ANOTHER Fing Stuck Fermentation!!! What in the F&^*

[Jewrican]

I am brewing this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/banana-cream-ale-61850

Without adding the vanilla extract or bananas i started at 1.052. It is currently at 1.32.

It has been two weeks and I used Notty. I dont get it and am getting not only discouraged but incredibly ticked off. What the hell.. why dont my yeast freaking work!?! This is a dry yeast which was rehydrated and was enough for the beer I was brewing (no additional yeast needed) and now here I am again... the same f'ing issue that I have had with the last 3 beers I have brewed.

I am just getting really tired of brewing sub-par beers and wasting money.

The first few beers I had at about 75 - 78 degrees ... now i used an ice bath and kept the beer at about 64 or so - same issue.

What am i doing wrong guys. This is getting rediculous.

For this beer, like the others I am going to try to throw another packet of notty in there... we shall see if this works on this one - it better!

 

[Jewrican]

i took a gravity earlier to get the number above and when i removed the blog off tube it released some pressure. I then removed the blow off to sprinkle some safale 04 (out of notty) and once again it released pressure. maybe it is one of the bad batches of notty but this thing started up within 18 hours but high krausen was the lowest that i have ever had personally so I wondered if something was wrong.

maybe it was working.... just far too slow. it has been 2 weeks already with such high numbers it concerns me.

 

[ChshreCat]

You didn't happen to get the recalled Notty, did you?

 

[Grimtas]

^^ Was my thoughts, though I haven't used dry yeast for nearly 6 years now.

 

[RunBikeBrew]

I've had a few stuck fermentations. I find they all share some or all of the following issues:

1. Didn't pitch quite enough yeast
2. Didn't aerate enough
3. Had a sudden-ish drop in fermentation temperature

These are somewhat easy to avoid at the get-go, but that doesn't really help you. I've never been successful in fixing a stuck fermentation, but I'll continue to try if I get another one. So far, avoiding the three items above has spared me.

 

[Jewrican]

3 is possible from the ice baths. it was my first time doing it and the weather started to get fallish - the lowest the strip thermometer read was like 62 or so. How big of an effect would that have?

It is very possibly i got a recalled notty packet and unfortunately I threw away my packet before I read about the recall so I could not check. I did not have more notty so i had to pitch an S-04

 

[SteveM]

There are well documented issues with Nottingham recently. Before you conclude that you made process errors, I would look at some of those other discussions.

 

[Jewrican]

i dropped some s04 in two nights ago... and maybe it is too early to tell but I am not even getting any pressure in the carboy. Normally when you pull the blow off tube out you get a slight release in pressure. Yeah not getting that anymore.

FML

 

[bierbrauer]

How was the temperature during your partial mash?? Maybe there is a high percentage of unfermentable sugar in your wort?

 

[Jewrican]

it was a high of about 157 for the PM as i tried to bring up the temperature... i guess I need to check that thermometer though.... i was thinking about that last night - but my first all grain i hit like 80% efficiency... i dont know that i would have had that kind of efficiency with a thermometer that was too far off. I will have to check

 

[Jewrican]

and to be clear that was after dough in on the PM. It was a little low so i kicked the burner back on for a second and that is what it ended up at. I lifted the lid for a little bit and once it got down to about 154 i sealed it back up.

 

[Mongo64]

I just had this happen to my Dead Guy clone. I had used Wyeast 1338 with a starter and kept the temp at 64. It started off at 24 hours and seemed to ferment fine. I checked the gravity after a week and it was at 1.030. Figured I'd give it some time to finish; checked it at 2 weeks and it was still at 1.030.

Never had a stuck ferment before but I figured I'd give it a good stir and warm it up. After getting it to 70 degrees, it started up again; another week later it was at 1.015. I'm happy with those numbers.

So maybe try stirring things up and a little heat. Good luck.

 

[Jewrican]

tried both - i just think i am out of oxygen in the beer or out of fermentables in the beer. I pitched a safale 04 and it didnt do a darn thing at all.

I am going to add the bananas and see if that kicks things up. There is a lot of sugar in those things so hopefully that will start up the fermentation again and maybe from there it will eat up anything left but as i mentioned above i dont think there is anything left

 

[Mongo64]

I just ran across Wyeast Eau De Vie Yeast #4347 while shopping for yeast. In the description they mention it is supposed to be a good choice for stuck fermentation and also fermenting high alcohol brews. Might be something to consider.

"A very good choice for high alcohol tolerance and stuck fermentations. Produces a very clean, dry profile, low ester and other volatile aromatics."

 

[Kungpaodog]

This one sounds like it may have been stuck, but is it possible that your hydrometer is off? That may be throwing you on some of your other batch problems. You could try calibrating it. But even if it is off, from 1.052 to 1.030 is not a good ferment, unless it is reading .025 high

 

[Jewrican]

yeah i used it in my tap water and it was off by .04.

in addition i was incorrect with the 1.32 it is actually 1.020 which really means that it is more like 1.016 if i look at the way my tap water read (although i know you are supposed to use distilled. I will try to pick some up). The reason I was so far off (1.032 to 1.020) is that i read the temperature correction scale way wrong... kinda mixed up a decimal point lol

It is still high as this was supposed to finish at 1.008.

 

[ruggierm1]

Just a quick question. I am also dealing with a stuck ferment right now on a cream stout. Started it 3 weeks ago, and primary fermentation looked great. I just checked last night, and the gravity is still at 1.030. I have a pack of Munton dry yeast in the fridge. Can I just pitch that, or should I rehydrate? If I rehydrate, should I do it with some of the wort, or water? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[MyBeerPants]

Just a quick question. I am also dealing with a stuck ferment right now on a cream stout. Started it 3 weeks ago, and primary fermentation looked great. I just checked last night, and the gravity is still at 1.030. I have a pack of Munton dry yeast in the fridge. Can I just pitch that, or should I rehydrate? If I rehydrate, should I do it with some of the wort, or water? Any help would be appreciated.

You could try swirling your fermenter a bit to get the yeast back in suspension. Sometimes that and a slight increase in temps can get things moving again.

 

[ruggierm1]

You could try swirling your fermenter a bit to get the yeast back in suspension. Sometimes that and a slight increase in temps can get things moving again.

Would it be ok if I stirred the wort?

 

[MyBeerPants]

Would it be ok if I stirred the wort?

I've used a sanitized long handled spoon to do just that on a stuck belgian ferment and it kicked into high gear the next day. This method does come with a higher risk of introducing contamination though. I'd go with the closed swirl first and only if that doesn't do the trick, go for the stir.

If you do decide to stir, do it gently. No splashy.

 

[ruggierm1]

I've used a sanitized long handled spoon to do just that on a stuck belgian ferment and it kicked into high gear the next day. This method does come with a higher risk of introducing contamination though. I'd go with the closed swirl first and only if that doesn't do the trick, go for the stir.

If you do decide to stir, do it gently. No splashy.

I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

 

[sonetlumiere85]

It sounds like a lack of oxygen. OP, did you aerate your wort before pitching? Often if you get a stuck fermentation, the yeast needs to be kicked back up. Either rocking the carboy or racking it into a new vessel will do a good job at that.

 

[cscade]

I pitched a safale 04 and it didnt do a darn thing at all.

... it is actually 1.020 which really means that it is more like 1.016 ...

It is still high as this was supposed to finish at 1.008.

If you pitched dry yeast and nothing changed, you are NOT suffering from a lack of oxygen. Dry yeast have all the reserves they need, and oxygen will not be required at normal pitching rates. It simply means you're out of fermentables.

In your shoes, I'd stop screwing with it and be happy with 1.016.

 

[Jewrican]

yeah that is pretty much what I did. I added the bananas to the 2ndary last night and think that I got something going on. I wanted to add some yeast nutrient to be sure and although I was not getting any bubbles through the blow off (almost 2 gallons of head space) when I popped the lid off of the plastic bucket, there was some pressure in there. I guess that is what it is... out of fermentables apparently ... ohh well hopefully it will still be good.