Too late to pitch another yeast ?

[kjung]

I'm still having trouble getting my Saison to drop the gravity down to where it's supposed to be. With a target F.G. of 1.016, it has been sitting at 1.050 for a few days.

I have e mailed White Labs, and their response was to try two things. First, transfer to another fermenter, to try to rouse the yeast. I only have one bucket and a couple of 5 gal. carboys, so I scraped the top and sides of the bucket and shook it, a LOT, trying to get some kind of action out of the remaining yeast.

The other option, according to White Labs, is to pitch another yeast, but it has to be very active.

Is it too late to pitch another yeast, considering that the gravity hasn't moved in a few days, even if it is in an active starter ?

 

[Pedro-]

Here's a few things to start with:

What temperature is the fermenter sitting at?

What was your starting gravity?

I'm assuming this is an extract, what was your recipe?

How much yeast did you initially pitch, and how? Which yeast was it?

How long has the beer been fermenting?

Shaking and moving the fermenter can be just as good (if not safer) as transferring it. The main goal is to keep the beasts into suspension and not going to sleep on the bottom. I've done this numerous times, just keep swirling the bucket or carboy around to rouse the yeast until the fermentation gets going.

You mentioned scraping the sides? What did you use and how to "scrape" the sides? That just concerns me on sanitation.

Lastly it's never too late to pitch in more yeast. By very active they mean in a starter and in the middle of chomping away already.

 

[kjung]

The fermenter was sitting at around 70'f for a week or so, since then it has been at between 80' and 90'.
O.G. was 1.13 (I know, high, but that's what the recipe target was)
I did a partial mash, using 13.25 lbs. of DME and 2.5 lbs of grain, among other things.
I used one vial of White Labs Saison yeast.
It has been fermenting almost 4 weeks now.
I used a (sanitized) rubber spatula to do all the scraping. I'm not concerned about any nasties.

I'll have to get a starter going, and see what happens.

 

[Hoosierbrewer]

Did you adjust the hdrometer for temp? what is the actual temp of the beer?

At that high of a gravity, you would need a large starter and may even benefit from a higher gravity starter. One starter at 1.040; then move to 1.060, then up to 1.080. I would think that that would have allowed it to ferment the whole thing. If you pitch now, make sure you make a large starter and maybe increase the gravity to get the yeast to not only ferment, but to clean up.

 

[kjung]

Did you adjust the hdrometer for temp?

??? How do you do that ? I've never heard of anything like that.

 

[BierMuncher]

Knocking that yeast cake down off the walls of the fermenter will go a long way to restarting fermentation.

You have plenty of yeast in that bucket.

Give it more time.

 

[BarleyWater]

??? How do you do that ? I've never heard of anything like that.

Your hydrometer probably came with a chart, for every degree away from 60, it will read slightly off and you must correct for that using an equation, a chart, or some kind of software or spreadsheet.

80-90, you may have killed the yeast in there.

 

[kjung]

Knocking that yeast cake down off the walls of the fermenter will go a long way to restarting fermentation.

You have plenty of yeast in that bucket.

Give it more time.

I did that this morning. The starter won't be ready for a couple of days, and I do plan on brewing again this weekend, so if the Saison starts back up again, I'll use the stater for that batch.

 

[kjung]

Your hydrometer probably came with a chart, for every degree away from 60, it will read slightly off and you must correct for that using an equation, a chart, or some kind of software or spreadsheet.

80-90, you may have killed the yeast in there.

According to White Labs, the temp wasn't too high. When I e mailed them I gave them ALL of the info that I could, including the near explosion and ensuing lesson about blow-off tubes.

 

[BarleyWater]

According to Jamil Zainasheff, the White Labs Saison yeast will die once it reaches the upper 80's, and that's without temperature fluctuations.

 

[Aleforge]

Your hydrometer probably came with a chart, for every degree away from 60, it will read slightly off and you must correct for that using an equation, a chart, or some kind of software or spreadsheet.

80-90, you may have killed the yeast in there.

http://www.brewheads.com/gravcorrect.php

 

[Aleforge]

According to Jamil Zainasheff, the White Labs Saison yeast will die once it reaches the upper 80's, and that's without temperature fluctuations.

I had the same feeling when the OP said 80-90'F... 90 is really pushing it.

Use a cheap and simple ice bath setup or a wet towl / fan method if you can't get the ambient temps down where you live.

 

[kjung]

Well, after looking further into White Labs website, it appears that my initial info was incorrect. I just hope the I can still get some activity out of what remains. Otherwise, I pitch the starter in a couple of days.