double ipa won't ferment

[ryanmitchell88]

6 lbs briess pilsem dme
3.15 lb northern brewer superstructure ipa liquid malt extract 2lbs briess golden light dme

.5 oz apollo 45 mins
.5 oz apollo 40 mins
.5 oz columbus 35
.5 oz columbus 30
.5 oz glacier 25
.5 oz glacier 20
.5 oz green bullet 15
.5 oz green bullet 10
.5 oz cascade 5
.5 oz casxade flameout

Used an extra 1 oz of apollo split up and added thruout entire boil between other additions as well and going to dry hop 1 oz cascade and 1oz Columbus 2 packets muntons standard dry yeast re hydrated before pitching at 75 degrees

So i brewed this and it had a very vigorous ferment within 18 hours,it was coming thru the airlock and bucket lid. i originally thought i had it at about 69 degrees in a closet but with the fermenting so vigorous it was at 75 degrees when i checked, so i put a "swamp cooler" on it and cooled it to around 65, four days later it stopped dead at 1.030 gravity and hasn't moved for 8 days, what did i do wrong, and what now, is it done? Do i dry hop and bottle? It was supposed to finish at 1.020 according to the app on my phone, and i do not want bottle bombs any advice? Btw it tastes like it's gonna be awesome i don't wanna have to dump gusher bottles! Help!

 

[Glynn]

extract brew dont always attenuate as low as they should. If the fg hasnt moved in 8 days its done. three things you can try 1) swirl your fermenter and rouse the yeast. 2) add some more yeast 3) If you like bottle it.

 

[ryanmitchell88]

I tried swirling the fermenter nothing happened, will more yeast do anything? I'm pretty sure i pitched plenty to begin

 

[IL1kebeer]

I'm pretty sure i pitched plenty to begin

Yeah but yeast health is an important factor in attenuation. The large temperature swings at the most critical part of your fermentation is the culprit for your poor yeast health, in my opinion.

Issue#1: Fermenting at 75F at 18 hours. This is the most critical time for temperature control and 75 likely got your yeast in an orgy of growth causing off flavors, which is why you probably wanted to cool it down. Fermenting at 75F is not a cause of poor attenuation, but cooling quickly is. Which brings us to issue#2.

Issue#2: Cooling it down to 65F. You didn't say how fast you cooled it down to 65, but if it was in less than 2 days then the yeast got stressed majorly. If it was in less than 1 day ...even worse. The damage was already done by fermenting at 75 in the first 18 hours. Cooling it down that fast did more harm than good.

Issue#3: If you weren't controlling temperatures closely then when the yeast stopped vigorously fermenting your temperatures likely dropped sharply because they stopped producing heat. This will cause them to close up shop and flocculate early.

In my opinion, the combination of those three issues could have caused your poor attenuation/stalled fermentation. Need to hear more about how fast you did your cooling and how well you maintained fermentation temps after the yeast slowed down.

You can try making a simple starter and pitching it at high krausen to get it down some. The active yeast in the simple starter should go to work pretty quickly on what your other yeast left over. I wouldn't just toss in a pack of yeast on it own though... You really need them active for them to do anything at this point, but hey, you can try it if you want and let us know how it goes.

 

[hoffmeister]

To agree with Glynn, extract beers do tend to finish higher than what software says they should finish at. It is not uncommon for primary fermentation to be done within a few days, but often times you will still get some activity in in the airlock over the next few days. My general rule of thumb is, check the gravity one week after you pitched your yeast and again two days later. Although your FG might be high, if it has not changed between measurements you should be safe to bottle.

 

[IL1kebeer]

extract brew dont always attenuate as low as they should.

I disagree. I agree more with "Most beginner brewers use extract and they don't know how to ferment properly". My point is: It's not the extract that's the problem. The problem is usually the lack of good fermentation control from an inexperienced brewer.

 

[unionrdr]

What was the OG? And those Munton's yeast packets are like 6g each,so 12 grams rehydrated might not've been enough for a big beer.

 

[duboman]

I tried swirling the fermenter nothing happened, will more yeast do anything? I'm pretty sure i pitched plenty to begin

Okay, but did you also try to raise the temp back up?

You took a too hot fermentation and crashed it colder shocking the hell out of the yeast, stressing it out and causing it to drop.

Rousing the yeast is a good idea but you also need to get the temp back up to about 70 or so to get it active again.

I totally agree with the above about poor yeast health and improper fermentation control being the main issues with this. Yeast make beer, well treated yeast work well to do their job, abused yeast quit...........

 

[boydster]

+1 to warming it up along with rousing the yeast. The damage from fermenting warm has already been done, so letting the beer get up to 70 or even a little higher really isn't going to introduce any additional off-flavors, but it will help the yeast wake up and start munching on the sugar again.

If you decide to pitch more yeast, don't just directly pitch from a packet or tube. You have a much more hostile environment now than when you first made the wort. It's a lower ph, low oxygen, alcohol-infused place and direct pitching new yeast will just make the new yeast want to stay dormant and fall to the bottom of the fermentor with the rest of the yeast that are already there (think of it this way: if it was a good environment for yeast to thrive, you wouldn't have a stalled fermentation and wouldn't need to consider adding new yeast to begin with). Making a starter and pitching at high krausen is your best shot with new yeast, but it still isn't the best solution. The yeast you pitched originally are the most well-acclimated to the environment and, accordingly, are the best equipped to finish the job they started.

 

[ryanmitchell88]

Okay so it seems i definitely cooled it down too fast, and i did bring up the temp after rousing the yeast but nothing happened, i think i will try pitching that starter, now if i use a different yeast will that change the flavor of it at this point?

 

[logan3825]

As was suggest you might be done. Extract does not attenuate well. I usually add some corn sugar if I go over 6lb of LME of 5lb of DME. With this recipe I would have probably added about a pound of corn sugar to get the FG down further.

 

[boydster]

Did you use any LME in the boil? Or did you do DME during the boil and LME at flameout?

If you used LME during the boil, maybe it scorched and left some unfermentable sugars? Just thinking out loud...

 

[IL1kebeer]

now if i use a different yeast will that change the flavor of it at this point?

Not really if at all.

 

[MindenMan]

Hang in there man, You now have first hand knowledge of what not to do. I am not being sarcastic. There was a long time when I was really new, all I could make were gushers. Talk about frustrating! You are not alone, that same mistake I'm sure has been made 1000's of times

 

[ryanmitchell88]

I guess imma repitch, wait another week, then dry hop, bottle and hope for the best, maybe it's still got a chance

 

[BostonianBrewer]

In the future start fermentation as cool as the yeast will let you 65ish give or take a few degrees depending on type of yeast being used , also make a nice yeast starter and try and keep those temps low for the first few crucial days of fermentation. After that you can slowly raise temp if you want