Not hitting FG an issue?

[Jaredm2525]

First off, I have dug through the forums and online looking for answers. I know this is a common topic.

After a few batches, I decided to make my favorite beer, DFH 90. I used the partial mash on page 2 of this recipe https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/all-grain-dogfish-head-90-minute-clone-260675/
OG 1.085 (Beersmith 1.089)
FG 1.017 (Beersmith 1.024)

My OG was 1.092 and I used S-04 for my yeast. The problem I immediately ran into was getting the fermentation temp to 64 deg. For two days, it was at 70 deg, and was exploding all over the place. Krausen was all over the bathroom floor (I live at a place that's already warm and I only have A/C in my bedroom). I convinced my wife that, to save the beer, we must move it into the bedroom directly under the A/C, and that got the temp down to 64-66 deg. The fermentation immediately slowed down. By day 5, it had mostly stopped. After one week, my FG was 1.030, and now after two weeks, it's still 1.030 and tastes somewhat sweet.

I have three questions. Did it not hit it's FG because of the temperature issue I had at the start? Is there anything I can do to still hit my FG? Should I continue with 1.030?

I plan to rack it to a secondary in two days and start dry hopping for the last two weeks.

 

[bigdaddybrew]

1.030 is too sweet. Put it in a warm room, swirl to roust the yeast and hope they eat some more sugar. Maybe the move from hot to cold hibernated the yeast but 65 isnt really cold so that doesn't seem likely. 1.092 is a big beer and would require a big pitch and an alcohol tolerant strain to reach FG. How much yeast did you pitch?

 

[Jaredm2525]

I used a whole packet of Safale S-04, which is what the recipe called for. I just swirled it around and we'll see what it does. Do you recommend repitching some yeast?

 

[bigdaddybrew]

Well there's your problem...the recipe you linked to used Wlp007 and a yeast starter to get enough yeast to pitch this big beer. I would have pitched at least 2 packets of rehydrated S04. A big yeast starter would have better. I would move it to warm room and swirl to roust the yeast and wait a week to see if you get some action. If not you could pitch more yeast.

 

[Jaredm2525]

I live in South Korea and can't get liquid yeast. I just looked back through that post, and sure enough, they say to use 1.5 - 2 packages of S-04. I used one package just like I did with my other brews. Now I know.

I swirled it and will wait a few days and see what happens. If it doesn't work, I'll repitch another packet. Thanks for the help!

 

[Jaredm2525]

If I repitch, how much S-04 should I throw in there to get it from 1.030 to 1.017?

 

[Kevin79]

I would pitch in a whole packet since that is what the recipe called for. You would need as much healthy yeast a possible to help with a stalled fermentation. Use a yeast starter or at the very least, rehydrate your yeast before you pitch. The yeast will be strained, it will be going into an environment with little to no oxygen and alcohol. It is possible you might get some off flavors. Your best bet is to do what the previous poster said. Move to a warmer area, give the fermenter a gentle shake to try and get some yeast back in suspension. Do another gravity reading a day after to see if the gravity drops at all before deciding to repitch

 

[j1n]

At this point your beer is prob gonna have a bunch of off flavors from under pitch and fermenting too hot. Always check how much yeast you need to pitch, there are a bunch of yeast calculators online to help you figure it out.