Gravity still high (braggot)

[spagnot]

It's been 2 weeks since I started my crandaddy braggot(recipe in the book Extreme Brewing by Sam Calagione). Fermentation seems to have completely stopped. My gravity reading still shows about 1.040 when it was supposed to finish at 1.010. Should I pitch more yeast and transfer to another carboy and maybe aerate as well?
I used a champagne yeast and the initial fermentation was very strong but only lasted about 3 days then took a nose dive. On the 2nd day the temperature in my carboy rose to about 79 degrees Fahrenheit on its own. It was about 10 degrees hotter than the air around the carboy. This may help in troubleshooting.

 

[spagnot]

I'm going to add ale yeast and rack to a secondary fermenter. Apparently the champagne yeast only ate the honey sugars and not the malt sugars.

It's been 2 weeks since I started my crandaddy braggot(recipe in the book Extreme Brewing by Sam Calagione). Fermentation seems to have completely stopped. My gravity reading still shows about 1.040 when it was supposed to finish at 1.010. Should I pitch more yeast and transfer to another carboy and maybe aerate as well?
I used a champagne yeast and the initial fermentation was very strong but only lasted about 3 days then took a nose dive. On the 2nd day the temperature in my carboy rose to about 79 degrees Fahrenheit on its own. It was about 10 degrees hotter than the air around the carboy. This may help in troubleshooting.

 

[commonsenseman]

1.040 is pretty high for a Braggot. Could you post your process/details?

It seems to me like there must be something else going on, champagne yeast will eat ANY sugars. Have you checked the PH? Did you mash very high? Is there anything you can do to cool it down a little?

 

[fuelish]

It seems to me like there must be something else going on, champagne yeast will eat ANY sugars.

Indeed

 

[spagnot]

Sure. It was a liquid extract brew. Didn't check the PH, don't have a test kit for that. 5 gallon batch used 6 pounds of orange blossom honey, 6.6 pounds of the extract. Spring water used. Whirflock tablet towards the end of boil, honey added after heat turned off. Took a while to chill as I don't have a work chiller. I pitched some rehydrated dry ale yeast Sunday but still no action on the airlock. I may have lost this one.

1.040 is pretty high for a Braggot. Could you post your process/details?

It seems to me like there must be something else going on, champagne yeast will eat ANY sugars. Have you checked the PH? Did you mash very high? Is there anything you can do to cool it down a little?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I'm guessing the ale yeast got pretty stressed in the higher gravity must/wort (mort?). Ale yeast is typically used to chilling in 1.060s, so it may have fermented some but didn't reach full potential.

Since you already have alcohol in the batch, I wouldn't add new yeast right in from the pack. Make a ripping starter from a bit of DME, yeast nutrient and water (and yeast), this way you are pitching the healthiest battle ready yeast since they will be going into alcohol stress and some gravity stress.

 

[IJesusChrist]

Make sure to aerate/degas, if the ale yeast doesn't work you can use ec-1118 and it will go dry, and then you'll have to backsweeten as desired.

 

[bernardsmith]

HI Spagnot, Honey is notorious for two things - its lack of nutrients and its potential to drop the pH to intolerably (for the yeast) low levels. The malt extract likely provided enough nutrient - but perhaps not and it may not have buffered the pH. If I assume that your fermentation has stalled, you might want to add some K-carbonate and some DAP (for nitrogen) and REALLY whip air into the braggot. If these don't help then you might restart the fermentation by creating a starter and then adding the same volume of braggot to the starter (NOT the starter to the 5 gallons). Then , every couple of hours double the volume in the starter from your stalled carboy. This way you are ensuring the fresh yeast is well established and are adding the problem must (or wort) to the good yeast. After three or four additions (remember, each time doubling the volume in the starter from the problem batch) you can then add all the remaining must.

 

[spagnot]

I made a yeast starter out of Muntons yeast and DME yesterday and pitched it in today. We will see if it does anything. I think I used 5 cups of water and a cup and a half of DME.

I'm guessing the ale yeast got pretty stressed in the higher gravity must/wort (mort?). Ale yeast is typically used to chilling in 1.060s, so it may have fermented some but didn't reach full potential.

Since you already have alcohol in the batch, I wouldn't add new yeast right in from the pack. Make a ripping starter from a bit of DME, yeast nutrient and water (and yeast), this way you are pitching the healthiest battle ready yeast since they will be going into alcohol stress and some gravity stress.

 

[spagnot]

I made a yeast starter out of Muntons yeast and DME yesterday and pitched it in today. We will see if it does anything. I think I used 5 cups of water and a cup and a half of DME.

I got the gravity closer to what it needed to be after I pitched the large Muntons yeast starter and the fermentation picked up again. The final taste though isn't really my cup of tea.
It has a strong fusel alcohol taste to it so it's got a lot of bite!
Can't taste any cranberry's either. It's lightly carbonated and is somewhat sweet.
If I were to do this again which I won't, I would not have used champagne yeast. The guy at the brew store said that ferments too hot and I should have used a different yeast method. I think he suggested 2 different yeasts like a lalvin yeast and then an ale yeast to finish. This way both sugars get eaten and the first yeast doesn't kill the second yeast. Just be careful with this recipe!

 

[cernst151]

I got the gravity closer to what it needed to be after I pitched the large Muntons yeast starter and the fermentation picked up again. The final taste though isn't really my cup of tea.
It has a strong fusel alcohol taste to it so it's got a lot of bite!

I'm getting to this a bit late obviously but for future reference, I've had 1 stuck fermentation. I tried an assortment of fixes suggested by my LHBS, including tossing in Saison yeast, which was my downfall in the end. Other things they suggested was stirring up the trub to get more yeast into suspension and increasing the temp to wake the yeast up. None of those unstuck the fermentation

What actually kicked it into gear was adding some yeast nutrients (urea) along with some simple sugar. Once that went in the gravity dropped like a rock. Unfortunately since I'd put the Saison yeast in it was also going and brought the FG down way past my target and it ended up being terribly alcoholy. I still bottled it and after a year in the cellar it's now pretty drinkable. Give that a shot with yours and see what it tastes like in a year. It's not going to bring out the cranberries but it may at least reduce that alcohol taste.

 

[bernardsmith]

Wine yeast does not care the source of simple sugars. Simple sugars are simple sugars and the yeast will convert those to alcohol so it makes little sense in adding different kinds of yeast to ferment one container of liquor however complex that liquor might be. All that you will do is have the different yeasts struggle to create the most suitable environment for it to thrive and for rivals to go belly up. Not sure I see the value in that.
I make apple ale using wine yeast and I make braggot using wine yeast. Beer , I use ale yeast but only because ale yeasts are designed to focus on the malt flavors rather than introduce or accentuate ester (fruit) flavors. IMO, you want to accentuate fruit flavors found in the honey or at least not diminish them by using a yeast that favors the malt.