High FG

[brewbrah]

This is my 7th homebrew and I have had 100% success until this one. I am brewing an oatmeal stout kit from brewers best.

I steeped my grains (1 pound of oats, 10oz dark chocolate, 12oz 2-row pale, and 6oz victory) in 2.5 gallons of distilled water at 150F for 40 minutes and let the grains drip I didn't squeeze the grain bag. Once the grains were steeped I added 2.5 gallons of distilled water to my wort and brought it to a boil. Once boiling I added 3.3 pounds of light LME, 3 pounds of Dark DME, and 1/2 pound of Maltodextrin. At this time I added my hops (brewers gold). I boiled for 60 minutes at a gentle boil. I cooled the wort to 65F with a wort chiller and transferred to my primary. At this time I had to add some distilled water to get to my 5 gallons. OG WAS 1.06. I took my first hydrometer reading 3 days ago because activity in the air lock stopped. IT READ 1.024 the target OG for this brew was 1.016-1.020. so I let it sit until today I took another reading and it is still 1.024. Is .004 something to worry about? I really wanted this one to come out good because it is my first stout.

Thank you all for your wonderful support,
BrewBrah!

 

[Gerry_P]

I ran the numbers and came up with 1.064 OG/1.019 FG assuming 75% attenuation, so you're in the ballpark. What kind of yeast did you use?

 

[brewbrah]

I ran the numbers and came up with 1.064 OG/1.019 FG assuming 75% attenuation, so you're in the ballpark. What kind of yeast did you use?

Windsor Ale Beer Yeast

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

I think 75% is about right for Windsor. You have malto-dexedrin which will not break down so that will make the FG higher. You also have dark malt extract which tends to ferment to a very sweet beer. I tried a 1 gallon batch of just dark extract and hops and it came out very sweet.

I prefer using Fermentis S04. I like the taste better. Try that one out sometime.

 

[Gerry_P]

Windsor Ale Beer Yeast

Welp, the Danstar site says this:
• Moderate attenuation, which will leave a relatively high gravity.
• Fermentation rate, fermentation time and degree of attenuation is dependent on inoculation density, yeast handling, fermentation temperature and the nutritional quality of the wort.

That pretty much says it all. I think your stout will be fine, maybe a tad bit less dry than planned. I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference in the finished product though.

 

[brewbrah]

Welp, the Danstar site says this:
• Moderate attenuation, which will leave a relatively high gravity.
• Fermentation rate, fermentation time and degree of attenuation is dependent on inoculation density, yeast handling, fermentation temperature and the nutritional quality of the wort.

That pretty much says it all. I think your stout will be fine, maybe a tad bit less dry than planned. I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference in the finished product though.

So .004 off is nothing to worry about?

 

[Subdivisions]

It's nothing to worry about. How long has this been fermenting?? You give a timeline since the last few days but we don't know when it was initially brewed. Give it another week and see where it goes. If the gravity is still 1.024 then that's where it's going to stay. It could be that the dark malt extract had more unfermentable sugars. Many times with extract people's beer gets stuck at 1.020 even on a lighter colored beer.

 

[Gerry_P]

So .004 off is nothing to worry about?

Nah. If it's bugging you and you want to try to coax a little more attenuation out of it, try rousing the yeast and maybe raising the temperature to 68ish if you fermented lower than that.

 

[brewbrah]

It's nothing to worry about. How long has this been fermenting?? You give a timeline since the last few days but we don't know when it was initially brewed. Give it another week and see where it goes. If the gravity is still 1.024 then that's where it's going to stay. It could be that the dark malt extract had more unfermentable sugars. Many times with extract people's beer gets stuck at 1.020 even on a lighter colored beer.

Brewers best oatmeal stout. It has been in primary now for 16 days

 

[Subdivisions]

It's done. I'd still leave it in there for another week anyway. A stout will benefit from some aging. The roasty malts will mellow out more