? stuck fermentation

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efkrug

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Brewed an extract porter. Windsor dry yeast pitched a little warm around low to mid 80s. Vigorous fermentation for about 18 hrs then very little. Checked gravity and it had actually done pretty well in that short a time but I was concerned I may have pitched too hot and was stuck. Added liquid yeast at this point with some reshaking of the primary. Have had some slow bubbling since then and now at a week (checking another gravity tonight). I've never added more yeast like this and am hopefull it attenuates and drops out as I don't want too much of it's flavor. Probably should've just stuck it out in the beginning but I've never seen a fermentation get pretty much done in under 24hrs. Looking for thoughts. Thanks!
 
You definitely pitched too warm by 15-20 degrees. With such a hot pitch it's no surprise that fermentation ran away and finished (nearly finished) in such a short time. I don't think your batch would have "stuck" with such warm temps. I think you'd have to run up above 105F or so for that to happen. Because of your hot fermentation, you're likely to get some off-flavors and/or hot alcohols. Not much you can do about that with this batch; just don't make the same hot pitching mistake on future batches.

Pitching more yeast was probably just a waste of money considering that most of the sugars were already fermented and what remained was probably not enough for the new yeast to get going with.

Generally speaking, shaking an already fermenting fermenter (i.e. adding oxygen) is a big no-no as you're only likely to accomplish oxidizing your beer by doing so. Too late now, but another thing to remember for future batches.

Give this batch a few weeks in the primary fermenter. By leaving it in the primary fermenter, and leaving it sealed, you give the yeast a chance to help clean up any off-characteristics they may have imparted. Usually about 3 weeks is what's recommended for fermentations that didn't go quite as expected. After three weeks, get a gravity reading. Then check again three days later and make sure they're identical. If they are and the gravity is under ....say.... 1.021 then go ahead and bottle it up. Lastly, you'll want to give this batch a fair amount of time in the bottle to condition and continue cleaning up. It may never taste as you hoped it would but the more time you give a bad batch the better it will become with the obvious exception of an infected batch which will just get worse over time.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Don't give up if this batch doesn't meet your expectations. Do some reading on people general processes of fermentation. The biggest flavor enhancements you can give your beer is pitching sufficient yeast and fermenting at appropriate temperatures.
 

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