Final gravity question

[AngryAndy]

Hi guys. I made a chocolate cream Stout on Monday night.
6.6 amber lme
1 lbs dextrose
1 lbs black prinz 500
1 lbs roasted barely 350
1 lbs chocolate malt 300
Magnum hops at start and finish
Some lactose at the 5 minute mark
S-04

It started at 10.65. It went crazy over night, blew the top off my fermenter and then calmed down to a steady normal pace yesterday. Today it appears to be done. It seems to have zero activity. I'll be leaving it alone for a while longer just to make sure. But it's currently sitting at 10.19. Abv of roughly 6%.

I don't know. It seems a bit too high. A little to sweet. I know there will be a lot of unfermentables in it but is this about the best I'll get?

Thanks

 

[Sammy86]

No airlock activity isn't an indication of fermentation being complete...yeast are still doing their thing so I would give it 10-14 days minimum for primary fermentation to be complete. The general rule of thumb is to check gravity three days in a row and if it's the same it's done.

As far as your ABV it's 70% attenuation which isn't terrible but not fantastic easier...how are you controlling fermentation temp? My advice at this point would be raise temp, let the yeast finish up and package.

 

[tennesseean_87]

S04 has always been a lower attenuator for me. I'd definitely give it 2 weeks at least, but wouldn't be surprised if you're already pretty close to FG.

 

[NickL]

It can help to wait until after the initial fermentation is complete before adding the dextros. Sometimes the yeast won't ferment the longer chain sugars if you fill them up on the easy stuff. It can cause a high FG.

But I agree with the above. Give it a week. I bet it drops some more. If not, it's still fixable.

 

[flars]

S-04 is a highly flocculant yeast. The yeast will begin dropping when the beer temperature begins decreasing after the most active fermentation is over. Warm the beer to the highest temperature reached during active fermentation to help keep the yeast in suspension.

With blow off the beer may have been fermenting too warm but by this time if there will be any off flavors keeping the beer warm won't add to any off flavors.

Blow off could also have occurred because the fermentor was over filled and not caused by fermenting too warm.

 

[AngryAndy]

Interesting. Thank you all for the advice. NickL, are you saying I should have held off on the dex until the fermentation finished and than add it in dry. Like right into the fermenter?

 

[NickL]

Interesting. Thank you all for the advice. NickL, are you saying I should have held off on the dex until the fermentation finished and than add it in dry. Like right into the fermenter?

Sometimes that can help. Just an idea for next time.
Boil it with a little water to sanitize and dump it right in the fermenter.

 

[Lefou]

It can help to wait until after the initial fermentation is complete before adding the dextrose. Sometimes the yeast won't ferment the longer chain sugars if you fill them up on the easy stuff. It can cause a high FG.

But I agree with the above. Give it a week. I bet it drops some more. If not, it's still fixable.

One of the best fixes for it may be to decant and store temporarily in the keg under a small amount of CO2, just enough to pressurize the seals. It would be equivalent to aging in a secondary and much safer that just going ahead with bottling. A steel keg is more capable of handling the CO2 produced and excess gas can be vented.

 

[Calder]

8 days since you last posted - What is happening with it?

 

[AngryAndy]

Hey guys so I checked it today. It came down to 1017. I'm happy with that. I expected a higher fg given the unfermentables. I want to thank all of you.

It's so nice to have a little group of experts who are always waiting in the wings to answer questions.

Best regards,
Andy