IIPA With 1.030 FG

[bloomam]

I'm looking for suggestions to save this beer. My recipe is listed below. For starters I think I mashed to high at 155 as well as didn’t pitch enough yeast. I only made a 1 liter starter with American Ale 1056 for 5.5 gallons of beer with an OG of 1.088. Initial fermentation was wild so I thought I was in good shape. Initially the whole batch stalled after 2.5 weeks and 1.050. I did a second starter and was able to get it down to 1.030 after an additional week. I’ve tried raising the temp as well as gently daily swirling and I think all I am getting are CO2 bubbles coming out of suspension giving the illusion that fermentation is still taking place.

The way I see it I have a few options.
a) Pitch another yeast starter
b) Dilute with sterile water to bring the FG down
c) Bottle with reduced corn sugar to reduce the chance of bottle bombs
d) Cry as I pour this one down the drain

15 lbs - Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs 12.0 oz - Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
1 lbs 4.0 oz - Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)
2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min
0.60 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min
1.20 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Aroma Steep 10.0 min
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml]

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[dcp27]

whoa, 3lbs of crystal malt is waaaaaaaaaaay too much for any IPA, especially a DIPA, like at least 3 times too much (6x IMO). that's definitely not helping with your high FG.

with your 2nd starter, did you pitch while active or crash first?

you could try adding some boiled sugar to try to wake the yeast up if rousing/warming and more yeast hasn't helped. before you reach dumping you could try adding amylase enzyme which would allow some of the larger chained sugars remaining to break down and let the yeast ferment further. depending how you feel about it, brettanomyces could also be a good solution to get you to a lower FG.

oh and just to double-check, this is with a hydrometer or correctly adjusted refractometer right?

 

[bloomam]

For the second starter I pitched it while it was active. I agree with your after doing some research that the quantity of crystal was way too high. Reviewing past recipes I averaged around 6% when I added crystal. This time it was closer to 15%. I won't make that mistake again.

 

[bloomam]

.....and measurements were made with a hydrometer.

 

[TIPA0303]

Half a Beano tablet. For real. It's basically an amylase enzyme so it will break down some unfermentable sugars so the yeasties can start digesting then.

 

[dcp27]

Half a Beano tablet. For real. It's basically an amylase enzyme so it will break down some unfermentable sugars so the yeasties can start digesting then.

do not use beano, it is not the same as amylase. adding amylase, which you should be able to find at your LHBS, is a much better option if you go this route. beano will break down too much of the unfermentables unless you pasteurize it.

 

[motorneuron]

I would recommend making a very basic, low-OG beer (but with a lot of hops) and use that to dilute--just bottle them together. And yeah, for the future, consider using sugar as part of the grain bill for such a high OG beer, which will encourage higher attenuation. The only other option I see is pitching 3711.

 

[bloomam]

Thank you all for the advice. I'm going to brew a 3 gal, very simple (all 2-row), 1.035 OG this weekend for purposes of blending. I pulled a sample of the original beer as it sits now and it is just too sweet for my pallet.