Prevention of stuck fermentation in a Christmas Strong Ale

[johnnyjumpup]

Howdy all,

I'm making a big Christmas Strong Ale (with spices and cherries) and want to make sure, now that it may be too late, that I don't end-up with a stuck fermentation.

Over 17% of the fermentables were adjunct sugars (cane and brown plus cherry juice), I aerated well, and pitched one vial of Whitelabs Belgian Strong Ale and one packet of Danstar Belle Sasion (for a five gallon batch). I had a nice vigorous fermentation within a few hours and great krausen.

My OG was 1.096 and it has dropped to 1.036 in two days.

The carboys are still off-gassing and feel warm after 4 days (though they have of course cooled quite a bit).

It seems to me that my fermentation is solid and healthy, if very fruity (which I am hoping for)- but I haven't made a beer this big before (expecting around 10-11.5% abv) and I want to make sure I don't miss the signs of a fermentation that is beginning to stick.

What do you think? Does this sound like a happy fermentation that just needs time and solitude, or would you recommend pitching more yeast and raising the temp in the brew pantry?

I'd love your feed back.

If this turns out well (and from the taste of the sample that I used to check the gravity, it ought to) I'll post the recipe soon.

Cheers

 

[progmac]

i've gotten the best fermentation when i start low (mid 60s) and finish high (mid 70s) and maybe add a bit of sugar after high krausen. using pure O2 seems to help noticeably as well although it is too late for that now. i got 83% attenuation out of an RIS with a SG of 1.1 this way (FG 1.017). i used to get stuck in the mid/upper 20s

 

[JF_HBrews]

Give it some time, 6 days is nothing. You can gently rock the carboys to re-suspend the yeast but it will probably be fine regardless.