Should I pitch more yeast to avoid stalled fermentation?

[Han_Solo]

I took a stab at Jamil's Belgian golden strong ale. I added the 3lbs of cane sugar during the boil but am now beginning to question if that may have been a poor decision. I was listening to The Brewing Network's podcast on the beer I was brewing and they mentioned that the yeast sometimes have a tendency to start with the simpler sugars and then give up on the more complex ones, which could possibly lead to a stalled fermentation.

My question is: should I pitch some yeast to avoid a stalled fermentation? I am a bit confused as to what I should do because at this point I have no way of telling if it will stall, but at the same time they mentioned that pitching once the fermentation has stalled is too late for it to help as the conditions will not allow for the yeast to survive.

Has anyone ever dealt with this before? Is it even a legitimate concern? I am relaxing with a homebrew, but I can't seem to get this topic off of my mind.

 

[Rambleon]

Why were your numbers? How much yeast did you pitch?

 

[Culbetron]

Pitch some healthy, well-started yeast so that they aren't starting off lazy. Then yell threatening things at them every day of the fermentation. Let the temp raise up a bit over the course of a week. Near the end of the fermentation, change your yelling at them to whispering encouragement to them.

 

[Han_Solo]

Why were your numbers? How much yeast did you pitch?

Not sure what the OG was, I failed to mix the wort well enough and I got a reading of 1.132. The recipe says OG should be 1.072. I pitched the yeast on Monday and took a reading last night and it was at 1.032.

 

[boydster]

The 1.072 estimate - is that before or after counting the extra 3 lbs of corn sugar you added?

Regardless, my thoughts are that if it's taken it that far, it has likely already exhausted the simple sugars and began on the more complex sugars, and it will very likely finish without stalling. Just do what you can to assist the yeast at this point by raising the temperature slowly over several days (after the really active fermentation begins to slow down) until you are in the low-to-mid 70's, and rouse the yeast if it looks like it is floccing out before you hit FG.

 

[Han_Solo]

The 1.072 estimate - is that before or after counting the extra 3 lbs of corn sugar you added?

Regardless, my thoughts are that if it's taken it that far, it has likely already exhausted the simple sugars and began on the more complex sugars, and it will very likely finish without stalling. Just do what you can to assist the yeast at this point by raising the temperature slowly over several days (after the really active fermentation begins to slow down) until you are in the low-to-mid 70's, and rouse the yeast if it looks like it is floccing out before you hit FG.

I'm not too certain about the OG. I tried the recipe from Brewing Classic Styles and that was the number in the book - it wasn't very clear as to when to add it. The guy at my brew store said to add it to the last 15 min of the boil so I took his advice.

 

[boydster]

I just realized I misread your post. The recipe calls for the 3 lbs of cane sugar; I see that now. I thought you added an extra 3 lbs of sugar that wasn't already included in the recipe. My bad.

I use corn sugar in a couple of my extract recipes to help get a dryer finish than I can get with just extract alone (I add it at flameout). I don't use 3 lbs, but just the same, I haven't had any issues with fermentation stalling due to the yeast wanting to eat the simple sugars and quit. I think you'll be fine. Again, just help the yeast by controlling temperature and helping it to warm up after it peaks, and gently rouse the yeast if necessary to help keep it in suspension.

 

[kh54s10]

What type of yeast? How much yeast did you pitch.

Stalled fermentations are often caused by pitching too little yeast in a higher gravity beer. 1.072 is not really high. If you pitched a dry yeast I would let it go. Rehydrated would have been best.

If you pitched a liquid yeast, did you make a starter?

At any rate I would wait another 5-7 days then take another reading. The yeast should have reproduced to sufficient cell counts to ferment the beer.

Also, the yeast will not die in the beer. It is highly unlikely that you will brew a beer with and alcohol content high enough to kill the yeast.

 

[boydster]

That's just it, though - fermentation hasn't stalled according to the first post. OP is trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist yet.

 

[Culbetron]

relax, don't worry...

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Rarely will it stall because of the sugar addition in the kettle. If anything it may slow for a short period as it reconfigures itself into maltose busting mode. (As long as the wort was well aerated).

This does stress the yeast somewhat but probably in line with a Belgian anyway. And underpitching is an actual technique used by trappiste breweries to get that belgiany taste. It's also how I get s-33 to taste belgiany instead of boring.

 

[Han_Solo]

So thanks for the advice and reassurance. I took a gravity reading and it is currently down to 1.008. Like I said before I didn't mix the wort very well and got a totally wacko OG. Is there a way to determine an accurate OG after the fact using some type if calculator? I'd like to get a somewhat accurate idea of what it was if possible. I had 9lbs Pilsener LME and 3lbs cane sugar.

 

[gmdavestevens]

There are a few websites and apps where you can type in your batch size and all of the fermentables, they will tell you what the SG was. Since it was all extract and sugar, you don't have to worry about mash efficiency, so if there is a setting for that, set it to 100%. Just Google recipe builder, or something similar.

 

[boydster]

You could also download something like Brewtarget or Beersmith

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

You could also download something like Brewtarget or Beersmith

You can also roughly deterime this using the fg from a hydrometer and refractomter and using software like beersmith. The option is in the dropdown menu in the refractometer tool.