English Barleywine: Another Possible Stuck Fermentation Tale

[dougdecinces]

I'm posting this in the beginners forum on the off chance that there ends up becoming an easy, obvious solution and I look like a goof.

I brewed an English Barleywine about 18 days ago. Here is what you need to know: This was a partial mash with 8 lbs of grains and 8 lbs of LME. OG was 1.104. I mashed for 80 minutes at 149 degrees. I pitched about 3 liters of 1028 starter. It is still in primary.

Anyways, after 18 days I took a hydrometer reading and it is showing 1.034. This would put me at about 68% attenuation, which isn't out of the realm of possibility, but with the kind of yeast I am pitching and the mash temperature, it seems awfully low. I was expecting to get it in the 1.022-1.027 range.

So what's the verdict? The heart says worry a little, the brain says give it more time and it'll finish up. I planned on keeping it in primary for a month, so we still have a couple weeks for that.

 

[dougdecinces]

Anyone?

 

[rico567]

I've not brewed a barleywine that big. Last year, I brewed Midwest's Bigfoot Barleywine, which all went according to plan. The OG came out in the neighborhood of 1.085, I used the plain old Wyeast Activator without even making a starter, and it fermented down to 1.020 or so.....I put the champagne yeast in the secondary per instructions, but it was the same SG when I bottled. Good stuff.....

 

[jar1087]

It's very possible that it's still fermenting. I would wait 3-4 days and then take another reading. Also, what temperature did it ferment at and what temperature is it at now? You could think about raising it up a few degrees, up to maybe 75F or so, to try to get it to ferment further. This far into the fermentation there is little, if any, risk of creating off flavors by raising it up that high.

 

[jar1087]

BTW, I've had beers (DIPA's mostly) take more than two weeks to finish, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[bottlebomber]

Did you oxygenate fully? And did you pitch, like, 400 billion yeast cells? I had a good learning experience with a NB Lord Fatbottom extract kit that OGd at 1.125 and finished at 5% abv... ugh. That was before I found this forum, and new the truth about how much yeast to pitch. If you only had one yeast vial you would need about 5 liters of starter to make this beer pop. What was the lag time?

 

[dougdecinces]

To answer all of the questions:

I pitched a little over 3 liters of starter. It's fermenting between 62-65 degrees in my pantry. I aerated the wort by pouring it from my stock pot to the bucket back and forth six times; then after 11 hours I stirred the wort vigorously with my mash paddle for about 2-3 minutes.

 

[mlg5039]

Since you aerated well and pitched plenty of yeast, I'm guessing the SG will drop a few more points over the next two weeks. Relax friend.

 

[jsweet]

Did you oxygenate fully? And did you pitch, like, 400 billion yeast cells? I had a good learning experience with a NB Lord Fatbottom extract kit that OGd at 1.125 and finished at 5% abv... ugh. That was before I found this forum, and new the truth about how much yeast to pitch.

Out of curiosity, did you try repitching with a big starter or racking onto another yeast cake or anything? I ask not to give advice, but because I'm trying to learn. I have a high gravity beer (not THAT high, but 1.086, nothing to sneeze at) that went into the fermenter Sunday night that I now believe I significantly under-pitched, and there's another factor (stay on topic...) that I fear may have reduced the current yeast population even further. I'm readying myself for the possibility of a stuck fermentation, and reassuring myself that if it comes to that it's fixable, even if a PITA.

So I'm hoping your answer is, "Nope, I was a n00b at the time and didn't know you could do that until I found this forum." If your answer is "Yep, I tried everything, and it just wouldn't restart..." well, that would suck.

 

[jar1087]

You could maybe have aerated more (I.e. aquarium pump or oxygen) or pitched slightly more yeast, but you were definitely 80% of the way there, so we'll call it good on those factors. Since it has been fairly cool, I would definitely warm it up to at least 70 to encourage the yeast to go all the way. You can expect to get a few more points out of it and probably all the way to your target FG. Either way it will be great, I'm sure. Enjoy!

P.S. Report back when it's done!