RIS is sweet and undercarbonated

[mjrinkenbaugh]

Hey all, I brewed a Russian Imperial Stout in November. I used a couple of recipes that had good ratings as guidelines in formulating my own recipe. It started with a gravity of 1.098 and finished with a gravity of around 1.036 (unfortunately, I didn't write the number down like I thought I had, but it was somewhere around there). The FG seemed very high, but then I read that it's not that uncommon for the FG on a Russian Imperial Stout to be that high, so I tried not to worry too much.

The beer sat in the secondary fermenter until January. I worried that the yeast might be dormant by the time that I bottled. I considered adding some champagne yeast just to make sure they could carbonate the bottled beer, but I decided against it. Now I wish that maybe I would have added the extra yeast.

It's now been almost two months since I bottled. Unfortunately, the beer is still as flat as can be and its very sweet. Does this beer just need 6 more months in bottles, or should I take some action to try to fix 48 remaining bottles?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[microbusbrewery]

That should be in the neighborhood of 11.5% ABV which is pretty high. You may be pushing the alcohol tolerance of your primary strain, hence the reason it's not carbing. What yeast did you use?

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

A beer that big will take quite awhile to carbonate. Also that is certainly a high FG, not ridiculously high, but high enough that I believe you when it you say it tastes sweet. Not much you can do about the FG right now. Your yeast probably didn't attenuate fully if I had to guess, or you mashed really high or had a bunch of crystal malt. All that can lead to a final sweet beer. How to fix a beer that hasn't carbed in 2 months is not something I can help you with unfortunately as I do not bottle. Good luck!

 

[mjrinkenbaugh]

I wish I had written more numbers down in January, but I apparently didn't and thought I would remember them later.

I know I mashed at 152 and it stayed there for about an hour and a half. By my calculations, it would have come out to about 8.6% ABV. Nowhere near the 10% I was really shooting for.

The yeast I used was Wyeast 1028 London Ale (11% ABV tolerance). I used Mr. Malty and made an appropriately huge yeast starter. I actually made one big yeast starter and used the yeast from it to make another big yeast starter. Should have been just fine on the quantity and health of the yeast, but I wondered too it it didn't attenuate fully. Not totally sure.

I brought the bottles up to my office where there are computers running last night. It stays a little warmer in my office, so maybe the yeast will become more active with a little warmer temperature?

 

[microbusbrewery]

Sorry, I must have fat fingered something...8.6% is much more accurate (not sure how I got 11.5). One thing I'd try, turn the bottles upside down once or twice a day for a week or two. It helps keep residual yeast in suspension. I've done this with some sours that were slow to carb and it got things going. The warmer environment should help too.

 

[mjrinkenbaugh]

This is an awesome idea to try that I'd never even thought about! Thanks!

Sorry, I must have fat fingered something...8.6% is much more accurate (not sure how I got 11.5). One thing I'd try, turn the bottles upside down once or twice a day for a week or two. It helps keep residual yeast in suspension. I've done this with some sours that were slow to carb and it got things going. The warmer environment should help too.

 

[pdog44450]

Hey all, I brewed a Russian Imperial Stout in November. I used a couple of recipes that had good ratings as guidelines in formulating my own recipe. It started with a gravity of 1.098 and finished with a gravity of around 1.036 (unfortunately, I didn't write the number down like I thought I had, but it was somewhere around there). The FG seemed very high, but then I read that it's not that uncommon for the FG on a Russian Imperial Stout to be that high, so I tried not to worry too much.

The beer sat in the secondary fermenter until January. I worried that the yeast might be dormant by the time that I bottled. I considered adding some champagne yeast just to make sure they could carbonate the bottled beer, but I decided against it. Now I wish that maybe I would have added the extra yeast.

It's now been almost two months since I bottled. Unfortunately, the beer is still as flat as can be and its very sweet. Does this beer just need 6 more months in bottles, or should I take some action to try to fix 48 remaining bottles?

Thanks,
Mike

I made a similar RIS to you, was about 9%. Took only a month to fully carb at 60 degrees in my basement. I'd say you either had them carbing too cold, didn't add enough priming sugar, or you might have dropped too much yeast out of suspension in your secondary to carb your bottles. I have never heard of trying to recarb bottles. Maybe if you had kegging materials (you probably don't) you could dump all your bottles in a keg and force carb it, but that is a stretch.

I would definitely warm them up in your office like you said, I'd do it 70-75F if possible and give it a few months and go from there.