-Josh]

What was your OG? What yeast are you using and what was is your target FG? How long has it been at 1.026? What temperature are you fermenting at?

My beer hasn't been sitting in primary for long enough for me to declare it stuck. Besides I've taken one reading since the start of fermentation. That was the 1.026.

I like to plan ahead and know what I'm going to do when "X" happens. So since it's a possibility I wanted to see if doing that was a good idea or a bad idea. Mostly just for discussion since I'm not there yet.

I'll be letting my beer go at least 2 weeks before officially declaring it stuck. As of now it is just an unfounded concern because this fermentation is different from all others I've seen.

 

[WilliamWS]

What you described sounds sounds like a real pain. If you do indeed end up with a stuck fermentation there will probably be an easier fix.

 

[AR-Josh]

What you described sounds sounds like a real pain. If you do indeed end up with a stuck fermentation there will probably be an easier fix.

Such as? I'm curious what else you'd do.

I've read repitching is probably not going to work because those yeast are dormant and the yeast in the bucket are also dormant. So why would the new yeast suddenly start up when the original won't?

Maybe bringing the bucket back up to 70 degrees and gently stirring up the bottom until it gets cloudy? I might try that before repitching.

The starter seems like a good idea cause you have active yeast instead of dormant ones. It also seems a lot cheaper if you just reuse the dormant ones in the bucket.

 

[CGVT]

I pitched a pack of Montrochet Champaign yeast on a beer that stuck at .030 when I was expecting .016 or so. It restarted and finished at about .010-dryer than planned, but still pretty darn tasty.

 

[WilliamWS]

Depending on the specifics of the particular situation, there are a few things you can try. That's why I asked the questions originally.
Assuming that your beer IS stuck and isn't done, you could:

-Give it more time. Not all fermentations go the same. Some finish up really slowly, esp. if it's a big beer.

-Raise the temperature into the 70's (if not already there) for most ale yeast, 80ish if it's a belgian yeast like wy3787 or, if you're doing a saison, to around 90. The higher temp can encourage the yeast to finish up. Off flavors, etc from warm fermentation are mostly produced early on during yeast reproduction so no real worry about finishing up a little warmer.

-Feed your yeast a little sugar to encourage them to get started again and finish up.

-VERY gently stir your yeast.

 

[AR-Josh]

Depending on the specifics of the particular situation, there are a few things you can try. That's why I asked the questions originally.
Assuming that your beer IS stuck and isn't done, you could:

-Give it more time. Not all fermentations go the same. Some finish up really slowly, esp. if it's a big beer.

-Raise the temperature into the 70's (if not already there) for most ale yeast, 80ish if it's a belgian yeast like wy3787 or, if you're doing a saison, to around 90. The higher temp can encourage the yeast to finish up. Off flavors, etc from warm fermentation are mostly produced early on during yeast reproduction so no real worry about finishing up a little warmer.

-Feed your yeast a little sugar to encourage them to get started again and finish up.

-VERY gently stir your yeast.

It's a stout. 1.046 OG. Wyeast Irish Ale Yeast.

Just took a sample and it's at 1.022. It's been a couple days since I took the 1.026 sample.

The bucket is at 66 degrees. I'll move it to a place where I can get 70 degrees or more.