Stuck fermentation - my own fault?

[vast_reaction]

Hi there. So I brewed my first batch last Tuesday. My OG was 1.082, and I pitched a 3L starter of WL0039 - Nottingham platinum series. My expected FG based on BeerSmith was 1.017. Now 7 days in primary, the gravity has been holding steady at 1.026. Most of the fermentation occurred in the first 3 days. I took a sample 3 days in and it had already dropped 50 points. I swirled the carboy gently yesterday, and there is no change today.

Here's the thing: I steeped 4oz of Honey Malt in my recipe, which I did not realize must be mashed. Did this introduce some unfermentable sugars into my wort? Is that .09 points of gravity just due to starch that the yeast can't eat? The beer tastes okay, honestly, and I am still racking to secondary when I get paid on Thursday as planned. I'm not scared about the beer, I'm definitely going to drink it, I just want to know what happened.

Thanks for any input!

 

[Brew-boy]

No the 4oz did not do anything to hurt this one. Did you add any O2 and what temp was your fermentation at and did it vary at all?

 

[vast_reaction]

I aerated by shaking, no pure O2 addition (that little upgrade comes NEXT payday). My primary fermentation took place in a 7.8 gallon plastic "True Brew" bucket, in my closet, which stayed around 68-70 degrees.