othellomcbane
Well-Known Member
I'm working on a Galaxy single-hop IPA that was supposed to finish out very dry... and has become stuck at very sweet instead.
Here's the grain bill. This is a mostly-grain partial mash — I'm in the process of going all grain but I still have some DME to use up.
29.9 % extra light DME
63.4 % Maris Otter
2.2 % honey malt
1.5 % aromatic malt
I mashed at 149. I had just calibrated my digital thermometer before starting this batch, and cross-checked it with my dial thermometer. So I'm pretty sure the mash couldn't have been off by more than a few degrees. 149 should have resulted in a highly fermentable wort, right? Original Gravity was 1.063, which is right in line with what Beer Smith predicted. Beer Smith suggests that my Final Gravity should be 1.016. And after three weeks, the gravity has been sitting at 1.020 for a full week.
Onto the yeast: I pitched a good 3/4 inches of healthy-look yeast slurry that I had harvested 2 days before from an ESB. The yeast was Safale S-04. The ESB was lower gravity than the IPA. I harvested the yeast, washed it, kept it in a large pickle jar in the fridge, and pitched it into the IPA. Didn't make a starter because I had so much slurry (and this was only a 3.5 gallon batch, I should point out... not even a full five gallons!), although obviously in retrospect, I should have made a starter anyway. Fermented at 65 degrees to start out with, moved up to 67 degrees after a few days, and then after two weeks moved it up to about 69/70. It's remained stuck at 1.020 despite warming up and shaking the bucket to stir up the yeast.
Finally, I resorted to pitching a totally fresh packet of S-04 to bring it down, while still at 70 degrees. No effect, bizarrely. Boiled and added a few ounces of sugar to see if that would accomplish anything. The yeast ate the sugar and brought it back to 1.020. How can a beer with this grain bill, OG, yeast and mash-temperature possibly be stuck at 1.020?
This makes no sense whatsoever to me. Can any of you wise internet people alleviate my confusion?
Here's the grain bill. This is a mostly-grain partial mash — I'm in the process of going all grain but I still have some DME to use up.
29.9 % extra light DME
63.4 % Maris Otter
2.2 % honey malt
1.5 % aromatic malt
I mashed at 149. I had just calibrated my digital thermometer before starting this batch, and cross-checked it with my dial thermometer. So I'm pretty sure the mash couldn't have been off by more than a few degrees. 149 should have resulted in a highly fermentable wort, right? Original Gravity was 1.063, which is right in line with what Beer Smith predicted. Beer Smith suggests that my Final Gravity should be 1.016. And after three weeks, the gravity has been sitting at 1.020 for a full week.
Onto the yeast: I pitched a good 3/4 inches of healthy-look yeast slurry that I had harvested 2 days before from an ESB. The yeast was Safale S-04. The ESB was lower gravity than the IPA. I harvested the yeast, washed it, kept it in a large pickle jar in the fridge, and pitched it into the IPA. Didn't make a starter because I had so much slurry (and this was only a 3.5 gallon batch, I should point out... not even a full five gallons!), although obviously in retrospect, I should have made a starter anyway. Fermented at 65 degrees to start out with, moved up to 67 degrees after a few days, and then after two weeks moved it up to about 69/70. It's remained stuck at 1.020 despite warming up and shaking the bucket to stir up the yeast.
Finally, I resorted to pitching a totally fresh packet of S-04 to bring it down, while still at 70 degrees. No effect, bizarrely. Boiled and added a few ounces of sugar to see if that would accomplish anything. The yeast ate the sugar and brought it back to 1.020. How can a beer with this grain bill, OG, yeast and mash-temperature possibly be stuck at 1.020?
This makes no sense whatsoever to me. Can any of you wise internet people alleviate my confusion?