Not Stalled, But Dead

[Vandulus]

So I've got a malty chocolate stout in the fermenter that quit at 1.030 instead of dropping to around 1.014 or so. The OG was 1.062 and I'm using WLP001 California as the yeast. Originally I thought it was just stalled, so here's what I tried in order:
- Raising the temperature from 68 to 71 F and left for 4 days
- Adding another package of WLP001 and waited 5 days
- Adding alpha amylase and after 4 days there's still no change

I'm guessing that something was off with my mash and I did not get as much fermentables as I usually do. At this point I'm thinking about throwing 1 Lb of DME into a small volume of water, boiling for 10 minutes, cooling and adding that to my fermenter to get the ABV up. Does this sound like a good approach or is there something else I may be missing?

 

[JLeuck64]

Try rousing the yeast. Depending on what kind of fermenter you have this could be easy (with a bucket) or more difficult (with a carboy). Essentially all you need to do is sanitize something that is long enough to reach the bottom of your fermenter. Then gently scrap the bottom to get the yeast floating to the top again. Give it another week after doing this and check gravity again.

 

[Ike]

1.030 is pretty dang sweet, at least that's what I'd guess. How does it taste? If it's too sweet, and you add DME, the BEST you're going to get is a beer that's just as sweet as it is now, but with higher ABV. Worst case, it doesn't ferment (at all, or not completely) and now your brew is even sweeter.

Right now, you're sitting around 4.25%. That's not great but it's better than nothing, about the same as a BMC. If rousing the yeast as mentioned above doesn't work, I would probably just bottle/keg it as is and see how it tastes. I made a session stout last year from a recipe on HBT; while it's not tops on my list of remake candidates, I sure didn't leave any behind.



ETA: Bloom County-related avatars, FTW!

 

[cshamilton]

Are sure your hydrometer is accurate? Does is read 1.000 in water?

 

[Vandulus]

Are sure your hydrometer is accurate? Does is read 1.000 in water?

Checked it against two different hydrometers and both read the same and have been calibrated in distilled water @ 65 F.

Fortunately it doesn't taste terribly sweet as the roasted malts and cocoa nibs help balance that out. So it looks like my final attempt is to sanitize my stainless stirring spoon and give everything a whirl. It's sitting in a Brew Bucket so stirring it up will be quick and easy.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[cshamilton]

Man that is strange - does it have lactose in it? The amylase should break down most of the remaining starches.

If stirring doesn't help - I'd avoid adding DME, if you think it needs more alcohol and the yeast is active adding a pound of sugar would be better - since it should ferment out completely.