Help with Imperial Chocolate Stout!

[jlogue3454]

I brewed my Imperial Chocolate Stout on Saturday, I checked the gravity yesterday and it looks like it had formed a tiny krausen and has already fallen back down. I've tried rousing the yeast but nothing seems to help. The OG was 1.094, yesterday it was 1.023. Could it be done already? From what i've read it can take up to 3 weeks for an imperial to ferment completely. I was hoping to get this beer down to around 1.014-1.010. I've never had any of my beers ferment that fast, any ideas?

 

[DiggerinOregon]

What temp is your ferment? What kind of yeast? Did you use a starter? That's a pretty big beer. My guess is it will take a couple of weeks to ferment all the way.

 

[DiggerinOregon]

Do you still have airlock activity?

 

[progmac]

your beer has achieved 76% attenuation. my guess is that it's done or nearly done. take another reading in a couple of days. in general, people exaggerate how long fermentation lasts.

 

[jlogue3454]

I used a 3 stage starter with WLP 005 British Ale yeast (around 380 billion cells). Ferm temp is staying around 68F. I have 5.5 gallons of wort in a 7.5 gallon fermenting bucket with a 3/4in blowoff tube but there has been no visible activity. I was fully expecting the lid to blow off this thing.

 

[Begin2Brew]

I brewed an Imperial milk chocolate stout a month ago. I had a heck of a fermentation for three days. It started fast and ended just as fast. I am betting it is as far down as it will get.

 

[DiggerinOregon]

I'd have to agree with progmac here. The krausen tends to stick around a little longer on my beers, but I tend to ferment in the 60-63 range. That puppy's above 9%.

 

[jlogue3454]

Could I finish it off by pitching some champagne yeast? Or will that take it way down below 1.000?

 

[progmac]

expected attenuation of that strain is 67-74%

i think pitching another yeast at this point is a mistake

 

[daksin]

What was your recipe- 1.023 sounds like a perfectly reasonable FG for this beer without knowing anything about it.

 

[jlogue3454]

expected attenuation of that strain is 67-74%

i think pitching another yeast at this point is a mistake

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate the help!

 

[jlogue3454]

What was your recipe- 1.023 sounds like a perfectly reasonable FG for this beer without knowing anything about it.

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10.00 gal Distilled Water Water 1 -
14.00 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 2 -
5.00 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 3 -
5.00 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 4 -
18 lbs Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) (3.5 SRM) Grain 5 82.8 %
12.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 6 3.4 %
12.0 oz Roasted Barley (Briess) (300.0 SRM) Grain 7 3.4 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 8 1.1 %
2 lbs Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 9 9.2 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 10 9.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 11 10.4 IBUs
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 12 10.4 IBUs
0.90 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 13 25.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.30 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 14 4.6 IBUs
8.00 oz Cocoa Powder (Boil 5.0 mins) Flavor 15 -
1.0 pkg British Ale (White Labs #WLP005) [35.49 ml] Yeast 16 -
3.00 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 7.0 days) Flavor 17 -

 

[daksin]

Holy Lactose Batman! You're definitely done. That's 14-15 gravity points of totally unfermentable sugar if this is a 5 gallon batch, meaning if you hadn't added the lactose, your beer could have finished as low as 1.010.