D-47 and ferm temps

[bloom_brewer]

I brewed a braggot last night (6lbs DME, 10 lbs pure honey) and the recipe called for pitching 10 grams of D-47. I bought 2 8gram packets and ended up re-hydrating both and pitching 16 grams. I have two questions.

1. Fermentation temp - I dont have a fridge yet for good temps so I have two options. First floor closet is around 68*-70*f and it is where I had the wort last night into this morning. Basement is around 50*-52*f consistently. I moved the fermenter into the basement knowing that the wort inside should keep the beer on the low end of this yeast tolerance (15*-20*C). I have heard bad things about D-47 and high temps so I figured I would err on the side of the low temp instead of high.

2. Yeast pitch rate. If the recipe calls for 10g was pitching 16g re-hydrated too much? OG was like 1.1something - dont have my notebook on hand right now.

Thanks in advance!

 

[rlmiller10]

Assuming this is a 5 gallon batch I think you will be fine at the pitch rate given that high of a gravity.

As for temp, I have used D-47 on mead at 66 to 68 degrees with very good results. I think at 50 to 52 you will have a good chance at a stuck fermentation. I would put it in the warmer room and then put a fan on it to help draw out heat of fermentation and limit the temp rise above ambient.

 

[bloom_brewer]

so i ended up leaving this wort in primary in my basement for a week at the colder temps. i wrapped the fermenter with a thermal blanket to hopefully keep some of the temps of the fermentation inside the carboy. even with fermcap it clogged the airlock twice so i switched to a blowoff. for the first week it was pushing foam like crazy into the blowoff bucket, everything going well so i thought.

after one week i switched to an airlock again once all the foaming stopped and moved the beer to an upstairs closet at around 66-70*f to finish. i thought this would be a good plan. my main concern was hearing that anything over 70* with the d-47 was bad news. once the very aggressive fermentation was over i figured i was safe if it hit 70* or so.

well just as i was told, the beer is stuck at 1.040. i shook up the yeast cake a few days ago, that didnt do anything so i racked to secondary and sucked up some of the yeast cake with my siphon to maybe see if it would finish, but i dont think there is nearly enough yeast in the suspension to finish this beer off. after moving to secondary last night the air lock (3 piece) has the middle part pushed to the top and there are star san bubbles in the airlock indicating some activity.

do i just wait a while and see if the beer will come down in gravity or should i repitch in secondary?

i have a few yeast options - safale us-05 packet, some washed wlp-001 and a mangrove jacks cider yeast packet.

any thoughts on re-pitching in secondary?

 

[estricklin]

Try the secondary, it may or may not work.

I've never had any problem with D47 int he upper 60s, though I never went about 70 during primary, I've heard others haven't had any problems around 72.

 

[bloom_brewer]

Try the secondary, it may or may not work.

I've never had any problem with D47 int he upper 60s, though I never went about 70 during primary, I've heard others haven't had any problems around 72.

thanks i think i am going to re-pitch. out of those three yeasts would you use the safale?

even if i can get it down to around 1.020 id be OK. there was 3 lbs of specialty grains (2lb vienna and 1lb carapils) so i am guessing this beer wouldnt get down to anywhere near 1.00 anyway.

any tips on pitching yeast in secondary? never did that before. issues with lack of head space in a 5 gallon plastic bucket?

 

[estricklin]

Sorry I couldn't give you any advice on which yeast would be better in this situation. Even if everything here went perfect 1.00 is not realistic thinking with 6 lbs of DME and those specialty grains. I wouldn't worry about the lack of head space, it isn't going to go crazy when you pitch more yeast at this point.

 

[rlmiller10]

i have a few yeast options - safale us-05 packet, some washed wlp-001 and a mangrove jacks cider yeast packet.

any thoughts on re-pitching in secondary?

I would go with the US-05. It is a strong yeast with decent attenuation and very neutral so it won't add flavors you might not want.

 

[bloom_brewer]

I would go with the US-05. It is a strong yeast with decent attenuation and very neutral so it won't add flavors you might not want.

thanks, that was what i was leaning towards as well.

i will take your advice this time and probably wouldnt have been in this situation had i listened to you the first time. haha.

still working on getting a fridge/stc-1000 for correct temps. reading about d-47 over 70* had me err to much on the cold side for this one.