Coffe stout .... stuck?

[ahoffman565]

Hey all here's my situation:

I purchased the partial mash AHS Coffee Malt Stout kit and decided to trick it up with some extra grains. My final recipie ended up being this:

5.5 lbs Marris Otter
.75 lbs Crystal 80
.75 lbs Coffee Malt
.50 lbs Chocolate Malt
.25 lbs Crystal 40
.13 lbs Black Patent Malt
.13 lbs Black Barley
1 lb Amber Dry Extract
8 oz. Malto Dextrine
3 lbs of Dark Liquid Extract (added with 15 minutes left in the boil)

I mashed the grains at 155 for an hour. After the boil and after topping off in the fermenter, I ended up with an OG of 1.072. I let it ferment (with 2 pkgs of Saf-Ale 04) for 14 days and took a gravity reading. It was 1.028. I transferred into secondary and let it sit. Today is the 26th day in secondary and took another reading. I was pretty much the same - 1.028. The predicted FG is supposed to be 1.018.

Any advice on how to get the gravity any lower? SHOULD I even try to get it lower? Any possible negative consequenses if I decide to bottle it?

On a slightly different note: am I correct in thinking that all the specialty grains lend UNFERMENTABLE sugars only? I'm asking becuase part of tricking up the recipe was to add more of these specialty grains. I'm wondering if by doing this, I inadvertantly made my FG this way.

Thoughts/Comments/Questions?

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[WVbrewer]

What are your fermentation temps? I've had safale-o4 attenuate quite high around 70 f; but I usually ferment around 66f and hit my projected numbers; I also mash at 150-152. 155 is a bit high if you want that big list of specialties to ferment out. While specialty malts are fermentable, they won't give you as much gravity as base malts (particularly the dark malts). Try rousing, upping your temps......If no sucess...then lower your mash temps next time. It looks delicious however...I like a thick, rich stout.

 

[smizak]

That might be it. That's a lot of specialty malts and dark extracts.

 

[Mongo64]

I would try giving it a stir/shake and see if that helps. I made the mistake of raising the temp too aggressively with a stuck ferment and ended with a weird clove taste from the yeast. Try small steps.

 

[herbler]

On a slightly different note: am I correct in thinking that all the specialty grains lend UNFERMENTABLE sugars only? I'm asking becuase part of tricking up the recipe was to add more of these specialty grains. I'm wondering if by doing this, I inadvertantly made my FG this way.

My thoughts exactly. With a one hour steep/mash at 155, you extracted a lot of unfermentables. Still 5.8% ABV. Sounds tasty.

What are your fermentation temps? I've had safale-o4 attenuate quite high around 70 f; but I usually ferment around 66f and hit my projected numbers; I also mash at 150-152. 155 is a bit high if you want that big list of specialties to ferment out. While specialty malts are fermentable, they won't give you as much gravity as base malts (particularly the dark malts). Try rousing, upping your temps......If no sucess...then lower your mash temps next time. It looks delicious however...I like a thick, rich stout.

WVbrewer makes a good point here on temps. What was fermentation temps and were they consistent, or did they swing?

 

[Revvy]

Next time don't rack UNTIL you reach terminal graivty. Or at least within about 5 gravity points. If it was at 1.028 I wouldn't have racked it, It wasn't near being done.

And by racking it you took it off the yeast that you would have had the best chance of finishing it.

Instead next time raise the temp a few degrees and give the fermenter a swirl and check back in another few days to see if the agitated yeast and warmer temps got them up and working.

At this point (as much as I'm rarely and advocate of it) I would pitch a bit more dry yeast and see if any of the remaining sugars are indeed fermenetable.

And next time don't be so quick to rack a beer that is THAT far from terminal gravity. A few degrees, yeah, but 10 points away? No.

 

[ahoffman565]

Thanks everyone for the replies. As far as I could tell, my mash temperatures were fairly constant over the hour - only losing about a degree. My fermentation temps were fairly constant too, if I recall correctly - around 66 degrees.

I'll probably end up swirling/stirring (carefully) to rouse the yeast and then pitching a new package of yeast as well. Are there any negative side effects from pitching yeast into 5.8% beer?

 

[Irrenarzt]

Similar problem here as I have a 1075 OG stout that is stuck at 1042 after a month. I'm pretty sure I didn't pitch enough s05 and like a *******, I racked it to secondary after about 2 weeks so there is little sign of yeast in the carboy now. I plan on stirring in a new pack of s05 tomorrow so wish me luck...

 

[Revvy]

Similar problem here as I have a 1075 OG stout that is stuck at 1042 after a month. I'm pretty sure I didn't pitch enough s05 and like a *******, I racked it to secondary after about 2 weeks so there is little sign of yeast in the carboy now. I plan on stirring in a new pack of s05 tomorrow so wish me luck...

Don't stir, just pitch on top and let it do it's thing. You don;t want to add anymore oxygen to the already fermented beer.