First big beer stuck at 1.060

[nbswanson]

First time brewing a big beer and fermentation is stuck. OG :1.095. Current SG: 1.060. I got the recipe from another thread (copied below) and have become very frustrated. Saw lots of activity in first 5 days and very small amounts since (4 weeks ago). Its still in primary and have repitched Nottinghams twice now to no avail. Tastes very sweet still. At a loss for what to do. Should i add a yeast energizer or amylase? Could it be stuck because of so much DME?

Stone 15th Anniversary Imperial Black IPA – Keiskamma 1 extract recipe
Type: Extract Date: 12/16/2011
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.0 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Pot ( 4 Gal/15.1 L) - Extract

Ingredients

1. Steep 30 minutes at 150-165F:
1 lbs 9.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 1 10.5 %
12.8 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 2 5.3 %
12.8 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.3 %
2. Add after steeping, before boil:
7 lbs 8.0 oz Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) 49.3%
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM) Sugar 5 6.6 %
3. Boil 70 minutes:
2.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - 44.0 IBUs
4. Boil 15 minutes
2.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - 18.1 IBUs
Teaspoon Dry Irish Moss rehydrated
5. Boil 10 minutes
3 lbs 8.0 oz Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) 23%
6. Boil 1 minute
3.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - 2.4 IBUs
2.00 oz Pacific Jade [13.00 %] - 1.7 IBUs
7. Yeast
Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007)
8. Ferment two weeks in primary
9. Rack to carboy and Dry hop for 7 days
2.00 oz Nelson Sauvin [12.00 %]
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %]

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.103 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.097 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.021 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.024 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 11.0 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 9.7 %
Bitterness: 91.3 IBUs Calories: 341.2 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 59.7 SRM

 

[ehedge20]

Did you make a yeast starter? I would get another 2 vials, make a starter and re-pitch.

 

[Calder]

Assuming you made exactly 5 gallons, your OG would have been higher than 1.095. You would be at 1.100 with just the extract alone (11 lbs), before accounting for the sugar and grains. I calculate you were around 1.115.

Going down to 1.060, the beer is already over 7%. I'd go brew a smaller beer and put this on the cake to finish it off. It's going to be tough to get yeast starting to work in that environment.

I think you are still going to end up with a sweet beer, but if you use an alcohol tolerant strain, you might get it down to 1.030. That would be about 75% attenuation and over 11% abv.

 

[nbswanson]

Thanks, I wanted to be starting a new batch soon anyways. I appreciate the help from both of you

 

[Calder]

I suspect you under-pitched to begin with and the yeast just couldn't get there. Adding the Nottingham to 1.060/7% abv wort is a really tough environment.

For a big beer like that you also need to thoroughly aerate the wort to help keep the yeast healthy. Moving it onto a fresh cake will have healthy yeast ready and waiting.

 

[nbswanson]

I did under-pitch to begin (in hindsight). Should I put a small beer with new yeast on the old cake to "rejuvenate" the cake then afterwards put this big guy back on? Or should I brew a whole new beer with the 007 and then put the big beer on that? Will a starter with two vials of 007 be able to finish it?

 

[Calder]

I did under-pitch to begin (in hindsight). Should I put a small beer with new yeast on the old cake to "rejuvenate" the cake then afterwards put this big guy back on? Or should I brew a whole new beer with the 007 and then put the big beer on that? Will a starter with two vials of 007 be able to finish it?

I would just make 5 gallons of an average beer (about 1.050) with new yeast. After 2 weeks, rack it off the yeast (to secondary ...... or possibly bottle, but I think that is too early), and rack this big beer onto the new cake.

If the yeast vial is fresh, you could just pitch it straight in the new beer. I personally would make a starter for the yeast to ensure it is healthy and there are plenty of yeast cells to get to work on the new beer. But, they do say a fresh vial is OK to straight pitch into a 1.050 beer; I've not done it for many years.