Russian imperial stout above alcohol tolerance

[Nick Z]

I was told directly by a Lallemond rep that you don't need to hydrate their yeasts. He said that just introduces the opportunity for something to go wrong. That's why I went to direct pitching from the packet. I have not had a problem with my yeast taking off.

I've been doing direct pitching for a while and haven't noticed any issues. That being said I am usually doing a 2X to 3X over pitch.

When I've rehydrated with GoFerm the airlock sometimes starts bubbling earlier.

For this one I did a direct pitch of an entire packet of US-05 for a one gallon batch. Everything I read said to do a significant over pitch for a big beer.

 

[gaviga]

I've been doing direct pitching for a while and haven't noticed any issues. That being said I am usually doing a 2X to 3X over pitch.

When I've rehydrated with GoFerm the airlock sometimes starts bubbling earlier.

For this one I did a direct pitch of an entire packet of US-05 for a one gallon batch. Everything I read said to do a significant over pitch for a big beer.

I did a side-by-side and actually got better results with the direct pitch. Others in my local HBC had the same results.

 

[Nick Z]

It's slowed down quite a bit. Sooner than I am comfortable with. I moved it from a location that is in the 60s F to an area in the low 70s F.

I've roused it and given it nutrients again. But I'm getting increasingly worried about contamination and I think I'm going to stop opening the fermenter.

If it does poop out too soon I will probably try to use Nottingham on it.

 

[hotbeer]

I don't see that you've ever posted what the actual SG is at any time during the 7 days since the OP.

Do you know what the is within the last few days? If you aren't checking the SG, then just stop worrying about it. When it cleans up and light shined through it no longer gets diffused or you can even see stuff on the other side, then it's very likely done all it's going to do and you can bottle it.

Beer in the fermenter doesn't continually bubble vigorously and for many days if any after the krausen. And you may never see a bubble unless you look closely with a magnifier. Airlocks may not bubble at all.

But I'm getting increasingly worried about contamination

Good possibility if you keep worrying and dink around with it so much.

 

[Nick Z]

I just racked it a gallon glass jug and took a gravity reading. Its 1.050. That's only 7.9% ABV

That seems too high. I see no bubbles or any other signs of fermentation continuing. I'm guessing it's stuck.

I'm considering inoculating it with Nottingham to try and drive it lower.

Thoughts, please?

 

[G_robertus]

Your recipe has quite a lot of unfermentables or poorly fermentables. What temperature did you mash at? How did you measure gravity (hydrometer vs refractometer)? Have you used nutrients? Did you aerate the wort? It's been going for just over two weeks, so it might take some more time given the OG. Give it at least a week or two more before jumping to conclusions.
In my experience pitching extra yeast often does not help with attenuation when you're this far into fermentation. If it does it will likely be very slow. If you want a nuclear option you could use Brettanomyces, but there's no telling where you will end up then and that would take very long as well.

 

[RM-MN]

I just racked it a gallon glass jug and took a gravity reading. Its 1.050. That's only 7.9% ABV

That seems too high. I see no bubbles or any other signs of fermentation continuing. I'm guessing it's stuck.

I'm considering inoculating it with Nottingham to try and drive it lower.

Thoughts, please?

Yeast only produce CO2 for the first few days. Your beer is well past that now. Take a look at this article: The Life Cycle of Yeast

 

[Nick Z]

Your recipe has quite a lot of unfermentables or poorly fermentables. What temperature did you mash at? How did you measure gravity (hydrometer vs refractometer)? Have you used nutrients? Did you aerate the wort? It's been going for just over two weeks, so it might take some more time given the OG. Give it at least a week or two more before jumping to conclusions.
In my experience pitching extra yeast often does not help with attenuation when you're this far into fermentation. If it does it will likely be very slow. If you want a nuclear option you could use Brettanomyces, but there's no telling where you will end up then and that would take very long as well.

If memory serves the mash temp was 154F.

I did use nutrients (Wyeast Beer) and aerated the wort. Several times. That's why I'm surprised it seems to have stalled out.

I did throw in some Nottingham. It looks like it's gathering its strength. A bit of foam is building on the surface of the beer.

If it does get started, it's going to take a while.

 

[G_robertus]

If memory serves the mash temp was 154F.

I did use nutrients (Wyeast Beer) and aerated the wort. Several times. That's why I'm surprised it seems to have stalled out.

I did throw in some Nottingham. It looks like it's gathering its strength. A bit of foam is building on the surface of the beer.

If it does get started, it's going to take a while.

And how do you mash? Continuous heating? Since it's a small batch, using a stove or an oven? It could be that you overshot your temperature. It's a tad high for what your recipe states, but it still seems like a case of under-attenuation. I'm interested to see if this helps drop the gravity a bit more.

 

[Nick Z]

And how do you mash? Continuous heating? Since it's a small batch, using a stove or an oven? It could be that you overshot your temperature. It's a tad high for what your recipe states, but it still seems like a case of under-attenuation. I'm interested to see if this helps drop the gravity a bit more.

I mash in a cooler. And no, I can't hold a consistent mash temperature for more than ten minutes because it is such a small mass. Normally my beers over attenuate. Sometimes by quite a bit.

But in this case my cooler couldn't hold all the grains and liquid. So I mashed on the stove with a pot and a candy thermometer. I tried (and mostly failed) to hold the mash temp.

I believe the expected FG of this beer is something around 1.030. 1.050 is much too high. But if that's the best I can do then that is the best I can do.

I still just have some brown foam at the top of the beer. I would have expected the Nottingham yeast to get going by now if it is going to. I'll just wait and see what happens. I did stick the Nottingham into rather hellish conditions.