Stuck braggot

[weizenguy]

I'm still fairly new to this game but have been learning fast. Sorry to hit you with another "stuck fermentation" issue but I would like to try to save this one.

I brewed a cranberry braggot (recipe from "Extreme Brewing"). It had 5.5 lbs of DME, 6 lbs of honey, 2 lbs of cranberries (mix of fresh and dried), pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient, Irish moss, hops. Yeast was EC-118 (sparkling wine), rehydrated. The OG came in at 1.099.

Problem: got down to 1.042 within 3 weeks, then it slowed down such that by week 7 it had only got to 1.039. Very sweet. I added more EC-118 yeast at the 4 week mark and then, on impulse, a rehydrated packet of US-05 at week 6 along with quite a bit of yeast nutrient. I've been gently rousing the trub periodically and have placed the carboy in a warmish place with a blanket around it (oh, I did transfer it to a secondary at week 2, don't know see how that could have hurt things since I ended up transferring a lot of the upper trub along with it).

In Randy Mosher's recent book, he does say that using sugar or honey at greater than 20% will lead to fermentation problems. I guess that's why the original recipe included yeast nutrient (5 tsps). Obviously, that didn't work. Randy does say, too, that the way around this is to start the wort fermenting first and add the honey later (has to do with yeast eating up the simple sugars first, etc). This makes a lot of sense, and I wish I'd known it earlier.

However, my issue now is: what to do with this 5 gallon carboy of sweet, malty nectar. Any ideas for saving this batch?

 

[weizenguy]

Anyone? Any ideas at all?

 

[kadozen]

The late addition of honey is a must for my strong braggot. Now, to help with yours, you could try pitching an additional yeast maybe? Has it budged at all since you started rousing it and raised the temp? What was your expected FG?

 

[weizenguy]

Thanks kadozen. I appreciate your input here.

Just to update you and all the other onlookers, movement has occurred since I last posted. In fact, it took about 5 days after I added the US-05 and yeast nutrient before I noticed a bubble or two in the airlock. I lifted the garbage bag cover for a peek and, sweet jesus, there was a roiling mass of trub and white gunk was swirling around inside the carboy. Mesmerizing in fact, like a 70's lava lamp.

My first thought was that I had totally ruined it, especially with the inordinately large dose of yeast nutrient I had thrown in there (must have been about half a cup; I didn't really measure, I was just chucking tablespoonfuls of it in). In fact, I thought it was a goner up until this morning (about a week later). Activity had ceased, it was starting to clear. A gravity reading showed that it's now down to 1.015 and, surprise of all, it tasted pretty good. A bit more like a sweet mead at this point with a hint of beerness to it, and a slightly tart overlay of fruit. It may not win competitions but I'm beginning to hold out hope that it will be drinkable after all. Will leave it for another week to see if it can get down any further and clean up any off flavours.

Patience and time, as General Kutuzov would say.