oxygenate and repitch, or just repitch

[tmurph6]

So admittedly, I'm not so much a beginner as I think I've been doing this for over a decade, but I definitely need some help with this one.

So, typically when I brew, I don't drink. However, this last brew I was a little sloshed and don't quite remember particulars. Furthermore, it was my first 10 gallon batch.

On to it, my OG ended up being 1.074 as a milk stout...I think, according to my refractometer, if I remember right (who takes notes right). When I measured the FG with the refractometer, and adjusted using Northern Brewers calculator, it said I was at 1.045, which I knew couldn't be right. So I got out the trusty hydrometer, and read 1.032. Now, I expected this thing to be around 1.020, so I'm way off there. It's been fermenting for a week, krausen has fallen.

My question:

1. I have some windsor yeast as "emergency" packs. Should I just pitch it and see if it can't finish the job.
2. Should I oxygenate it a little then pitch some windsor? My gut says no, but wanted some experience behind it.


Finally, the recipe:

Briess - Pale Ale Malt Grain 22.000 lb Yes No 80% 3.5 srm
Milk Sugar (Lactose) Sugar 2.000 lb No No 76% 0.0 srm
Chocolate Malt (UK) Grain 12.000 oz Yes No 73% 450.0 srm
Pale Chocolate Grain 12.000 oz Yes No 60% 250.0 srm
Roasted Barley Grain 12.000 oz Yes No 55% 300.0 srm
coffee malt Grain 12.000 oz Yes No 0% 150.0 srm
Briess - Caramel Malt 120L Grain 8.000 oz Yes No 74% 120.0 srm

Used 2 packs of s-04 in a 10 gallon batch.

Thanks all!

 

[noggins]

I'd let it sit another week and take another reading before doing anything. Don't rush them fuggers, you'll piss em off.

 

[stpug]

Roasted malts don't create much fermentables.
Coffee malt doesn't either.
Lactose is unfermentable.
C120L will contain a portion of unfermentables.

You have almost 15% of your grain bill that is highly unfermentable in darkly roasted/toasted/kilned malts. PLUS 2 lbs of lactose which is unfermentable. PLUS you pitched S04 which is not an overachiever by any stretch. You can give it more time but I suspect you may only see another point or three come off your FG hydro reading. You can try rousing the yeast and warming the fermenter, but besides that you may have what you're gonna get.

Anything you throw in there now will need to able to work on complex sugars and sugars not very fermentable by ale strains. A high attenuating lager strain pitched at high krausen from a starter might bring it down some. I don't think Windsor will help.

 

[tmurph6]

To pugs point, I thought the samples tasted great!

 

[stpug]

To pugs point, I thought the samples tasted great!

That's really all that matters. A milk stout should be full bodied and a tad sweet.

 

[Gish]

I have made a similar split batch with safale 04 and safale 05 and the 04 finished around 1.028 and the 05 finished around 1.020 so don't sweat it

 

[Calder]

2 lbs of lactose will give you .007 unfermentables. The specialty grains will be similar at .005/.006. So you have roughly .013 of unfermentable sugars, which is a lot.

What temp did you mash at? I'm betting it was high 155 F+. You may well be done if you mashed high. Only something like 3711 may help with moving it a few points.

Windsor will do nothing. It is one of the lowest attenuating yeasts around. It will not do anything better than S-04.

To answer you question. If you add any yeast, do not aerate. If the yeast does nothing, all you have done is aerate the beer. It is best to start the yeast off in a starter, and aerate the hell out of that to get reproduction, and then add the starter wort and yeast to the main beer.