Anyone ever had any experience un-sticking a ferment with rousing?

[JoePro]

So, I made a belgian tripel and the lesson is learned:

Regardless of how big your starter, big beers need a load of oxygenation to ferment out completely.

I've got this tripel that's been in primary for a month. It's sitting in the 1.030 range at the moment. OG was 1.085.

14.5 lbs of belgian pils
2 lbs of homemade candi sugar.
WLP530

Fermtemp @ 66 -- gradual increase to ~72.



Had a really, really vigorous first 1.5 weeks of fermentation (blow-off and everything.)


I roused the yeast last night. Hopefully that'll un-stick it. Anyone ever had any luck with unsticking fermentations?

 

[McGarnigle]

Basic rousing by gently rocking the fermenter has never worked for me. I once had a little better luck with sanitizing a racking cane and using it to stir things up (gently, again).

The best technique is supposedly to buy more yeast and, instead of adding directly to the beer, starting a new starter-ish beer in another fermenter and then racking your current beer on top of that. The yeast gets a head start with the smaller wort before hitting the beer.

But are you sure it's still not going, just less actively?

 

[JoePro]

Basic rousing by gently rocking the fermenter has never worked for me. I once had a little better luck with sanitizing a racking cane and using it to stir things up (gently, again).

The best technique is supposedly to buy more yeast and, instead of adding directly to the beer, starting a new starter-ish beer in another fermenter and then racking your current beer on top of that. The yeast gets a head start with the smaller wort before hitting the beer.

But are you sure it's still not going, just less actively?

Is it not uncommon for beers to take more than a month to ferment? The krausen dropped last week.

 

[hopsalot]

+1 McGarnigle, be sure it really is stuck, give it some time if it is stuck, a yeast starter has always worked for me

 

[McGarnigle]

Is it not uncommon for beers to take more than a month to ferment? The krausen dropped last week.

More than a month is pretty extreme given you'd expect another 15 points or so to drop. The krausen isn't a great gauge of what's happening, but sometimes that works against you: the krausen still holds on even after the yeast is knackered.

I think it is stuck.

 

[JoePro]

More than a month is pretty extreme given you'd expect another 15 points or so to drop. The krausen isn't a great gauge of what's happening, but sometimes that works against you: the krausen still holds on even after the yeast is knackered.

I think it is stuck.

Should I brew a duplicate batch and blend it? Should I sour it? What can be done about a stuck fermentation?