Possible stuck fermentation?

[Oddpac87]

Brewing this recipe:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/irish-car-bomb-stout-133375/index12.html#post3862270

FermentingFreak didn't give OG/FG, but BeerSmith gave me 1.057 and 1.016. It's been in primary 16 days now. Just took the first gravity reading and got ~1.028. It hasn't shown any signs of really active fermentation in around a week, so I was surprised to see it that high.

I still need to rack to secondary for flavor additions. Should I try and wait for it to drop more or rack and hope it continues in secondary?

EDIT: Not sure if it matters much, but I used WLP004 instead of the US-05 in the recipe.

 

[Biobrewer]

The apparent attenuation of 004 is 69%-74%. The 1.016 would be a perfect FG and would fall well within the range. You are seeing 50.88%, which is terrible low. You may have a stuck fermentation, especially if it has been 16 days. You need to look at your process to get an answer for why it is suck.

What was your pitch rate? Did you make a starter? What was the fermentation temperature? What was your pitching temperature? Did you oxygenate well?

Take a soild look at your process, and I'm sure you'll find the answer for this occurrence.

 

[Oddpac87]

I didn't make a starter (which I'm now regretting). Temperature was roughly 70-72 the entire time. I'm assuming not using a starter was probably the issue. What would be the best way to get it going again?

 

[Biobrewer]

I didn't make a starter (which I'm now regretting). Temperature was roughly 70-72 the entire time. I'm assuming not using a starter was probably the issue. What would be the best way to get it going again?

I think the best thing to do would be to make a starter of new yeast, and pitch it at high krausen. That should do it!

 

[Oddpac87]

Figured that was probably the best option. I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

 

[beergolf]

If you used the recipe that fermentingfreak posted, it may be done. 1.5lbs of lactose is a lot of unfermentables.

I usually use just 8oz in my milk stouts and they finish in the 1.020-1.022 range. Using 1.5 lbs, my guess is that it is not going to go much lower.

 

[Oddpac87]

Wouldn't the software account for that though?