Am i still on the right path?

[letsallgoforasoda]

So I brewed my first five gallon batch a week ago 2-14 It was a oatmeal stout extract kit. The original gravity was 1.053 I pitched a 1.5 liter starter that I made with no stir plate. Fermentation took off within 8 hours and I ended up having to put on a blow off for the first three days. after 5 days fermentation seemed to slowdown and now day 7 there is a little activity in the airlock and no real activity on the surface of the beer. The gravity today was 1.020 and I have a target f.g. 1.014. Am I on the right path Or is my fermentation stuck?

 

[VikeMan]

So I brewed my first five gallon batch a week ago 2-14 It was a oatmeal stout extract kit. The original gravity was 1.053 I pitched a 1.5 liter starter that I made with no stir plate. Fermentation took off within 8 hours and I ended up having to put on a blow off for the first three days. after 5 days fermentation seemed to slowdown and now day 7 there is a little activity in the airlock and no real activity on the surface of the beer. The gravity today was 1.020 and I have a target f.g. 1.014. Am I on the right path Or is my fermentation stuck?

It's hard to say without knowing the recipe, and even harder to say because it's an extract kit. Assuming the target of 1.014 is reasonable, your fermentation is probably still winding down. Did this oatmeal stout extract kit happen to include flaked oats that got steeped, rather than mashed with a base malt? If so, the gravity contribution from the oats in not fermentable, and could be a factor...kind of depends on how the expectation of 1.014 was arrived at.

ETA: You're measuring gravity with a hydrometer, correct?

 

[letsallgoforasoda]

It's hard to say without knowing the recipe, and even harder to say because it's an extract kit. Assuming the target of 1.014 is reasonable, your fermentation is probably still winding down. Did this oatmeal stout extract kit happen to include flaked oats that got steeped, rather than mashed with a base malt? If so, the gravity contribution from the oats in not fermentable, and could be a factor...kind of depends on how the expectation of 1.014 was arrived at.

ETA: You're measuring gravity with a hydrometer, correct?

The expectation or approximation is from what the instructions on the kit gave for a target f.g.

Yes I did use a hydrometer not a refractometer.

 

[VikeMan]

Were there flaked oats steeped without a base grain? And can you post the "grain bill? (fermentables)?"

 

[letsallgoforasoda]

Were there flaked oats steeped without a base grain? And can you post the "grain bill? (fermentables)?"

Yes there were flaked oats along with some other things here is the grain bill

Steeping grains:
12oz flaked oat
8oz 20L crystal malt
6oz barley
4oz chocolate malt

Fermentables
6.5 lbs dark LME

And I made a 1.5 liter starter with wyeast 1084

 

[VikeMan]

Ok, I just ran this through BrewCipher. I'm coming up with an expected FG of around 1.019. (Dark LME is not very fermentable.) So you might be done, or you might go down a few more points. Since you are only a week in, I'd recommend waiting 3 days and checking again. If you're still at 1.020, it's done attenuating.

ETA: One caveat about the predicted FG. BrewCipher's fermentability multiplier for Dark LME is an estimate I did a while back, because there was no data, and I wasn't going to buy LME just to find out.

 

[Calder]

What temperature is the beer at? If it could get down to 60 F or lower, the yeast may have stalled ... just raise the temperature and they will get back to work.

1.020 is not unusual for extract batches, if you do some research you will find a lot of issues with extract batches stalling at 1.020. I do not know the reason. Extract batches tend to end high, but this seems too high. And contrary to what VikeMan posted, flaked oats without a base grain (enzymes for conversion of starch) will not add unfermentables to the wort.

I assume the barley is a base malt. What temperature did you 'steep' the grains at.

 

[VikeMan]

And contrary to what VikeMan posted, flaked oats without a base grain (enzymes for conversion of starch) will not add unfermentables to the wort.

They absolutely will add starches, which are unfermentable to most yeast strains.

 

[letsallgoforasoda]

Ok, I just ran this through BrewCipher. I'm coming up with an expected FG of around 1.019. (Dark LME is not very fermentable.) So you might be done, or you might go down a few more points. Since you are only a week in, I'd recommend waiting 3 days and checking again. If you're still at 1.020, it's done attenuating.

ETA: One caveat about the predicted FG. BrewCipher's fermentability multiplier for Dark LME is an estimate I did a while back, because there was no data, and I wasn't going to buy LME just to find out.

Thanks for the number crunching I will check it again in a few days

 

[letsallgoforasoda]

I assume the barley is a base malt. What temperature did you 'steep' the grains at.

30 minutes at as close to 160 as I could keep it

 

[jjjjfrench]

They absolutely will add starches, which are unfermentable to most yeast strains.

Vikeman is quite right...flaked oats steeped (not mashed with base malt) will add unfermentables.