which course to take?

[Craigvu]

So I've got a Black IIPA that's not fermented well, and i trying to figure out what to do. I've repitched with a second yeast packet (even though I know I should've made a starter), and it's been 4 weeks since brew day. it's a 2.5 gallon batch and the grain bill is:

6 lbs 2 row
1 lb Munich
.75 lb Crystal 60
.5 lb German Carafa III
pitched originally with S-05 (the whole packet according to Mr. Malty calculator) and repitched with a packet of S-04 just because i was pissed off when it didn't ferment down well (at the 2 week mark).

Mashed at 154 for 60 minutes, and hit my #s. Aerated with the 'shake' method since there was a lot of headspace in the carboy (half batch in a 6 gallon carboy). OG was 1.085 and i'm sitting at 1.034 right now. That gets me right at about 57% attenuation, and 6.7% ABV for the recipe I used, according to BeerAlcehmy. I'll be dry hopping in secondary, but the question is:

- should I transfer to secondary, make a starter and pitch it in there?
- accept poor attenuation and just go with it and know it's not going to be the best (reads: driest) beer ever
- repitch onto a yeast cake after my next brew is finished fermenting, which won't be for a few weeks.
- ditch the whole batch and start something else

its a 2.5 gallon batch, so it's not the biggest investment of time/money if it's not worth keeping/bottling.

On the question of thermometer accuracy, it reads 32 in ice water and about 210 in boiling water...so i'd call that pretty good. have since bought the O2 regulator/stone system and will be infusing pure 02 in my next beer...i've been struggling with poor attenuation since converting to AG 3 batches ago.

 

[petep1980]

Did you not cool before fermentation? This is quite odd.

 

[Craigvu]

yep, immersion chiller with an ice bath. got it to about 80F before i transferred to carboy/shook/moved to my swamp bucket...then pitched the original yeast. i know 80 isn't ideal, but it's as low as my wimpy immersion chiller and my patience seems to get things...it had another 10 minutes of ambient temp to drop a few degrees. kept ferm temp about 68-70 with the help of swamp bucket/frozen water bottles. raised to 72ish (ambient) after 10 days.

 

[petep1980]

Any yeast storage issues?

 

[Yooper]

Is that .5 pound or .5 ounce of carafa? Just wondering. A half a pound is a boat load, even in a 5 gallon batch. Anyway.....

How's it taste? If it's too sweet to drink, I'd put it on a yeast cake from another beer. If it tastes alright, I'd keg/bottle it but worry that it WILL eventually start up again, so I'd drink it pretty fast.

Next time, for an IIPA, mash much lower in temperature. Like 149-150 so it'll attenuate better.

 

[Craigvu]

after a discussion at my LHBS, i decided to make a 1/2 gallon starter of champagne yeast and threw it into a secondary fermenter at high krausen...siphoned my brew from primary into it, and today (3 days later) there's a nice layer of bubbles on top. can't wait to take a refractometer reading in a few days. Anyone else have experience using champagne yeast to finish off fermentation in high gravity beers?