Another Stuck Fermentation/What happened?

[Furious_D]

Here goes....I brewed a milk stout last Sunday, re-pitching just under 1/2 a yeast cake from my last batch . After 4 days, I noticed no activity in the airlock. Knowing that means nothing, I opened the fermenter and saw no krausen on top. There was a small ring where there was some fermentation.

On Friday, I pitched another re-hydrated packet of Nottingham. Again, nothing. I took a sample today and reads 1.030. Sample tastes good. All my instruments are calibrated, so that is not the issue. Not sure what my next step should be. Leave it for a couple weeks yet and see if it drops more? Pitch more yeast? Recipe below.

7 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
1 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Crystal [3.50 %] - Boil 90.0 min
0.50 oz Crystal [3.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
16.00 oz Lactose (Milk Sugar) (Boil 5.0 mins)
8.00 oz Cocoa Powder (Boil 0.0 mins)


OG - 1.060
Estimated FG - 1.014
Current Gravity - 1.030

Thoughts/Suggestions appreciated.
Brew On!

 

[ong]

Are you sure your estimated FG included the pound of lactose? 1.030 doesn't seem far off considering all the roasted and crystal malts and the .07 or so points per gallon the lactose will add. What was your mash temp?

Edit: also, it's only been a week. I'd just let it ride.

 

[Calder]

Did you use a refractometer to measure gravity?

Alcohol screws up the reading, and you need to use an emperical calculator to get an estimate of the real FG. You can find them on the web, and in brewing software like BeerSmith.

 

[Yooper]

Well, 1.014 isn't a reasonable FG for a milk stout. A pound of lactose will add about 9 points to the FG reading, so something like 1.020-1.022 is reasonable usually.

If you are using a refractometer, toss it aside and grab a hydrometer reading to ensure a correct reading.

 

[Furious_D]

I used a hydrometer for the gravity reading. I didn't take the lactose into account when figuring the FG. I guess I will let it sit for a couple of weeks and see how it turns out.

 

[Calder]

Well, 1.014 isn't a reasonable FG for a milk stout. A pound of lactose will add about 9 points to the FG reading, so something like 1.020-1.022 is reasonable usually.

It is easy to miss, but his FG is 1.030, not 1.014.

I brewed a milk stout last Sunday, Recipe below.

7 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
1 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Crystal [3.50 %] - Boil 90.0 min
0.50 oz Crystal [3.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
16.00 oz Lactose (Milk Sugar) (Boil 5.0 mins)
8.00 oz Cocoa Powder (Boil 0.0 mins)

OG - 1.060
Estimated FG - 1.014
Current Gravity - 1.030

8 days is not too long, but you should be about there.

I assume ferm temp was ok, but if too low the yeast can stall as fermentation starts to slow down.

Lactose is .007 of fermentable sugars. The rest of the beer basically went from 1.053 to 1.023 - still not great.

2.7 lbs of speciality malts is a lot, but still shouldn't have been enough to leace it that sweet.

What temp did you mash at? Have you checked the thermometer reads correctly.

 

[Yooper]

It is easy to miss, but his FG is 1.030, not 1.014

It looks like the projected FG is to be 1.014, so I was pointing out that was not a reasonable FG to aim for. With that much specialty grain, and a pound of lactose, 1.020-1.025 is s reasonable FG. I'm sorry if that was not clear.

 

[Calder]

It looks like the projected FG is to be 1.014, so I was pointing out that was not a reasonable FG to aim for. With that much specialty grain, and a pound of lactose, 1.020-1.025 is s reasonable FG. I'm sorry if that was not clear.

Sorry, I mis-read your post.