Need help/answer on High FG Reading

[Bigarcherynut]

I've been brewing all grain BIAB since 2016 and this is a first for me. I've have brewed many styles over the years and always have had great success hitting my numbers and brewing great beers. This is a first for me, so I'm lost on why it happened and asking for your help.

I've brewed a few different Oatmeal Stouts and for the most part have been good but was looking for a different recipe to try. On my searches I came across Yooper's Oatmeal Stout recipe from 2010. Yooper helped me in my early brewing years, and I trust this recipe to be a good one to brew. I brewed the beer exactly to her recipe water profile and all. You can do a search and find her recipe on this Forum and get all the specifics on the brew.

I always hit good numbers on my homemade E Kettle and have also developed my own brewing software that 2 designers from Homebrew Talk helped me with. My OG was 1.056 compared to Yooper's 1.052 using exact grain bill. Mash temp of 156. I have 2 temperature probes in my pot and in the mash to verify it's correct. Ph of 5.48 @ 10 min.

I used the same yeast and made a starter as I usually do and all appeared normal. I pitched using the same aeration methods, I do on medium beers. On my heavier beers, I give the wort a 30 - 60 second shot of O2, but not this batch. Fermented at 64 deg. in my fermentation frig. Within 10 hours had action in the airlock which continued for 3 days which is normal for my beers. My Tilt hydrometer read OG of 1.056 the same as my hydrometer before pitching yeast. After about a week, the gravity reading was 1.024. It has remained the same since then. Now I'm thinking maybe my yeast starter was weak. Last Thursday, Feb. 13 I decided to make a small starter using US-05 which I had. I pitched that late Friday during high krausen. Within 4 hours the airlock had action but that did not last and as of today, 2/18 the gravity reading is still 1.024. It appears it has stopped fermentation. According to BeerSmith my FG should have been around 1.016. That would have given me a ABV of 5.3. As of now my ABV will be 4.2

I'm lost as what happened. Each beer I brew I keep all the numbers in its own file for future reference. I brew a lot of beer and currently have 7 beers on tap and my 2 favorites with family and friends is my Cream ale which I have made close to 300 gallons and over 150 gallons of my Scotch Ale. I work hard at my brewing and I'm happy to say that until now have not had a failure or infected beer.

Thanks for any help on this. I'm sure the beer will taste good but would like to know where I went wrong so as to correct the problem if I brew this again.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Have you verified with a standard hydrometer? Maybe the tilt has some krausen on it and sending a reading that's not accurate.

Edit: Even at 1.024 it's not infected, if that was the case it would ferment to a much lower than expected final gravity.

 

[Bigarcherynut]

Have you verified with a standard hydrometer? Maybe the tilt has some krausen on it and sending a reading that's not accurate.

Edit: Even at 1.024 it's not infected, if that was the case it would ferment to a much lower than expected final gravity.

Not yet. I got 2 of the Tilt's for Christmas but I know what you are saying about the Krausen on them. I did clean it when I pitched the second yeast starter. In Yooper's recipe, she left it the fermenter for 3 weeks. I'm going to do that and then verify the reading. Can't do much now.

Thanks!!

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Yeah, maybe bring the temp up a couple degrees and let it ride for a little while longer, I'd still check with hydrometer when the time comes.

 

[day_trippr]

Mash temp of 156.

Is that typical of the brews to which you're comparing the FG outcome of this brew?

Cheers!

 

[Bigarcherynut]

Yeah, maybe bring the temp up a couple degrees and let it ride for a little while longer, I'd still check with hydrometer when the time comes.

Forgot to mention I did that when I pitched the second yeast starter. Thanks though.

 

[Bigarcherynut]

Is that typical of the brews to which you're comparing the FG outcome of this brew?

Cheers!

I only mash at that temp when I do Stouts but haven't had them stall before.

 

[Bigarcherynut]

Yeah, maybe bring the temp up a couple degrees and let it ride for a little while longer, I'd still check with hydrometer when the time comes.

I decided to open up the fermenter and check. Looks like 1.024. Cleaned off the Tilt sanitize and put it back in and it's reading 1.026.

 

[doug293cz]

You could try adding some amylase enzyme to the fermenter. If your wort happens to have a lot of non-limit dextrin (big dextrin molecules that can be further hydrolyzed into fermentable sugar) this can create more fermentable sugar from the unfermentable dextrin, and result in a lower FG.

Brew on

 

[Bigarcherynut]

You could try adding some amylase enzyme to the fermenter. If your wort happens to have a lot of non-limit dextrin (big dextrin molecules that can be further hydrolyzed into fermentable sugar) this can create more fermentable sugar from the unfermentable dextrin, and result in a lower FG.

Brew on

Having a 5 gallon batch, how much would I add to it?

 

[doug293cz]

Having a 5 gallon batch, how much would I add to it?

You'll need to check the recommendations from the supplier. It can vary widely, depending on what else is in the mix (stuff added to make it easier to handle and measure.)

Brew on

 

[Bobby_M]

You started 4 points high and finished 8 points high. That's not crazy different. Leave it alone, it's probably great.

 

[MaxStout]

Bump up the ferm temp a few degrees, give it another week, then take another hydrometer reading.

 

[BrewZer]

Mash temp of 156.

Is that where it started before you mashed in, or can you maintain a constant temperature throughout the mash?

Yeah, maybe bring the temp up a couple degrees

Forgot to mention I did that when I pitched the second yeast starter. Thanks though.

Bump up the ferm temp a few degrees, give it another week,

The yeast likes 63-75 so let it ride at 68 and maybe swirl the fermenter to stir things up a bit.

 

[ncbrewer]

Maybe your mash thermometer went out of calibration. Might be worth checking it in boiling water just in case.

 

[Bigarcherynut]

Update on my FG problem.

1. My mash thermometer is calibrated, and I also use 2 in my system along with a check with a thermal pen.
2. Looking back, I wonder if my yeast was old??? I did make a starter but may not have updated the packages date in the program for the correct viability. I used Wyeast 1335 which was recommended in Yooper's recipe. After it appeared to stall after 2 weeks of fermentation, I made a small starter using US05 yeast and pitched it the next day at high flocculation. I very little action in the airlock and no change in gravity. Still 1.024
3. I added 1/2 teaspoon of Amylase Enzyme, and it had no effect. Still at 1.024 after a little over a week.

I have decided to take what I ended up with.

My ABV will only be 4.2 instead of 5.3. With that said I'm going to cold crash today and hopefully it's going to taste as good as everyone said that brewed Yooper's Oatmeal Stout. All I can do is brew it again.

Thanks everyone for your help!!

 

[IslandLizard]

I made a small starter using US05 yeast and pitched it the next day at high flocculation.

To resurrect a stalled fermentation you'd need to pitch a large and active (healthy) starter. The lack of oxygen in the fermenting beer prevents the yeast from multiplying, so whatever cells you repitch need to do all the work.

Although I have not tested it, pitching some glucose (about 2 points worth) along with the fresh yeast slurry my help to establish her.

 

[Bigarcherynut]

To resurrect a stalled fermentation you'd need to pitch a large and active (healthy) starter. The lack of oxygen in the fermenting beer prevents the yeast from multiplying, so whatever cells you repitch need to do all the work.

Although I have not tested it, pitching some glucose (about 2 points worth) along with the fresh yeast slurry my help to establish her.

I did a liter and a half starter of US-05 and the web site I read said to pitch it the next day when active and high krausen. It had gone about 32 hours and was looking good. It did say not to oxygenate the wort, so I didn't. It did nothing to the gravity reading.

 

[Bobby_M]

A forced fermentation test will determine if it's a yeast health issue or a wort fermentability issue. You take about 8 ounces of beer out of the fermenter, rehydrate a full pack of dry yeast in some warm water and add all of it to your 8oz of wort/beer. If the gravity doesn't change in a few hours, that wort is not fermentable. If it does change, pitch the whole thing back into the fermenter.

 

[IslandLizard]

It did say not to oxygenate the wort, so I didn't.

That's correct. Since fermentation had already started and progressed, you'd oxidize the beer.
Aeration/oxygenation at that point is a big no-no.