High FG in secondary

[Quest10x]

I have an Oatmeal Stout from a brewer's best kit. I followed the instructions exactly, felt like most everything with this batch went well early on. OG was 1.064, at the upper end of the range listed on the sheet (1.056-1.064) For a full 5 gallon batch. It sat in primary at 67 deg (64-72 recommended) for 13 days (only 5-7 days recommended with the kit, but I've been told many times to push a little longer). There was no more bubbling, so I transferred it to secondary. During the transfer, SG measured 1.028 (1.016-1.020 advertised on sheet). It remained in secondary for another 12 days so far. Checked it today and the SG is still at 1.028. I sloshed it around a bit, and could try to get it to a slightly warmer spot tonight (~70 deg). Any advice if the SG remains steady for a few more days under those conditions? Go ahead and keg it, let it sit for another week or two, or is there something else I can do?

Looking at possible causes of this situation to improve my craft:
1. This was an extract kit, but included a "Steep to convert" process at the beginning. I'm doing this on an electric stove (until Christmas, hopefully) and I had trouble keeping the grains 148-152 deg. It saw temp extremes of 140-160 for short periods of time. I doubt this has anything to do with it, but trying to eliminate all variables.
2. I used dry yeast that came with the kit- the package said to rehydrate it, but the brewer's best instructions said very specifically not to, so I did not.
3. When I realized the FG was still a little high, should I have thrown the lid back on, gently sloshed it around a little, and left it in primary for another week?

Any advice is much appreciated!
Dan

 

[FastAndy]

1028 is not an unreasonable FG for an outmeal stout. Was there any lactose in there? IF you've moved it to a warmer spot already I would let it sit a couple days and see if you see any signs of fermentation. Remember, bubbling (or lack of bubbles) in the airlock does not mean fermentation. How are you checking the gravity?

 

[Quest10x]

no lactose. I did get one bubble coming out of the airlock this afternoon, watched it for about 5 minutes to see it though so they are far between. You say this is not a sign of fermentation though? Just a by product of the fact I swirled it a bit this morning? I floated my hydrometer in the carboy before sealing it up for secondary, so I can read it through the plastic. I haven't moved it to a warmer spot yet, as my arm is currently in a sling. Will need help that evening and still plan to do it, unless you think that's a bad idea for some reason?

I do want this to turn out as best it can, however I'm also anxious to get it kegged as I have a get-together next weekend. Patience is a tough thing...

 

[helibrewer]

Next round, don't move the beer to secondary, it serves no purpose unless you are aging on fruit or oak. It is not uncommon for extract kits to stop in the 1.020's. All you can do is warm them up and give them more time to see if you can get a few more points out of them.

For steeping, use the oven. Pre-heat on the lowest setting, heat your pot on the stove top (160-170F), add the grain bag, and mix. Now turn the oven off, cover your grain pot and put it in the oven for 30 minutes...easy and no fuss.

 

[Quest10x]

Thanks for the tips on steeping, great idea!

So if I skip secondary, do I leave it in primary longer? Or just keg it after ~2 weeks? Any good way of measuring SG while it's in primary without prying the lid off every time?

 

[FastAndy]

Swirling it around can knock some of the CO2 out of solution causing you to see bubbles in the airlock. Moving it to a warmer area might help, not likely.

 

[HopOnHops]

Did you use some kind of English ale yeast? Some can be very flocculant and if not given a sufficient starter will finish kinda high

 

[eadavis80]

Danstar Windsor Ale yeast leaves a pretty high FG. I used it in my chocolate stout, so when that yeast strain + lactose (non-fermentable) combined, my FG was only 1.022. I was hoping of lower, but hey - the beer tastes good and that's all I care about. I know you said you did not have lactose, but certain yeast strains consume sugars better than others. But, if you have moved the yeast around some and tried to warm it up and given it plenty of time, it will only go so low in my experience. You could try pitching another dry pack of yeast (but this time, I'd suggest rehydrating). I think kit instructions advise against rehydrating because there is room for human error there and they want their kits to have as little chance of being "defective" as possible. Sprinkling yeast on top of the wort is impossible to screw up. There is a chance people would rehydrate incorrectly and then blame the kit's manufacturer. That's my guess.