FG 1.030 too high?

[bigben]

So...looking back at some of the comments and doing a little more reading about starters and pitching rates it looks like I severely underpitched this batch. The recipe didn't have target OG or FG projections, and I didn't expect it to have that high of a starting gravity, so I just pitch a Wyeast smack pack (and no nutrients) as I have the last two batches. If the OG (based on the ingredients I put in) was indeed 1.091, then I should have pitched ALOT more yeast than just that pack.

But...fermentation took off after only 10 hours, and was very vigorous for the first 4 days. I'm fermenting a 5 gallon batch in a 6.5 gallon carboy, so there's alot of headspace, but the krausen got so high it came into the airlock and I had to switch to a blowoff tube.

Plus, when I racked after 10.5 days (I know, too early) the gravity reading was at 1.030, which was high, but i'm still getting bubbles in my secondary every 1min 45seconds, which means i'm still dropping some points, right? Just that one pack of yeast dropped the gravity that much in 10 days?

Should I expect any negative side affects from underpitching this batch (and racking to secondary too soon) other than it's just going to take alot longer than it should have to finish?

I think other than stuck fermentation, the only other side effect of underpitching is possible Diacetly flavor from the yeast not being able to clean up after themselves.

I dont know of any other side effects, but there may be others.

 

[jayareo]

So, where is the batch now? I found this thread via a search - as I have a batch in a similar situation ... I have it in secondary now ... hoping that increasing the temps to the mid 60's will help jump start the fermentation again. Mine has to come down from 1.028 to the 1.015 arena.

 

[gunhaver]

if this were a Dark Lord clone you'd want a FG to be in the 1.075 range