High FG on stout

[gcsowden]

Just brewed my first stout and the OG was 1.083. The gravity has been steady at 1.033 for the last three days. It is still in the primary, The FG should be 1.024. I had read some threads on amylase enzyme, but I thought it may be a yeast problem. Also,as there were many arguments as to whether amylase should be used with extract brewing, so I thought I would ask here.

I know this is high for a stout, but is it too high? If so, how can I lower it?
On a less important note,I was hoping to secondary this week and keg on saturday to bring to a college football party...any chance of that?

thanks everyone! this is my first post, but I have read previous ones MANY times to answer my other questions.

 

[fatinma]

Just brewed my first stout and the OG was 1.083. The gravity has been steady at 1.033 for the last three days. It is still in the primary, The FG should be 1.024. I had read some threads on amylase enzyme, but I thought it may be a yeast problem. Also,as there were many arguments as to whether amylase should be used with extract brewing, so I thought I would ask here.

I know this is high for a stout, but is it too high? If so, how can I lower it?
On a less important note,I was hoping to secondary this week and keg on saturday to bring to a college football party...any chance of that?

thanks everyone! this is my first post, but I have read previous ones MANY times to answer my other questions.

That is a bit high.
I am currently brewing an obsidian stout clone (Og 1.075 and expected FG of 1.025) but mine is currently still bubbling away 3 weeks later, currently at 1.018, so I am on the opposite end of your situation with my FG being lowered than expected.

what yeast did you use?

 

[hoppymonkey]

Can you post your recipe and method. There could be many reasons for the high FG.

 

[gcsowden]

Here is the partial mash recipe

1/4 lb patent
1/4 lb roasted barley
1/4 lb flaked barley
1/2 lb maltodextrine
7 lbs amber DME
3.3 lbs Dark LME
2 oz lactose

I used a package of Muntons Gold dry ale yeast, If the yeast was the prob is there anything I can do?

 

[hoppymonkey]

Did you steep those grains? Also what temp did you ferment at? You can swirl the carboy/bucket to bring the yeast back into suspension and/or add a different strain with a moderate/high alcohol tolerance. Also wouldn't be a bad idea to bring the temp up a couple degrees when you swirl the bucket/carboy.

 

[gcsowden]

I steeped at 155-160 for an hour and fermentation has been at 71 degrees. Should I try a liquid yeast strain then?

Thanks again for the speedy responses

 

[Amity]

Liquid or Dry, it does not matter. I've never been a fan of Munton's (or Coopers) yeast. I've never tried Munton's Gold. The yeast is likely stuck at 1.033 - try to rouse them by rocking the fermenter to get them from the trub. You could also try raising the temp a few degrees. Not too far, though, or you'll run the risk of off-flavours. You could try to pitch some more yeast (English style, preferably - Nottingham, S-04, or a liquid pack).

Good luck.

 

[hoppymonkey]

I'd give er a swirl before resorting to repitching. If you do repitch, use something fairly neutral like wlp-001 or S-05 to avoid changing the flavor profile.( use a starter if you go liquid) It could be that the temp you mashed/steeped at could have gotten higher than you thought and resulted in more unfermentables. There is a chance that nothing you do will change it. I got one now with that situation. It tastes fine, just a little sweeter than I wanted.

 

[gcsowden]

thanks everyone for the help, I'll swirl and wait a few days and then repitch if it doesn't help. thanks again