Imperial Stout FG .01 high after 3 month secondary

[Adam Booth]

Hello All. First post here. I scoured previous posts, and learned quite a bit, but I believe my question to be fairly specific.

So here I am!!

Back in July I brewed my first Imperial Stout. It is a kit from the dreaded Northern Brewer. Recipe is here: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2...ialStout-1532544620216.pdf?487624729713520424

Brew went fine. As I recall (incomplete records for yeast back then) I pitched two packs of S-04, without re-hydration. OG was 1.084 as I tend to go a little heavy on water, especially before I used a hop bag.

All readings taken with a hydrometer.

Transferred to secondary (because recipe said to) after 19 days. I did NOT check gravity like an idiot. I had recently learned not to transfer after 2 weeks regardless of gravity, and I also stopped using dry yeast around that same time and started making starters. It has been in secondary ever since. Temp has been around 66-68 consistently.

Today I went to bottle ASSUMING it would be done, and the FG is 1.030. NB comments state 1.020 is normal for this brew, and the batch I brewed a week after this with a starter of S-04 is at exactly 1.020.

Taste is fine. A little sweet, but I added 4 oz of ground cocoa nibs, and it is not bad. Math says 7.09 ABV.

I would bottle it right now, but my primary concern is creating bottle bombs. I had intended to add CBC-1 to carb as it has been in secondary for so long, but I do not want to do anything until I get some feedback.

My main question, that I feel is different from many other threads, is whether I can restart fermentation after it has been in secondary for so long. Would I be better off bottling it? Or should I transfer back to a primary, warm and pitch some S-05 or something else, and give it a month or so?

 

[day_trippr]

S04 is a beast, it doesn't leave much behind under ~11% abv, but you're way under that. It drops my imperial chocolate stout from 1.107 to 1.028 every time within a week, so I expect for whatever reason that batch was "done" well before you racked it.
I'd go ahead and bottle - and as always, include one 12 ounce soda bottle in the mix so you can see how conditioning is progressing.

A starter using dry yeast? Not unheard of, but perhaps counterproductive...

Cheers!

 

[Adam Booth]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I pitched two packs as it was recommended by a yeast pitching calculator. Not sure what happened but I used a blow off tube due to very active fermentation as you would expect.

Ya the dry yeast starter on the second batch was more of an experiment, and it was my first starter. It appears to have worked based on .01 lower FG, although it is possible that is due more to rehydration than the starter itself.

So you do not believe I will have any issues with bottle bombs with some fermentable sugars left over?

 

[day_trippr]

Honestly, no. I can't recall any S04 batch changing gravity after a week or so, and you went almost three weeks before racking off the cake. Two packs of S04 was a reasonable pitch, even if you just dropped it in the fermentor, and again the abv was well inside that strain's wheelhouse...

Cheers!

 

[isomerization]

If you’re concerned about bottle bombs, pitching the CBC-1 now, and give it a few days to see if fermentation restarts. You will have more than enough yeast in solution when you bottle.

 

[Adam Booth]

I went ahead and bottled it with 5 grams of CBC-1 shooting for around 2.2 volumes. Took day_tripprs advice and used a 16oz plastic bottle. Not a soda bottle, but should work as intended. Worst case I pop caps and recap. Now that I have a table top capper it is far less painful