Re-pitched, FG still too high...going to secondary

[oysterhead]

My first brew....a Brewer's Best English Brown Ale.

The OG was good (1.046). But took a while (1.5 hours?) to get the temp down after boil....stirred the wort but not overly so. Didn't hydrate the Nottingham yeast. Fermentation was vigorous, but it took about 30 hours to start. About 10 days in, the SG was a constant 1.016 (multiple days) - above my recommended FG, and only 65% attenuation. Fermentation temp was around 65F for the first week, but after I took my first hydro reading, I moved it to a spot where it was 70F.

My hypothesis was that the yeast were stressed, either from not being hydrated or because I didn't aerate the wort enough. So I hydrated and repitched some more Nottingham three days ago (at day 14). The temperature-corrected SG is still 1.016 (day 17).

That leaves me to think that somehow I exhausted all the sugars.

Either way, I'm going to cash in my chips and go put it in the carboy. Fortunately, I have a second brew (a Brewers Best Bold California Ale that I plan to dry hop with 2 oz of whole Cascade) already going (think I did a much better job this time), so it's all good.

Any thoughts on what happened to the Brown Ale?

 

[Joker]

Per the instructions it should finish at 1.010 - 1.012 a FG of 1.016 isn't that far off that I would worry about it. For reference later pitching more yeast will rarely cure the problem, the yeast count in the brew is way higher then what you pitched and the yeast is still there ready to work. In other words its the conditions in the wort that stopped them from further fermentation not the yeast itself.

 

[FlyGuy]

It's hard to say why you didn't reach your expected final gravity -- some brews just go this way. The good news is that you are relatively close, and this is a style that will be OK with some residual sweetness.

I think you already know what to do better next time (like rehydrating your yeast before pitching). So I bet you won't have the same problem again. You might also play close attention to your fermentation temperature because a degree or two on the cold side can sometimes cause yeast to drop out and under-attenuate.

FWIW, I think you did well by rehydrating some yeast and trying again. This trick won't always work, but it is worth a shot. If it hasn't been very long since you tried this, I suggest moving that secondary to a warm spot and see what happens.

Best of luck!