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Silly question probably, but with such a small volume are you sure your hydrometer wasn't bottoming out in the fermenter, falsely indicating higher?

Forgot to update sooner but the beer ended up at 1.025. It was stuck at 1.09. What I did was made the 2L starter of WLP099 then fed it 1L of my stuck beer whenever activity seemed to slow just a little in the new starter fermenter. That turned out to be every few days. When it got too big for...

I am about to bottle my imperial stout and I think it's going to be a difficult one to carbonate in the bottle. This beer clocks in at 12-13% ABV depending on which formula you use. I primed and bottled 2 bottles so far just as a test. After 1 week there was a hiss when the bottle was opened...

If I am trying to ferment a big beer that has, for example, 11 lb of light malt extract and 2 lb of regular sugar added to the boil, would I do better to add the sugar later after the fermentation of the malt extract has mostly completed? I heard from someone that once the yeast encounter the...

Count me in!

I've done several beers like this and I think it's probably done. Ipas are really hard to judge when they're warm and uncarbonated. I thought my last oak aged imperial ipa tasted too sweet and off in other ways too at bottling but when it was cold and carbonated, it was great. It was the best...

My imperial stout was stuck that high too. I think it was from underpitching by 50% or so. I tried adding more yeast with no success. Then I made a starter of White Labs 099 and slowly fed my stuck beer to it. When it reached a gallon I moved it to a carboy then fed it a gallon every 2 days. The...

That's a pretty decent place to be for final gravity. If you like how it tastes, I would rack it. If you think it's too sweet, I would let it sit for a few more days and take a gravity reading and see if it's still dropping.

I wouldn't rack it until activity is stopped. Take hydrometer readings until the reading has been the same for a few days. What was the OG and what is it now?

So the primary fermentation of my imperial stout is nearly complete and I was thinking to add the molasses that my recipe calls for. How much water would you use to boil per cup of molasses? Also, how much molasses would you use? I was thinking of keeping the molasses at less than 10% of the...

Well, I thought I would try the cheaper and quicker things first so I made a 2L starter of WLP099 and it seems to be fermenting now. I didn't add all the stuck wort in at once but it's happily eating it. With all this taking gravity readings and messing with it, I still don't notice any off...

I have searched around a little bit but I don't see much info on this. Is it more likely to get good attenuation if you don't put all the malt into the wort at once? For instance if I were to make a beer that was going to be 1.15 OG, would I do better to make a 4 gallon wort of 1.09 OG, then...

I have a seriously stuck beer so I made a big starter to try and get it going again. My yeast in the primary has not dropped the gravity for a couple of weeks so I want to transfer it to a carboy along with this starter. What's the best way to get a 1 gallon starter into a carboy? Siphoning...

Definitely post an update in a day or two. I'm going to try a similar thing to mine first. I was thinking of making a 2L starter because that's what MrMalty calculates for my situation. Then I thought I would gradually add in wort from my fermenter to make it an even gallon. If that is still...

I have a similar issue but a bit worse than yours so I'm looking forward to see what people recommend. Mine's still pretty well stuck and I was thinking about making another beer and racking the stuck beer onto the yeast from the new beer when it finishes.

I swirled it a bit and raised the temperature a couple of degrees and now it seems it's more active. In the last 2 days it's gone from 1.09-1.08-ish to 1.07. The bubbles in the lock are on average about a minute apart. It still tastes way too sweet but I can tell that if it would finish properly...

I'm learning a lot about what I should have done with this batch. The guy at the LHBS that recommended the method and yeast I used maybe hadn't had direct experience with it.

Here is the advice from my LHBS: 1. Dilute it with 1 gallon of water to reduce the gravity and make it easier for the yeast to do their job. 2. Make another starter and pitch at high krausen 3. Move it and the yeast to another fermenter. He said some times that can get it active again...

I did have a few pounds of grains that were steeped in the beginning. Here's another thing that was different about this batch: I tried to boil all 5 gallons but I had to do it in 2 separate pots. It turns out that my stovetop can't boil 2 2.5 gallon brews at once so I had 1 at a rolling...

Is there any chance something in the wort is making the environment bad for the yeast? Has anyone ever seen pH be an issue? My starter was made by frequently shaking it. I remember now that the starter smelled sour when it was done. Is that strange? Never done a starter before.