fixing a stall

[fumbles]

I have not racked to secondary. I am not panicked, and do not plan on doing anything like drain pouring.

I did this recipe about 2 weeks ago
http://hopville.com/recipe/496796/robust-porter-recipes/pipeline-porter-clone

I got close to the original gravity(1.058), but the temperature was dropping, and it had some sediment in it. Also, the hydrometer kept trying to hug the sides. So that is rough measurement.

I pitched the starter yeast and kept it in the optimal temperature zone with a controller. The beer now reads ~1.024 with a 1.5" yeast cake in my 6 gallon better bottle. My target is 1.014.

So my question is:
Should I add some fermentables or more yeast?
What favors would sugar add? Clear candi? DME? Would repitching be an easy fix?

I know the yeast might need nutrients. I've ordered some pills for 5 gallon batches.

 

[hamiltont]

It might just need a good swirl & warmer temps. Warming it up now won't hurt the beer, but it is critical the first few days of fermentation. Cheers!!!

 

[fumbles]

I had good fermentation going, 1" krausen and popping airlock. I tried swirling, but the motions are limited with a dry airlock. I'll put a bung in it and really give it a shake. Thanks for the amazingly quick reply.

 

[Wiezer]

Careful with the extreme shaking. You don't want to introduce any oxygen into your beer now.

 

[hamiltont]

Careful with the extreme shaking. You don't want to introduce any oxygen into your beer now.

Actually there shouldn't be any O2 in the fermenter. It should have all been replaced with CO2, but your point is good. Don't shake the bageebies out of it. Just give it a good swirl. Cheers!!!

 

[fumbles]

I tried heating and swirling, but it hasn't done anything. I raised the temperature to 80 then let it drop to 76 for more than two days.
questions:
Should I add some fermentables? So current I have ~5 gallons with a gravity of 1.024 and a target of 1.014 (OG=1.060). White labs says the attenuation of the yeast (wlp001) is 73-80%.
Should I toss in a yeast nutrient pill?
Do I have to purge with CO2 after I add it?
thanks for help

 

[unionrdr]

My current batch took 3 weeks to go from 1.044 down to 1.012. It may just need more time,unless the reading is still the same.

 

[cravej]

Maybe what's left isn't fermentable. What was your mash temperature?

 

[Calder]

I bet your mash temperature was high.

 

[fumbles]

Craveji
I haven't tasted it. I haven't had to drain any for a reading, because I have a hydrometer floating in the carboy. I tired to keep it at 154F with propane.

Unionrdr
It has been holding at 1.024 for at least 5 days.

 

[fumbles]

calder
So... I denatured the enzymes and never got the sugar content.

 

[Yooper]

A porter at 1.024 sounds ok to me. If it's not too sweet tasting, I'd call it done and bottle it up.

And don't put the hydrometer in the fermenter any more! The krausen makes it hard to read, plus what are you going to do if it breaks when you try to take it out? Next time, use a wine thief or turkey baster to take out samples when you need to. Then you don't have to worry about glass in the fermenter. And you can check the hydrometer to calibrate it if you get a "funny" reading. You could take the hydrometer today by putting it in water and making sure it reads 1.000. But you can't if it's in the fermenter!