1.031?!?!?

[wingedcoyote]

Sorry for the rather cliche thread, but I googled around and didn't feel like anything was directly telling me what to do. Maybe I just need to be reassured. Anyway...

Brewed my attempt at the Dark Owl Sweet Stout on 3/4. OG was about 1.070 (high due to some shenanigans where I thought my efficiency was way low, added DME to compensate, and then realized I was just reading it wrong in the first place). Pitched one packet of rehydrated S-04 -- should be plenty as this was a roughly 2.5-gallon batch. Active fermentation looked good, sitting in my kitchen at ambient ~63F, after krausen dropped I moved it to a warm closet (~70F) to clean up. On 3/21 I took my first hydro reading and got 1.031 -- MUCH higher than I expected, even accounting for lactose and crystal. That comes out to just 50something% apparent attenuation. I added some yeast nutrient at that point and stirred up the yeast with a spoon, leaving it in the warm closet. Another week later... still 1.031.

It actually tastes pretty good in its current state, but I don't want bottle bombs. Should I buy another packet and re-pitch?

 

[morticaixavier]

have you calibrated your hydrometer? and what kind of DME did you use to bump the gravity?

 

[wingedcoyote]

Yes, it reads 0.000 in room temp water. 1 lb 6 oz of Briess Golden Light DME.

EDIT: To clarify, this was an all-grain brew. Recipe here, except I cut it in half and added the DME. This was my second AG (and BIAB) batch, but the first one has turned out beautifully and I don't think I changed anything significant about my mash procedure.

 

[uncleleon]

could maybe try some 99 cent wine yeast.

 

[wingedcoyote]

Thought about using wine yeast, maybe even some Montrachet slurry from apfelwein, but I was concerned I might dry it out TOO much.

Of course, I could just go head-first in that direction and throw some Brett at it... maybe I could call the finished product Horse's Milk.

 

[MikePote]

How much lactose? I had a sweet stout that I had stop at like 1.024 or something mainly because of the lactose. Go to BrewGr.com and plug in the recipe it will give you an approximate FG.

 

[wingedcoyote]

Just 8oz lactose in the 2.5gal batch -- Beersmith says I should be able to hit 1.015, and Brewgr says 1.016 (thanks for the link BTW). At this point I'm thinking it's time to mix up a lively starter and re-pitch, unless someone shows up soon to tell me it's a bad idea.