1.030 final gravity?

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andycr

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I have a partial mash imperial stout that started out at 1.090. BeerSmith estimated the final gravity at 1.023, but it's sitting at 1.030 at nearly 4 weeks in primary. The yeast was WLP013, so a very flocculant yeast. Made a nice 1L starter for the 2.5 gallon batch, with very freshly packaged yeast.

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I'm guessing this is too high to bottle. The yeast cake is so compact there's no way to get it roused with just swirling - believe me, I tried. I'm thinking I should get a sanitized stirrer in there and stir it up manually. Thoughts? Is it actually likely to be at final gravity?
 
Often, extract brews will end up higher than you might expect. If it stays steady at 1.030 for a few days, then you should be good to go.
 
According to Beer Smith that yeasts minimum attenuation is 67%, meaning as a minimum it will take your OG down to what you are getting now. It may be done, but check your temperatures. It likes 66-71 degrees. What temperature have you had it at?
 
It fermented at 66 for a week or so, then sat at about 68-70 for about 3 weeks.

Just roused it and moved it to a warmer room (70 or so), I'll take a reading in a couple days.
 
You may be able to get it down a few more points, but an imperial stout, with the amount of specialty grains involved, will tend to finish a little higher. It looks like you've got plenty of IBUs and roasted barley in there to potentially balance out the sweetness, so I wouldn't be surprised if it tastes pretty good as is. Did you taste your gravity sample? Give it a little time in the bottle to age, and you'll probably be good to go!
 
It actually tastes great already, like chocolate and woodsmoke mixed with booze. Exactly what I was going for, though I hope the booze mellows out. More worried about exploding bottles than anything, and now I'm worried about over-oaking if I have to leave it on the chips too much longer before bottling it.

Used 1 oz of toasted American oak for the 2.5 gallon batch, intended a week but looking more like 1.5.

I'd love to have a couple bottles of it tasting a little more mellow by Christmas to enjoy with family, but not sure if it'll be there yet. This is my first high-gravity beer.
 
Nothing wrong with that at all. your brew may be sweeter than you expected but that wont have a huge effect. No harm in trying to re stimulate your beer. like its been said bring it up a few degrees too. no harm in that. No change in 3 days id say rack it to the secondary.
 
Thanks. Not doing a secondary with this brew, just 4 weeks primary and straight to bottle. Sounds like a plan, I'll check the gravity in a couple days. If it's lower than 1.030, I'll wait 3 more, check it, then bottle if stable. 2 weeks on oak chips probably won't be a huge deal. Next time I'll wait for stable FG before throwing the oak in.
 
Two weeks for something that heavy on oak shouldn't be a problem. I put a beer that was much lighter and far more "delicate" on oak for two weeks (4 oz. of light toast oak) and it is no where close to overpowering. I'd think the flavors of the oak will fit with what you've described so well it should work great.
 
Two weeks for something that heavy on oak shouldn't be a problem. I put a beer that was much lighter and far more "delicate" on oak for two weeks (4 oz. of light toast oak) and it is no where close to overpowering. I'd think the flavors of the oak will fit with what you've described so well it should work great.

Thanks! :mug:

Well, after stirring it like a madman a couple days ago, I took another reading today and it's still dead on at 1.030. Looks like all the rousing did was make it cloudy. I'm going to call it final gravity and bottle this weekend.
 
If a beer is done, it is done, and it doesn't really matter what the FG of the beer is. My OG 1.170 5 year aging barelywine for my 50th birthday in a couple more years finished at 1.040 and that was with two different yeasts, a ton of oxygen, and lots of nutrients.

The beer ain't going any lower. And at 17.3 % abv, it doesn't really need to. So I'm not worried about it being high, because it's finished. That's what you need to make sure, not what the FG of something is, but if it is truly finished or not.
 
Good advice, good advice. Holy cow, now that's a beer.

Next time, I'll mash lower. Either way, from a random recipe cobbled together from various Northern Brewer stout recipes and my own imagination, through blind luck I have something that tastes exactly like I wanted. I'm very pleased, and can't wait until I can enjoy it (hopefully while it's still cold outside). The fear of exploding bottles is over, and all I have to do is wait and enjoy the sweet results.
 
If you are worried about bottle bombs, bottle up a plastic bottle to use as your coal mine canary - it will get rock hard and the nubs on the bottom will invert if the beer is getting over carbed. If this happens you can pop the caps on the rest of the bottles to relieve the pressure.
 
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