Alt Bier Fermentation Question

[rthiessen]

Hello,

I brewed an all grain German Alt on 11/29 with a starting gravity of 1.050. I pitched the Wyeast German Ale 1007 with a yeast starter. As of today, my gravity is 1.022. I will be transferring to my carboy in the coming days so I can cold condition it for a few more weeks before begging. I was hoping the gravity would have been much lower by now.

Will my alt bier continue to ferment over the next 3-4 weeks even when I move it to my fridge for lower temps? If not, should I toss in some dry yeast to help ferment more? Was hoping to get the gravity down to about 1.014 or so.

I never used this yeast nor brewed an Alt Bier.

Thanks,

 

[IslandLizard]

It's obviously not done and may have stalled.
What temperature did you ferment this at? Was the yeast fresh, did you make a starter?

You could rouse it up to get the yeast back into suspension, carefully with a light swirling motion or a stir with a long spoon, without beating air into the beer, and put it in a warmer spot for a few more weeks. Racking to a secondary is the wrong move, away from yeast. Chilling it now will definitely inhibit the yeast from finishing it if it can.

 

[rthiessen]

I did a yeast starter and it has been fermenting at 63 degrees in my basement. Was wanting to dry hop with 1oz of Cascade(i know that is not to style) so that was my reasoning for racking to a secondary for 2 weeks of cold conditioning.

I will try to stir up the beer and get the yeast back to working and will move my fermenter upstairs for 3-4 days to warm it up. Would you recommend just racking my dry hopped beer into the keg in 7-10 days, then cold condition in my keezer for a few weeks before tapping it?

 

[audiophool]

How did you measure the FG? If you used a refractometer, the 1.022 reading is much higher than the real reading that a hydrometer would give. Once alcohol has started forming, a refractometer is inaccurate.

I brewed an all grain Alt on 12/3 and used the same yeast at 64 degrees. OG was 1.050 and the SG yesterday was 1.014.

 

[Gavin C]

That's pretty warm for an Altbier ferment. Typically they are fermented at near lager temperatures and require a large amount of yeast as a result.

It will not continue to drop in gravity at lagering temperatures so i would not rack till your satisfied its gravity is as low as it's going to get

On conditioning. A keg is the ideal vessel for that.

When it's done fermenting, rack to keg, carbonate and lager simultaneously. Absolutely no need for a secondary vessel prior to packaging on an Altbier.

 

[IslandLizard]

I'd check that hydrometer. 1.022 is pretty high, does it taste very sweet?

I'm not familiar with that yeast, but apparently it's a powdery strain, so its low flocculation characteristics should help attenuating a well-fermentable wort, especially at those temps. It should be still very cloudy.

As Gavin said, don't rack until it's at a reasonable gravity. Rouse it and give it a few more weeks and see if it picks up. Then keg it where you can also add your dry hops, if you really must. Submerge a muslin sack filled with some hops, turning it basically into a hoppy amber.

Alts are all about balance and subtlety. One of my favorite malty beers when done right.

 

[rthiessen]

Thanks for the advice. I use a hydrometer. I tasted it today and it is not too sweet and has a nice malty characteristic. I will rouse it a bit and figure out whether or not I will dry hop it. Will definitely lager and carbonate in the keg.

 

[IslandLizard]

That beer needs time to condition anyway, so kicking the yeast up is good. Definitely give it a few weeks to come down before lagering. After that you can decide whether you want to keep it as is, or dry hop it.