Good taste, bad gravity?

[TTB-J]

My pale ale has been in the fermented for two weeks and all visible signs of fermentation have stopped, so I thought I would take a hydrometer reading to see if I could do a dry hopping period soon. It's pretty high for the style or any style for that matter, 1.019. The swamp cooler has been holding steady at about 58 degrees, which is low for the white labs Kolsch yeast I am using, but it seemed to take off pretty well last week and I had about 4 or so days of solid fermentation. Since then though, it just looks to be chilling out.

I guess my question is this, I tried bumping the temperature up slightly and, in the process, I incidentally jostled the carboy a bit. Do you think that's good enough to get the yeast cooking a little more and drop a few more points off of it? What's the absolute highest FG you would accept for a balanced partial mash pale ale? One note, I tasted the hydrometer sample it was pretty darn good, if the taste is there and the gravity doesn't come down, do I just go with it?

 

[LakewoodBrew]

If it tastes good then don't worry too much. I'd be pretty surprised though of finding a 1.019 FG green beer that didn't taste cloyingly sweet when taken at anything more that a shot glass volume.

Raise the temp up to 78 deg and see if it restarts.

 

[TTB-J]

Wow, all the way up to 78? I was going to shoot for more 68-70, you think I should go higher than that? Problem is, I've got this far without too many off flavors and I don't want to create some just trying to knock off a few points of gravity. If you think it won't hurt it though, I might give it a shot.

 

[LakewoodBrew]

Wow, all the way up to 78? I was going to shoot for more 68-70, you think I should go higher than that? Problem is, I've got this far without too many off flavors and I don't want to create some just trying to knock off a few points of gravity. If you think it won't hurt it though, I might give it a shot.

No, 78 was a typo, I'm very sorry. 68 is where you should go for the restart. If you don't see the gravity dropping at that point take it up to 72.

 

[redde2brew]

I would bring up to 65 increasing temp 2 deg per day, this will help to finish. The yeast you are using is a hybrid yeast a little like ale and a little like lager. Do Not let that yeast get above 68 deg. The temp you used (58) is excellent for that yeast but, usually on the 10th day I start warming up to finish at a 1.009 - 1.012. I also lager at 50 deg for 3-4 weeks.

 

[LakewoodBrew]

Although, 78 is not my recommendation, the good news is, most of the risk for off flavors is already behind you. The dominant off flavors develop during cell growth, reproduction and high metabolic rate activity ( while the blow off tube is singing )after that the risks move more toward incomplete cleanup or autolysis ( for which the risk increases with increasing temps ) I don't think 78 would put you in Autolysis risk, I've had beers sit at temps around 80 without any problems, but I wouldn't do it intentionally.

I should have asked before, What was your OG?

 

[TTB-J]

Wish I knew what the OG was! I broke my hydrometer right before I got a chance to take it!

Hopville says it should have been around 1.054 and the FG should be 1.012 to 1.014. Even subtracting .001 for the temp being around 58, I think this baby needs a little kick in the pants. I brought it up to about 62 last night and will continue the climb today. Thanks for the advice y'all.

 

[unionrdr]

My pale ale took 2 days shy of 3 weeks to go from an OG of 1.044 down to FG of 1.012 (today). Sanitized a hop bag for my 1oz Willamette dry hop. Screwed off the lid to drop it in,& this light,caramel herby goodness hit me between the eyes.
And I made a 1 1/2C starter for the Cooper's ale yeast sachet for 3.5 hours. I was sure it'd be done in 8 or 10 days. The Cooper's plastic FV was creaking like an old wooden ship. But she held on for dear life,& her labor pains are well worth it so far.
Patience really is a virtue.

 

[TTB-J]

I made a 1 1/2C starter for the Cooper's ale yeast sachet for 3.5 hours

1 1/2C starter? Your starter was only 1.5 cups? Seems pretty small. And 3.5 hours isn't very much time for that bad boy to get going.

By comparison, for this batch I made a 1.5 liter starter (150g extra light DME) with intermittent shaking over 30 hours. I would have preferred to let it go for 48 hours, but I didn't get the time to make it until the morning before brew day.

On a related note, I'm happy to note that the brew is chilling at about 64-65 F right now and I can see little bumps in the airlock every 10 seconds or so, a full on burp every 60 seconds. It looks like this should do the trick. I'll probably take another reading at the end of the day today to confirm that I have fired up the yeast from their slumber.

Do y'all think I should wait another week to dry hop? Or will it only take a couple of days or so for the yeast to finish up its work? Either way, this thing probably won't get bottled until the weekend of the 26th.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,amazingly enough,the 1 1/2C starter was more than sufficient to have the krausen trying to emulate Vesuvius for 3 days+! I too used plain extra light SDME for the starter (1/4C). I just figured that since the dry yeast was old (Julian date of 32809),that it'd be better to rouse the lil yeasties in a bit of what they'll be feasting on later.
I'd checked for an FG last Wed,got the 1.012. Just waited til yesterday morning to check it again. FG confirmed,I sanitized a hop bag,& dropped in 1oz of Willamette pellets. Next Sunday is bottling day.
So yeah,give it a week & check it again. I had to do that. Just two days shy of 3 weeks in primary to get to dry hop stage.

 

[TTB-J]

Yeah,amazingly enough,the 1 1/2C starter was more than sufficient to have the krausen trying to emulate Vesuvius for 3 days+! I too used plain extra light SDME for the starter (1/4C). I just figured that since the dry yeast was old (Julian date of 32809),that it'd be better to rouse the lil yeasties in a bit of what they'll be feasting on later.

Ah, I see. Technically that's not really a "starter," per se. You were re-hydrating or "proofing" the dry yeast. "Starters" are used with liquid yeast to cause the cells in a liquid vial to reproduce enough to properly inoculate a 5 gallon batch. There are already plenty of cells in a dry yeast packet, you just need to make sure that they are alive and well before pitching them, hence the proofing.

 

[unionrdr]

Ah, I see. Technically that's not really a "starter," per se. You were re-hydrating or "proofing" the dry yeast. "Starters" are used with liquid yeast to cause the cells in a liquid vial to reproduce enough to properly inoculate a 5 gallon batch. There are already plenty of cells in a dry yeast packet, you just need to make sure that they are alive and well before pitching them, hence the proofing.

Not to mention,making new cells to replace the dead ones. That one sat for a couple of years. Proofing is more like just warm water with the yeast mixed in,to my understanding.? Just like when bread making.
Anyway,it worked quite well to make sure I had enough cells to do the job. Let alone get it to start fermentation so quickly. Added bonus. I'm glad I read the stuff about starters & whatnot y'all posted. Gary Wilson has a good vid on that.