My first stuck Fermentation

[Bandit112]

I did my first high gravity ale on sunday and I made a starter. The fermentation went well for the first 2 days and then it ceased. So I gave the fermenter a little swirl then it started up again for about 2 hours and then stopped. So I repeated with no results the second time. I gave it until yesterday doing continuous checks, the SG was 1.074 (adjusted), the first time it stuck on tuesday (day I swirled) it was at 1.036 (72F). I re-pitched yesterday because I wanted to avoid too much swirling/aeration to avoid off-flavors. 24 hours later it is at 1.032 unadjusted (69F) with no activity. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

The kit was Holiday Ale from Midwest
WL023, 6 lbs Dark Malt, 3 lbs amber (both liquid), Fermenter temp ranged from 67-73 or so over the course of the week due to fluctuating weather conditions. (which I don't believe to be the problem, but I could be wrong...)

 

[Yooper]

What kind of yeasts did you pitch, and what's the expected fg? If it went from 1.036 to 1.032 in 24 hours, it's not stuck, just slow, by the way. To go from 1.074 to 1.032 in 5 days is pretty good!

 

[malkore]

kinda sounds like the wort didn't get oxygenated enough originally.

I can't say for sure though. But a lack of oxygen is going to make re-pitched yeast slow to take off.

 

[Got Trub?]

Patience and time are what are needed here. High gravity beers take longer to go through primary fermentation and then conditioning. I would have given it 3 weeks before even checking the gravity. Once your beer gets up to about 5% ABV it becomes toxic to your yeast which must be very healthy to carry on. Even then they will slowww ddddooooowwwwwwnnnnnn. Personally I would leave it for 3-4 weeks in a primary and then rack to a secondary for 2-3 months of conditioning before bottling or kegging.

GT

 

[Bandit112]

Yeast was WLP023 (Burton's Ale) Which is listed to have a Fermentation Temp of 68-73 and Attenuation 69-75% Medium alcohol tolerence
FG target is around 1.018 to yield to the 75% comfort zone


yea, I was amazed at the rate of fermentation for the first 2 days from the things I read about high gravity beers. It was the first time I had used a starter also. I forgot to mention in my first post...I re-pitched dry yeast, so I am assuming that I will not get the full effect of flavor from the Liquid I originally pitched, is this assumption accurate? I also remember reading somewhere on here that nutrients from the repitch could potentially activate the yeast that went dorment..is this accurate?

I know it's a lot of questions, but I am only on my third batch so I am still new to this, and this will be a good learning experience for me. It's a shame it had to happen on the beer I was mostly looking forward to.

I forgot about that trub, I didnt take in the alcohol content, which was expected to be around 9% if I remember my calculation. And the yeast has a "medium" tolerence to alcohol...whatever that means...

 

[Yooper]

I think the best thing right now is to leave it alone and wait it out. Maybe check the gravity again next week, just to make sure it's still going, if you're really concerned.

Next time, don't be so quick to worry and repitch yeast. It really was doing quite well on its own. Airlock activity (or lack of) does not really indicate fermentation. I've had wines go completely dry with hardly a bubble and some have had vigorous bubbling and not done much at all! The only way to know is to check the sg and if it's dropping, don't worry about it. Expect at least a week for "regular" beers, and two weeks or longer for higher gravity beers before you worry.

 

[Bandit112]

thanks everyone, I definately will not make that mistake again...it just shocked me to see it slow down so much after those first two days...I just forgot the most important step of all.....

 

[Yooper]

thanks everyone, I definately will not make that mistake again...it just shocked me to see it slow down so much after those first two days...I just forgot the most important step of all.....

Patience is the hardest part of brewing, that's for sure. So, you're right- the most important step- RHWHAHB!

 

[vasie]

Did you add any table sugar to your recipe to get the OG you were shooting for? It might just be that your yeast have become to lazy ( unable ) to process the maltose.
Just a thought...