I am sure many of you are well aware how frustrating stuck fermentations can be. Outside of the "is my beer ruined" threads they seem to be the #1 cause of distress among homebrewers. I'm no stranger to the feeling. But as they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so I've taken extra efforts to ensure my beers fully attenuate.
Or so I thought. About a month ago, I brewed a Westy XII clone, taking every precaution in the book on it: built a monster 5.5L starter of WY3787, oxygenated well, exercised precise temperature control and ramped up as scheduled. Unfortunately, the yeast had other plans, taking my beer from 1.099 to a somewhat inflated 1.020 SG. Which would be great if it was a barleywine or an Impy, but this was a Westy XII clone, and it shouldn't finish north of 1.013.
I resolved, this time, to not give up the ghost. The beer smelled and tasted lovely, but there was a bit of residual sweetness to it that made it undesirable. Although 9.5% is pretty high, it's nowhere near the alcohol tolerance of the Westmalle yeast strain, so I suspected a classic case of yeast stall. As such, I decided to kick start fermentation in a slightly novel way: dry yeast and yeast nutrient. I picked up a satchet of Belle Saison and some Wyeast nutrient blend, rehydrated and pitched to my stagnant beer.
Within an hour, there were bubbles. Could be residual carbonation, though. The following morning, a small krausen had formed. And about an hour ago, I had to switch to a blowoff hose.
Time will tell, but I dare say I might've unstuck myself. Cheers!
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1463614347.647923.jpg
Or so I thought. About a month ago, I brewed a Westy XII clone, taking every precaution in the book on it: built a monster 5.5L starter of WY3787, oxygenated well, exercised precise temperature control and ramped up as scheduled. Unfortunately, the yeast had other plans, taking my beer from 1.099 to a somewhat inflated 1.020 SG. Which would be great if it was a barleywine or an Impy, but this was a Westy XII clone, and it shouldn't finish north of 1.013.
I resolved, this time, to not give up the ghost. The beer smelled and tasted lovely, but there was a bit of residual sweetness to it that made it undesirable. Although 9.5% is pretty high, it's nowhere near the alcohol tolerance of the Westmalle yeast strain, so I suspected a classic case of yeast stall. As such, I decided to kick start fermentation in a slightly novel way: dry yeast and yeast nutrient. I picked up a satchet of Belle Saison and some Wyeast nutrient blend, rehydrated and pitched to my stagnant beer.
Within an hour, there were bubbles. Could be residual carbonation, though. The following morning, a small krausen had formed. And about an hour ago, I had to switch to a blowoff hose.
Time will tell, but I dare say I might've unstuck myself. Cheers!
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1463614347.647923.jpg
