Standing gravity 1.030

[BrianK3721]

1. 
   Og 1.085
   Specialty grains (.8 roasted barley, .25 chocolate malt)
   2.5 lbs Maple syrup
   1 lbs honey
   .5 lbs brown sugar
   7.5 lbs dark liquid malt extract
   1 lbs dark dry malt extract
   1 oz cluster
   1 oz Cascade
   .5 oz Columbus
   1 pk Safale us-05 (I made a starter with the dme then pitched, I never used dry yeast in a starter before and it didn't foam up at all is this due to lack of nutrients?)
   
   The gravity is at 1.030, It should ferment down to aleast 1.020 right?
   It has been a little over a week but the krausen is disapating like the yeast are done and the gravity has been at 1.030 for three days.
   
   If I add nutrients now will they help the yeast that's in the fermenter finish fermenting, and how much would you need to add?

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Chances are it’s finished. Adding nutrients probably won’t help.
You’re sitting around 7.2% so it looks good.

 

[waldoar15]

Making a starter with dry yeast is generally not recommended. 1 pack is probably an underpitch at that gravity if you look at the calculators.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I just made a starter the other week with a pack of s04. Went well and my pale ale completely fermented down.

To the OP, you're at about a 64% attenuation which does seem a bit low. I think at this point your hands are tied. You could try the nutrient and swirl the fermenter GENTLY and see if it helps. I don't think that would hurt you at all. If it doesn't move from there then id agree with previous replies and say you're done.

When i say swirl gently, i don't think i can emphasize gently enough. You don't want to oxygenate so just swirl it to mix in nutrient.

Fyi, I've never done this so I'm not speaking from experience

 

[helibrewer]

That grain bill looks like about 30% sugar (maple syrup, honey, brown sugar). Yeast prefer glucose and will go to town on it before they take up maltose. My guess is that by the time the yeast finished with all the sugar, alcohol was high and nutrients were low so there is a quantity of maltose and maltotriose from the LME/DME that is not fermented. At that starting gravity (2) 11g packets of yeast would be needed at a minimum (about 440 billion cells). For dry yeast it is better to properly rehydrate and use additional packets than it is to do a starter, a starter just depletes the yeast of everything that the manufacturer provided it during processing.

 

[BrianK3721]

What would happen if I pitched another pack of us-05 now and added nutrients, would it be a waste or would it work on the left over sugars.

 

[Lefou]

Making a starter with dry yeast is generally not recommended. 1 pack is probably an underpitch at that gravity if you look at the calculators.

There's a running debate on making starters with dry yeast and you're right about the possible underpitch.
When using liquid yeast the directions allow you to directly pitch one packet into a 5 gallon wort of approximately 1.050 OG. I will usually make a small starter and underpitch depending on the style.

When using dry yeast at or below 1.050 OG, a direct pitch of one 11gram packet in 5 gallons will be more than sufficient. At 1.083 OG, I would've re-hydrated a couple packets to prevent the underpitch. Simply re-hydrating dried yeast for a half hour then pitching the contents to the primary is sufficient. Making a starter with wort is not really recommended because yeast will suffer and the numbers of viable cells will decrease.

 

[Lefou]

What would happen if I pitched another pack of us-05 now and added nutrients, would it be a waste or would it work on the left over sugars.

There shouldn't be any need to add nutrients. The wort should have everything the yeast needs.
If I were you, I'd re-hydrate the new packet of yeast in water for 30 minutes at room temps, stir, and then add. I have made yeast starters from dry yeast before, but the re-hydration step is recommended before adding them to a weak wort before pitching.