1.038 after 3 weeks and repitching

[mrgstiffler]

I'm having problems with a porter that I brewed 3 weeks ago. I believe the issue is due to high mash temp (~160F). OG was 1.082. I originally pitched a packet and a half of Notty. I repitched with some wine yeast from starter and it dropped from 1.040 to 1.038. I'm not sure what to do from here. It tastes great. I'd say it's the best pre-carbed brew I've done.

Should I continue as normal, transfer to secondary with my additional ingredients (Bourbon and vanilla) and bottle to PET bottles?

I do have a packet of US-05 that I could use. Maybe make a starter for it from a few cups of the beer?

Here is the grain bill for partial mash:

6lb Extra Light DME
2lb 2-row
1.5lb Chocolate malt
1lb Munich malt
.5lb Brown malt
.5lb Crystal 40L
.5lb Crystal 120L

 

[atromic]

If you have another brew going that fully attenuated you can try racking the porter on top of the yeast cake once you bottle the first one.

I'm doing this currently with my porter which stalled at 1.030. Within an hour of racking onto the yeast cake (which attenuated a pale ale to about 85%) I started seeing activity in the airlock. This was after 2 weeks of no change in SG.

Whether or not its effective remains to be seen for me, but I got the idea from this thread: Foolproof Stuck Ferment Fixer

 

[atromic]

It's been about 30 hours since I racked the porter onto the yeast cake and its down to 1.028. Haven't seen any airlock activity since last night... Really hoping it isn't finished, this was an expensive beer, and its far too sweet right now.

 

[mrgstiffler]

Keep me updated and let me know. I'm brewing an amber on Sunday that I could use in a couple weeks. My biggest worry is that the extra sugars are unfermentable. Mine does taste just fine. It's not too sweet, which is strange for it being 1.038.

 

[david_42]

It's worth while pitching on a cake, but you had a large portion of unfermentables plus a high mash temperature. You might try some alpha amylase.

 

[COLObrewer]

. . .I repitched with some wine yeast from starter and it dropped from 1.040 to 1.038. I'm not sure what to do from here. It tastes great. I'd say it's the best pre-carbed brew I've done.

As long as it's still dropping you need to wait, it may get down there. Unfortunately with these we tend to mess with them alot. I did a brown last year that didn't drop below 1.040 and it ended up with lacto, I'm still playing with it as an experiment.

I've not tried any alpha amylase like david_42 suggests but it's worth a try.

 

[mrgstiffler]

It's worth while pitching on a cake, but you had a large portion of unfermentables plus a high mash temperature. You might try some alpha amylase.

That's an interesting suggestion. I did some research and found this:

http://www.brewery.org/brewery/library/enzymes595.html

Seems like a good possibility. I ordered some Amylase Enzyme from AHS. I'm curious if that works.

The wine yeast dropped the SG by .002 after 2 days, but it hasn't moved since then. I'm fairly certain the unfermantables due to high mash temp is the problem. I've already purchased a new thermometer to rectify that issue. It appears that the amylase enzyme is exactly what I need to "save" this batch. I know there will be some off flavor, but at least it's been a good learning experience.

 

[eppo]

Let me know how it goes I think I have the same recipe in the fermenter now. It's down to 1.030 from 1.073 after a week. I used a slurry od cal ale yeast from my cream ale. Was actually going to post a thread to find out the average rate of fermentation. Hope it doesn't get stuck on me too.