Does warming and stirring ever unstick fermentation?
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Stauffbier
Well-Known Member
I tried a couple times when I first started brewing. It never worked!
If it's really stuck it works...being stuck is not the same as being finished. A beer can be stuck usually if the temp suddenly drops to the yeasts dormancy/flocculation point. So swirling warming does indeed work. Or rarely the yeast tires out, and swirling it back into suspension will help bring it down a few more points.
But what most new brewers think is a stuck fermentation is usually a matter of the yeast eating all the fermentables and finishing high, like what we call the 1.020 or 1.030 curse. If you mashed too high and got a lot of unfermentables, or in the case of extract, a lot of unfermentables/caramelization. Nothing you can do short of maybe adding an alpha amalaze to "break" the unfermentable sugars down will work.
Swirling won't, warming it up won't, heck even adding more yeast won't. A beer can be done high, and nothing's really wrong.
For example I have a barleywine that is FINISHED at 1.040. The og was 1.170 and it has a lot of caramel malts and extremely dark (50 year old) honey in it. That dark translates into unfermentable sugars. It's been multiply yeasted, and has been sitting in a tertiary for close to two years. Despite the numbers it is finished, NOT STUCK, there's just nothing left for the yeast to eat.
But what most new brewers think is a stuck fermentation is usually a matter of the yeast eating all the fermentables and finishing high, like what we call the 1.020 or 1.030 curse. If you mashed too high and got a lot of unfermentables, or in the case of extract, a lot of unfermentables/caramelization. Nothing you can do short of maybe adding an alpha amalaze to "break" the unfermentable sugars down will work.
Swirling won't, warming it up won't, heck even adding more yeast won't. A beer can be done high, and nothing's really wrong.
For example I have a barleywine that is FINISHED at 1.040. The og was 1.170 and it has a lot of caramel malts and extremely dark (50 year old) honey in it. That dark translates into unfermentable sugars. It's been multiply yeasted, and has been sitting in a tertiary for close to two years. Despite the numbers it is finished, NOT STUCK, there's just nothing left for the yeast to eat.
I've had the warming and swirling thing work before, but on the couple of occasions where I unintentionally flocc'd out all the yeast by abruptly dropping the temperature. I think the majority of high FGs are the result of low wort fermentability or poor yeast nutrition. In either case, a bit of heat and motion isn't going to change anything.
SwampassJ
Well-Known Member
I've done it on a few beers that decided they only wanted to hit 1.018ish and used it to get them down to 4-6 more points. I have never had one truly stick high like 1.030+.
turkeyjerky214
Well-Known Member
I would never stir as I'd be afraid of oxidizing the beer.
I've only ever had one stalled fermentation. It was with a really flocculant yeast, so swirling the fermenter and raising the temp a few degrees did help it finish.
I've only ever had one stalled fermentation. It was with a really flocculant yeast, so swirling the fermenter and raising the temp a few degrees did help it finish.
Joe_in_GA
Active Member
I had a saison quit on me at about 1.030 after 2 months of fermenting at 80 degrees. I swirled it and warmed it up to 85. That kick started the yeast again, and after a few more weeks it finished at 1.008.
I've had it work on a saison. Some of those yeasts are notorious for flocculating too early.
