5th batch, 1L starter. No krausen but airlock is bubbling??? Review my process?

[luckybeagle]

Hi all,

I'm hoping for someone to review my recipe and process to see if I did anything wrong with this batch....

For my 5th AG batch, I did a dry Irish Stout following this recipe:

(5 gallon batch)
5 lbs. Irish Ale malt
2.5 lbs. Flaked barley
1 lb. Roasted barley
12 AAU East Kent Goldings hops (60 min) (2.0 oz of 6% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale), 1L starter prepared 48 hrs in advance

Other notes:
1oz Gypsum added to total brewing water volume
1/2 campden tamblet added to total brewing water volume
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient added 10 minutes before flameout
1/2 whirlfloc tablet added 15 minutes before flameout

Target OG: 1.038
Actual OG: 1.052*

*Something happened during my brew or with my calculator app (ModernBrewer) and I came up short with my carboy volume by at least a half-gallon. I always lose some to my big plate chiller, trub, hydrometer sample and other equipment, but I messed up somewhere. Since my original gravity was so high I ran the calculation to see how much boiled and cooled water I needed to add to the carboy, which came to about 42 oz. I added this about an hour after pitching the yeast. I haven't taken another gravity reading since...

This is the second time I've made a starter. Within 36 hours of making the starter using DME and a total of 1L boiled and cooled water, the airlock on my starter vessel stopped bubbling. I followed the intermittent shaking/swirling method. My first starter was about 1/2 liter using 3068 Weihenstephan which bubbled pretty constantly for 48 hours, so this was a pretty stark contract. There was a lot of sediment in the bottom of my starter flask this time, which seemed to mix back into solution when I shook it up but would reaccumulate on the bottom after a few hours. I pitched the entire volume into my carboy and didn't decant any off.

I cooled and pitched at about 69 degrees. The airlock is now bubbling every 2 seconds but there is such a small krausen head.

Are there any glaring issues here that anyone can see?

(this is a 6.5g carboy)

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

Your fine

 

[luckybeagle]

Thanks OG,

It seems the scum on the top has already dropped back down into the beer. It's bubbling once every 6-8 seconds now. Just seems like a really weak ferment at this stage. Any ideas or still par for the course?

 

[smurfjuice]

+1 on yer fine ... ... stouts can ferment out quick, it has happened.

 

[luckybeagle]

Thank you both

I took a gravity reading yesterday... 1.020. Should be about 15 pts lower to finish. Checked the beer temp....64F. Way too cold for Irish Ale yeast, so I moved it into our bedroom. Should get it right around the recommended 70-72F. Hopefully that'll get things moving! I'll report back.

 

[isomerization]

Maybe it’s the angle of the pic, but that looks like 4 gal at best?

 

[luckybeagle]

isomerization, it probably is about 4 gallons. I'll do a better job marking my carboys once this batch is done. I keep putting it off. Shame on me!

It appears my fermentation is stuck. I took a gravity reading 2 days ago (Sunday) and showed 1.020 with no airlock activity, so I moved the carboy to my bedroom closet and have been showing a beer temp of 72F on the dot (what the recipe calls for). I just checked it today (Tuesday night, 60 hours after last reading), and it's still 1.020. Flavor is nice but the FG according to the recipe is supposed to be 1.006. I'm still way off.

I didn't miss my mash temp. I held it at 150F for an hour and then mashed out at near-boil with a 10 minute rest followed by a hot sparge (175-180). My grain bed definitely hit the 168F goal during mashout.

I'm suspecting my yeast starter wasn't great. I built it up over about 60 hours using DME. I added yeast nutrient to the boil during the brew, too (but not to the yeast starter). It just never fermented crazily and had a lot of sediment in the bottom of my flask.

Any thoughts or remedies that you all would suggest? My OG was 1.052, so I added 40 oz boiled and cooled water to my carboy to try bringing that down to the target 1.038. I didn't take another OG reading, so if that had no effect on gravity, I'd be sitting right at 4.2% ABV, which is the target. Instead, if the OG adjustment calculation I followed was accurate, my ABV would currently be just 2.35%.

Help?

 

[isomerization]

I’m confused about the dilution volume. If you’re adding less than a half gallon to ~3.5 gal, I don’t think you would drop the gravity from 1.052 to 1.038. My calculations suggest it would be about 1.046.

That still doesn’t account for the high FG, but it makes me question what’s going on. Are you sure that’s 4 gallons, looks like a lot more than 2.5 gal headspace?

I just saw that you used an airlock on your starter. I’d avoid that in the future, foil over the top is better as you want your yeast to have access to O2. I’d guess your starter was sub-optimal. You could add some dry yeast and see if fermentation kicks off again?

 

[luckybeagle]

That still doesn’t account for the high FG, but it makes me question what’s going on. Are you sure that’s 4 gallons, looks like a lot more than 2.5 gal headspace?

It's a 6.5 gallon carboy. I got it 2nd hand, but I am pretty sure the black electrical tape in line with the temperature strip denotes 5 gallons. I have 2 of these so I'll take my empty and finally do a proper marking on it. Should've done that long ago! That should help me approximate what I'm at right now.

I just saw that you used an airlock on your starter. I’d avoid that in the future, foil over the top is better as you want your yeast to have access to O2. I’d guess your starter was sub-optimal. You could add some dry yeast and see if fermentation kicks off again?

Good to know about the starter! I will stop using airlocks and switch to foil for this. Would make it easier to swirl, too (no stirplate yet). Is there a type of dry yeast you'd recommend so that I don't impart a flavor inconsistent with the style?

Thanks for your help!

 

[isomerization]

For an Irish Stout, I’d think either Nottingham or US-05 would work great.

I’ve never used WY1084, but a quick google suggest others have had issues with stuck fermentations as well.

I’d buy that the black tape is 5 gal, so it must just be the angle if the pic that looks funny.

Good luck!

 

[luckybeagle]

Thanks!

I pitched Nottingham 2 days ago. After reading a few forums I decided to not rehydrate it before sanitizing the pack/scissors and dumping it in. I used it for a previous porter and it fermented vigorously, but so far nothing has happened in the 48 hrs since. I tried to very gently kick up some of the sediment on the bottom of the carboy with my wine thief, too. No airlock activity and still showing 1.020. So strange...

As it stands, I'm *maybe* at 1.048 - 1.020 = 0.028 x 131.25 = 3.6% ABV if my dilution wasn't great and 1.038 - 1.020 = 0.018 x 131.25 = 2.36% ABV if the dilution calc was accurate. Such a bummer! I really wanted to give this away to my clients for the holidays.

Any ideas? How could I have so much unfermentable "stuff" in there when I hit mash temp on the dot?

 

[kh54s10]

I would say that the top of the tape above might be your five gallon mark. You started with a high gravity and less volume, so it is almost certain that your FG will be higher than the predicted gravity, which is that... A prediction. 1.020 does not seem to high for that beer.

Taste it. If it is really sweet you may need to try something. If not, as I suspect, just proceed without any further yeast pitches.

Also how long has it been? I would not do anything to this beer in less than 10-14 days from pitching.

 

[luckybeagle]

Also how long has it been? I would not do anything to this beer in less than 10-14 days from pitching.

Thanks, it has been 48 hours since the last yeast addition, and brewed it/first pitched my starter 9 days ago). It's not sweet. Should I still wait 10-14 days from my most recent yeast pitch if I have no gravity movement for several days, or 10-14 from brew-day/pitching my starter? I was planning to rack it to a secondary for a few days before bottling since I've never done that (I usually just keep in the primary for 3 weeks), but if I need to wait another week before doing that I can.

 

[luckybeagle]

Thanks, it has been 48 hours since the last yeast addition, and brewed it/first pitched my starter 9 days ago). It's not sweet. Should I still wait 10-14 days from my most recent yeast pitch if I have no gravity movement for several days, or 10-14 from brew-day/pitching my starter? I was planning to rack it to a secondary for a few days before bottling since I've never done that (I usually just keep in the primary for 3 weeks), but if I need to wait another week before doing that I can.

bump. Can I bottle it now since my gravity is going nowhere and it tastes good? Even though I pitched a fresh yeast packet 3 days ago (total ferm time is now 9 days)?

 

[kh54s10]

You can.

Personally I wouldn't for another 5 days at least. I have never bottled in less than 14 days from original pitch. It usually gets longer than that through procrastination. I say 5-7 days for the yeast to fully ferment the beer then a few more days to clean up anything off that is produced during fermentation. Then another few days to be sure and to allow time for any suspended solids to drop to the bottom.