Barleywine stuck fermentation after 2.5 months

[gdwolfe273]

I brewed an English barleywine about 2.5 months ago and got busy and didn't check the gravity for a while. It started at 1.127 and now seems to be stuck at 1.033. I was hoping to get around 1.021 as my FG.

I used yeast nutrient, plenty of O2 from the can (30 seconds on day 1 and a minute on day 3). I used a 007 dry English ale yeast cake from a 5 gallon batch of ESB that had just finished fermenting.

Any advice on this? Not sure if it is possible to get it restarted by pitching a new yeast starter with higher gravity tolerance. Also not sure if shaking it to rouse the yeast or shoving more O2 into it would be a good idea and could risk oxidation at this point.

Any help is appreciated!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[RedOktoberfest]

What were your mash temps and what did you use for fermentables? You did get 74% apparent attenuation. Did you hold back any fermentables till later in fermentation?

 

[gdwolfe273]

For 5 gallons:

20 lb Maris otter
3 lb crystal 60

Mash 149 for 90 min at 1.25 qt/lb

My mash efficiency was pretty good but missed my pre boil gravity by a tiny bit. So I did add a small amount of dry light malt extract to get it exact. But it wasn't much extract.

No fermentables added later in the process.

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Calder]

It is over 12% abv, and 75% attenuation, you have pretty much reached the limit of the yeast on both counts. What were you expecting.

Adding simple sugar at the start might have helped lower the fg.

Do not add any O2 now. All you will do is oxidize the beer.

 

[gdwolfe273]

Not sure why I was expecting more...

Is it worth it to pitch a starter of wlp099...or just accept the slightly sweeter beer and proceed with kegging and then bottling via beer gun after force carbonation? (I hate bottle carbing)


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[angryyoungman]

I had a similar problem with a RIS i did a few months ago, and I used a similar yeast strain. Sometimes english ale yeast is great (I once had a double IIPA ferment to 10% abv in a week! FG was like 1.007 or something like that), and other times it just can't push its limits. With my RIS I was stuck around 1.04, so I got a vial of WL Super High Gravity English Ale yeast or whatever its called. Dropped the RIS down to 1.021 in two weeks. It's a delicious beer too, so my recommendation would be try the higher gravity yeast if it bothers you too much.

 

[gdwolfe273]

Did you do a starter? Or just throw the high gravity yeast right in?

(I think the high gravity yeast you are referring to is the wlp099)


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew