stuck Imperial Stout.

[poisonpeacock]

Hi, I'm new to the forum.
I started brewing all-grain bacl in the mid-ninties but have been away from home brewing for a decade.
I love HBT and wish there had been a resource/community like this back then.

I have an all grain Belgo Imperial Stout in glass carboy primary for two weeks.
mash at 152 for 60 min
SG of 1.103
pitched wyeast 1214 (2L starter at 72deg f) and had vigorous fermentation after about 6 hours and lasted for about 48 hours.
gravity at 1.042 for past three days.
I would really like to get this below 1.029 (preferably 1.024).
I am thinking of pitching additional yeast.
I have a packet of safale-05 on hand.
two questions...
will the safale yeast compromise the Belgian aspects of the 1214?
should this yeast get me the attenuation I need?
BTW once I get close to the attenuation I seek... this will spend a couple months in secondary for batch aging prior to bottling.
thanks for any feedback in advance.

 

[JLW]

You could re-pitch. You could also stand the carboy on eadge and give it a good swirl to get the yeast active again.

What is the temp of the beer currently? If too cool you may want to warm up a bit after giving it a swirl.

I had a similar problem, swirled, warmed and eventually re-pitched with very little movement in FG.

Other people have had much more success.

Good luck.

 

[poisonpeacock]

bulk of ferm was between 68-70F... I've roused twice and warmed to about 74F over last 4-5 days to no change. yeast just drops back out of suspension with no change in gravity. it's currently at around 73F.

don't want to go too warm... want Belgian character but not overwhelmingly bananafied.

I think re-pitch is the only option but is the safale us-05 pretty neutral? never used it before. looking to preserve what yeast character I have while drying out a bit further.

 

[Bierliebhaber]

Grain bill?
Aeration?
What kind of starter? (1 or 2 packs of yeast, simple, o2, intermediate shake, stir plate?)
Yeast nutrient?

This is information that will help with further advice.

With only one pack of yeast, you would need at least a 4L starter for an OG that big (depending on the starter method, maybe as much as 8L). I haven't use this yeast before, but it seems like it should do the job as long as there was enoubh yeast and fermentables.
As for repitching, the yeast flavor is pretty well established at this point. It's preferrable to pitch on the same strain of yeast, but the us-05 shouldn't noticeably alter the flavor.

 

[Tinga]

Maybe if you add some simple sugar like corn sugar it could wake up those yeasties

 

[poisonpeacock]

I smack pack was added to 1L starter and at high krausen pitched into 2L fermented and decanted. pitched at room temp.

aerated at transfer to ferm...vigorous carboy shake for several minutes.

grain bill is...
18# 2-row pale
1# caramunich
1# special b
1# dk choc
1/2# black
1/2# roast barley
1/2# rye

gonna go ahead and pitch more yeast... I'm guessing safale 05 should be hydrated first?

 

[beergolf]

I have never tried it but have used this yeast a lot. You could try some 3711.
It might fit the style a little better than US05. It will get it down but maybe down lower than you want. This yeast is a beast and will chew through just about anything.

From the Wyeast website:

A very versatile strain that produces Saison or farmhouse style biers as well as other Belgian style beers that are highly aromatic (estery), peppery, spicy and citrusy. This strain enhances the use of spices and aroma hops, and is extremely attenuative but leaves an unexpected silky and rich mouthfeel. This strain can also be used to re-start stuck fermentations or in high gravity beers.

 

[bottlebomber]

I don't remember you mentioning oxygenation in your brewing process. I think proper oxygenation an often overlooked necessity in healthy fermentation

 

[poisonpeacock]

oxygenation via agitation of chilled wort is all. this is my first HG brew and first stalled fermentation. perhaps a more efficient form of oxygenation was called for... also forgot yeast nutrient. both will be considered more thoughtfully in future.

The 3711 sounds intriguing. I'll look into it and check with the LHBS to see if they have it in stock.

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I'll let you know how it comes out.

 

[emjay]

Hmm... anybody ever done an RIS fermented entirely with Saison yeast?

Normally I'm not one who just throws random stuff together, but I'm imagining how this beer would turn out, and I am actually really intrigued by the idea.

 

[beersteiner2345]

Had a similar problem with my RIS...
I added 3 oz. corn sugar and some yeast nutrient and stirred it around again.

Worked like a charm...

 

[JLW]

3711 is a beast. Used it in my saison went from 1.064 to 1.001 in a matter of a couple of days. I'm thinking about using it in IIPA soon.

Love this yeast.

 

[poisonpeacock]

should I worry about over-attenuation with 3711? I wouldn't want to go below 1.020... which is about 79%.

 

[poisonpeacock]

pitched 3711 on like 8-07-11...

...after 8 weeks in primary, I transferred to secondary today.
hydrometer reading at transfer was 1.037-8. that's only about 65% attenuation.

tastes great. not cloyingly sweet and pretty balanced. I can't imagine i'm gonna squeeze much more out of this one. I think I'll leave it in secondary for a couple of weeks to clear out a bit better. Then, I'll just keg it.

I got a similar attenuation (around 70%) on an IPA I just kegged.

Could too warm a mash be causing this? I use a single step infusion with a batch sparge.

I'm going to try a lower mash temperature with my next batch and see what happens.