Oatmeal stout fizzled out

[wanabrew]

I made an oatmeal stout from a Midwest kit and substituted yeast with Whites Lab Irish Ale yeast. I made it on a Sunday and left it while away for the week. Friday night I checked it and appears little or no fermentation. I pitched at 70 degrees and put the batch in my basement which according to the strip thermometer is at 64 degrees. I moved the brew Friday night to a warmer location (69/70 degrees) thinking it was a tiny bit to cold. Now after two day it appears fermentation is starting but not gang busters. I'm gone again for another 5 days. Should I re-pitch again before I leave or just leave it alone?

 

[mcaple1]

the magic crystal ball says...........c'mon dude. take a friggin gravity reading. It's probably done yo! Don't be acting all crazy and adding more yeast.

 

[BrewStooge]

Leave it be, it may be done with the main ferment after a week anyway. Let it set for another week or two, check FG and go from there. If it's going now the yeast will be fine.

 

[mcaple1]

My RIS with an OG of 1.100 was down to 1.022 within 4 days. Don't be surprised at how fast yeast can be...but take gravity readings to be sure. Wait for them to level off, and once they do, bottle or keg it up. I let mine sit for 3 weeks in primary (only secondary for fruit additions, dry hops, etc) even if I hit my FG in 4-5 days. Leave the yeast alone!!!

 

[imaragingbull]

Leave alone to ferment out and for the yeast to do some cleanup.

 

[wanabrew]

I had a mishap with my hydrometer so I couldn't check the OG. I picked up a new one and check the current SG friday which was 1.020. I also checked for a yeast cake at the same time thinking it should be kinda like my first batch (which was an IPA). The yeast cake was pretty thin. Not like the IPA which was an inch or more. I'll let be till next week and check the SG again. Think I should move it back to the cooler temp?

 

[imaragingbull]

Probably best to keep it at the upper bound from now. Esters and off flavors from poor temp control typically form from the first portion of the fermentation. Higher temp now still within the tolerances should help it ferment out.

 

[wanabrew]

K. Thanks guys

 

[squirrelly]

I consider 64* to be a bit too high for a stout honestly. I ferment my stouts (and all of my English/Irish styles) down exactly at 60*. That's 58 in the fermentation freezer and 60 in the fermenter. This gives me a 4-6 week primary, but leaves me with a great clean crisp ale. If you ever have a chance to tour a British brew pub or brewery you will see that their room temp is actually about 58*.

Just because you don't see signs of fermentation does not mean fermentation has finished. After the two or three week fermentation process, the yeast still has a lot of work to do cleaning up after itself. One of the biggest problems I find while judging beer is that the beer is too young. If the beer is taken out of primary too soon without given a chance to burn off dyacital and DMS, that beer goes from a possible high 30 point beer down to a low 20 point beer.