Fermentation Finished Higher FG than anticipated...

[bigdawg86]

First off, full disclosure I am an extract brewer thus far...

Ok So I purchased and brewed a Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Clone.

Followed instructions, but oddly enough didn't hit my target OG of 1.135 so I did a late addition of dextrose and it got me on target (may have been a little more than 5 gallons at end of boil).

I oxygenated with a stone. Pitched a starter of WLP007 that was stepped up to 10L... I chose WLP007 because my brew shop had it, and it claimed as follow.

"Clean, highly flocculent, and highly attenuative yeast. This yeast is similar to WLP002 in flavor profile, but is 10% more attenuative. This eliminates the residual sweetness, and makes the yeast well suited for high gravity ales. It is also reaches terminal gravity quickly. 80% attenuation will be reached even with 10% ABV beers.

That seemed perfect, the recipe target FG is 1.030 which would have ideally placed my yeast at 76% attenuation.

Its been in the fermentor 10 days and I checked 3 days ago and it was 1.043-44 and yeast was still in suspension somewhat. Today I rechecked it and was 1.042, but the yeast had dropped clear. That puts me at only 66% attenuation and 12.21% ABV ... it tastes pretty good, but is still very "desert wine" or port like on the mouth feel.

I doubt I will pick up more than .01-.02 points before its done done...

What would the consensus be on finishing out the beer? I presume I shouldn't save my WLP007 slurry given how "stressed" it was fermented...

I'd appreciate input or tips on getting this beer past the finish line.

I plan to let it go 4 more days (2 week total) recheck gravity, cold crash, re-warm, then pitch The Yeast Bay's DRY BELGIAN ALE... but should I transfer the beer to a secondary container and pitch? or pitch as is...

Or any other suggestions I'd be happy to hear.

 

[Comfort_Zone]

Actually, 1.042 is almost perfect for Bourbon County. According to a very reliable source of mine, their stout finishes out around 10 plato, which would ~1.041. It will definitely taste a bit sweet. The dry Belgian will definitely bring it up, but I don't know if that's the flavor profile you'd want.

 

[bigdawg86]

Actually, 1.042 is almost perfect for Bourbon County. According to a very reliable source of mine, their stout finishes out around 10 plato, which would ~1.041. It will definitely taste a bit sweet. The dry Belgian will definitely bring it up, but I don't know if that's the flavor profile you'd want.

Interesting... I don't know what I would want either. Right now, having never tried the "actual beer" I feel like I am flying blind somewhat. Although I feel it has room to thin out a bit... the question nobody can answer is how low the dry ale will take it.

If I could find a Bourbon County I would be tempted to "Waste" half a bottle to let it go flat and check the gravity... of course I'd still drink it!

 

[Comfort_Zone]

Ah, if you've never had it then yeah it might come off as a bit sweet. It's certainly not a dry beer by any means. I do believe that some of the final abv can be attributed to the barrels so your current abv probably isn't that far off.

 

[myndflyte]

I'm not sure you're really going to be able to finish it much more. At 12%, you're probably at the limit of what the ale yeast is going to be able to do.

 

[pockets121]

I've had stuck fermentation a time or two. Found a 2l starter of wpl001 chews through anything that's left.

 

[Dcpcooks]

I brew big stouts annually. I prefer Nottingham yeast. If it were my beer I would let it sit on the cake for a few more weeks. It’s a big beer and the last 20% of attenuation can take some time to finish. Two weeks is pretty short for complete fermentation on a beer over 1.1

 

[bigdawg86]

Well I took serial readings and the WLP007 indeed was finished at 1.042... I decided to pitch TYB dry belgian ale from a decanted 1L starter exactly 1 week ago and just got a reading of 1.037. Airlock activity is minimal (one every few minutes) but looking though the airlock bung with a flashlight the entire surface of the beer is layered with tiny bubbles... I am going to let it go 1 more week to see if I can get it down to FG 1.030-1.032 before sending to secondary.

 

[ronbo1]

My high gravity beers regularly take 4+ weeks to finish and I would agree that it will be tough to get much above 12% with most ale yeasts, although that belgian yeast should get you a bit more attenuation. As long as it is actively fermenting, even slowly, not much to worry about in terms of autolyzing the yeast. I'd let it go until those bubbles on top clear out and then rack it...the specs I've seen on this beer range from 13.2% to 14.5% and it is supposed to be sweet and alcoholic! Are you going to put it in a bourbon barrel? I did a porter in a friends 7 gal barrel last year and it was real boozy, with lots of bourbon character, but quite good. I did the same porter this year in 4 oz of toasted oak chips that had soaked in 4 Roses for 3 weeks and it was very similar, but not quite as rich tasting...

 

[bigdawg86]

My high gravity beers regularly take 4+ weeks to finish and I would agree that it will be tough to get much above 12% with most ale yeasts, although that belgian yeast should get you a bit more attenuation. As long as it is actively fermenting, even slowly, not much to worry about in terms of autolyzing the yeast. I'd let it go until those bubbles on top clear out and then rack it...the specs I've seen on this beer range from 13.2% to 14.5% and it is supposed to be sweet and alcoholic! Are you going to put it in a bourbon barrel? I did a porter in a friends 7 gal barrel last year and it was real boozy, with lots of bourbon character, but quite good. I did the same porter this year in 4 oz of toasted oak chips that had soaked in 4 Roses for 3 weeks and it was very similar, but not quite as rich tasting...

Well I let it sit in primary 28 days total and the dry belgian ale was in for two of those four weeks. Using a standard 3 piece airlock there was no activity... I racked it to secondary 12 days ago and put a "S" type airlock on it and to my surprise it's produced a small bubble once every 10-15 seconds! I learned the "S" airlocks are much more sensitive to small amounts of fermentation. Now its down to 2-3x a minute... so needless to say my gravity readings were stable 2 days apart, but clearly it's still going, albeit very slowly. For now I placed 8oz of bourbon which was oaked via medium toast french spiral into the secondary. I decided against putting oak directly into the beer.

I'll eventually report back final gravity. With the 1.037 at time of secondary and 8oz of bourbon I am probably at low 13% range but who knows how much it's dried out since then.

 

[bigdawg86]

Update... So I'm not sure what to make of this. I did 14 days approx with WLP007, then Pitched TYB Dry Belgian Ale into primary where it sat for 14 days more. I racked to secondary after 4 weeks and am now 35 days into secondary... It seemed as if airlock activity stopped, so today I check gravity and was sitting at 1.033-1.034 points. I was planning on bottling tomorrow but after moving the carboy to the garage after taking a gravity, it started bubbling again... See video. Now I'm not sure if I should bottle tomorrow vs leave it longer.

This video is of what's happening right now...

 

[RM-MN]

Update... So I'm not sure what to make of this. I did 14 days approx with WLP007, then Pitched TYB Dry Belgian Ale into primary where it sat for 14 days more. I racked to secondary after 4 weeks and am now 35 days into secondary... It seemed as if airlock activity stopped, so today I check gravity and was sitting at 1.033-1.034 points. I was planning on bottling tomorrow but after moving the carboy to the garage after taking a gravity, it started bubbling again... See video. Now I'm not sure if I should bottle tomorrow vs leave it longer.

This video is of what's happening right now...

Two things are possible. First is that that bubbling is just the out gassing of the dissolved CO2 from moving the beer to secondary or a change in temperature or atmospheric pressure. The second is that you had a stalled fermentation or have managed to get an infection that is creating more CO2. For safety, I would delay the bottling until I could be sure it hadn't restarted as you have a chance of bottle bombs if that happened.

 

[bigdawg86]

I rechecked the airlock this morning... there are zero bubbles on the surface of the beer and no airlock activity. I think me agitating the beer with the wine thief caused some off gassing. It tasted phenominal, very very close to the real Bourbon County Stout. I am going to add a little more bourboun, but the oak is spot on.