Help! Experiencing weird fermentation, need advice

[tjperry52]

Hi all,

Hoping for some help/advice! I brewed a Pumpkin Coffee Stout last Friday (9/11) by tweaking a chocolate German cake recipe I found in beer and brewing magazine to be pumpkin forward. This beer was BIG, coming in at 1.100 on the initial hydrometer read. I used 3 packs of safale us-05, expecting that this would need a lot of yeast to do the job. Given this, I hooked up blow off tube right off the bat.

Over the last few days, I noticed little activity and by now there is essentially no Krausen layer. I took a same for a hydrometer read yesterday and luckily it came in at 1.040 so it seems there was some activity.

My question is, how do I know when I can move it to the secondary to condition, and does this seem odd? I was expecting it to come in around 11-12% but also was expecting it to take 2-4 weeks and not a mere week. Happy to answer any question if you need more info.

Thanks

 

[VikeMan]

First, you may want to consider not doing a secondary at all, unless you have a specific reason for it. If you post your grain bill (including lactose and any adjuncts), mash temp, and mash length, I'd be happy to run the numbers and see what my sheet would expect for an FG.

 

[bobeer]

Yea, post the recipe, mash temp, and all that so we can get all the info we can.

Did you oxygenate the wort before pitching the yeast? A big beer like that will need lots of aeration for the yeast to be happy. Also a starter would have been good as well so those yeast cells can build up nice and strong to be able to handle that wort and all the pressure from the alcohol that will be created.

You could try to rouse the yeast by gently swirling the fermentor if you can. The yeast might benefit from a good rousing.

 

[smata67]

S05 has not been a vigorous fermenter for me. 18 hours to get going and only a 1/2" krausen on a 1.070 beer I have in the fermenter right now, so what you saw is not unusual. Krausen gone by around Day 5. But if you have only gotten to 1.040 after 10 days, you have a stuck fermentation and need to get it down before either bottling or moving to secondary. At the very least, try rousing the yeast, stirring it up a few times a day. See if it has done any good in about 3 days. You will probably need to do more than just that, though.