Possible Stuck Fermentation

[hotcarl5150]

Hey everyone. I put an Irish Red Ale into primary 7 days ago with an OG of 1.055. I just checked it today and it's only at 1.035. I posted a few days ago about my WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast taking off quickly and then falling off, which sounds like a normal thing for that strain given your replies. I'm new to this, and I've done my homework, but I don't want to jump the gun if more patience is required.

I mashed in at 153, and my final mash temp was about 150 after 60 minutes. It was a really cold day and I was in the garage, so I'm sure that accounts for the heat loss. I don't think the wort is chock full of dextrins given the mash temp, but am I missing something?

I've kept the primary fermenter in the 68-70 range the whole time, but it did spike to 72 when the WLP004 took off. No big deal, I think. I'm inclined to rack to secondary just to agitate the wort and maybe reinvigorate the yeast. Aside from that, it looks and tastes really good, just currently has too high of a gravity. I confirmed it with refractometer and hydrometer. They're within .001 of each other, so I'm confident that my gear is good.

Again, only been in primary for 7 days. Do I just need to sit on my hands?

Thoughts? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance, everyone!

 

[Biergarden]

Hey everyone. I put an Irish Red Ale into primary 7 days ago with an OG of 1.055. I just checked it today and it's only at 1.035. I posted a few days ago about my WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast taking off quickly and then falling off, which sounds like a normal thing for that strain given your replies. I'm new to this, and I've done my homework, but I don't want to jump the gun if more patience is required.

I mashed in at 153, and my final mash temp was about 150 after 60 minutes. It was a really cold day and I was in the garage, so I'm sure that accounts for the heat loss. I don't think the wort is chock full of dextrins given the mash temp, but am I missing something?

I've kept the primary fermenter in the 68-70 range the whole time, but it did spike to 72 when the WLP004 took off. No big deal, I think. I'm inclined to rack to secondary just to agitate the wort and maybe reinvigorate the yeast. Aside from that, it looks and tastes really good, just currently has too high of a gravity. I confirmed it with refractometer and hydrometer. They're within .001 of each other, so I'm confident that my gear is good.

Again, only been in primary for 7 days. Do I just need to sit on my hands?

Thoughts? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance, everyone!

It looks like you are doing almost everything right except you didn't mention anything about to a starch conversion test during your mash. That would explain why you're experiencing a stuck fermentation. Additionally, you didn't mention if you're aerating the wort prior to pitching. That will also cause a stuck fermentation. If that were the case a packet of dry yeast would do the trick.

 

[kh54s10]

I would give the fermenter a bit of a swirl, or gently stir the yeast cake up a little. Then wait a few more days. I have never checked for a final gravity in less than 14 days so I cannot really say how much it should have dropped so far.

If the swirl and extra time don't help you may need to pitch more yeast.

Did you make a starter? Pitching enough yeast solves a lot of problems.

 

[hotcarl5150]

Thanks for both replies so far. I did neglect to do a starch conversion test; that'll be a mistake I don't replicate. I did not use a starter. I just shook up and poured the WLP004 vial into the primary. I did shake up the wort pretty good when I pitched, but who knows if that did the trick or not. I think I'll swirl the fermenter a tiny bit and wait longer. If the OG is still high, I may re-pitch and hope for the best. Thanks very much, guys!

 

[fartinmartin]

Don't rack to secondary, you need that yeast that's sat at the bottom, if you racked it it can't do anything for you .

 

[eastoak]

Don't rack to secondary, you need that yeast that's sat at the bottom, if you racked it it can't do anything for you .

good advice. without the yeast you are dead in the water. or beer....

 

[frazier]

So, both your refractometer and hydrometer read 1.035? That doesn't make sense.

Alcohol in the beer throws off the FG readings. If 1.035 is from your refractometer, you are closer to 1.022. Still high, but not as bad.

 

[hotcarl5150]

That's pretty interesting. I took my refractometer sample from the hydrometer jar right after I spun the hydrometer. I appreciate that insight. I'll have to do some homework on why that is.

 

[tehnick]

That's pretty interesting. I took my refractometer sample from the hydrometer jar right after I spun the hydrometer. I appreciate that insight. I'll have to do some homework on why that is.

Alcohol bends light differently than water in a refractometer so you have to do a math conversion to adjust the gravity. Honestly I don't use one anymore. Was too much hassle when my hydrometer was enough. If you want more range in hydrometers for readability, there's a set out there with three separate ones for high gravity, normal gravity range, and finishing gravity. I've considered them, but I've had good luck with my hydrometer.

I'd always make a starter to be safe. They say you can pitch directly to the wort (up to around 1.060) but I'd rather test viability first with a starter, grow the yeast, and toss it in while it's at the end of the growth phase so it jump starts the activity. The only time I'll be lazy and not make a starter is with anything lower than 1.040 but I tend to shoot for bigger beers.

Once you iron out the details, incorporate the steps into your brewing regimen so you leave less to cover when things go wrong. If you are new to brewing and haven't done many batches then I'd get good with SMaSH beers to dial in your gear, then experiment some more. I wish I would've done that but I went balls to the wall and learned the hard way with stuck sparges, stuck fermentations, and off flavors from not monitoring temps. The smallest detail can make the biggest difference.

Sent from my super rad tablet device thingy.

 

[fartinmartin]

Here we go again, refractometer, before pitching yeast read the SG scale, after pitching the yeast read the Brix scale and convert with one of the calculators, that corrects the reading from the refractometer and they are bang on, very simple , very accurate, very convenient !
Best tool you will ever buy for your home brewing, providing you avoid the misinformation in many posts.