Sanity Check on completed fermentation

[akinsgre]

I'm afraid I stopped fermentation in my Stout before it was done and am wondering if it's worth pitching again to be sure; or whether there is anything else I can/should do.

Last week I brewed a Stout and it "bubbled" for about 3 days. On the fourth day, I accidentally dropped the temp to 60F. The next morning, it had stopped bubbling.

I know that bubbling, or lack thereof, isn't a good indication of fermentation, but I checked gravity over three days and it's not dropping.

The predicted final (from the recipe - which is at "Gargoyle Stout" recipe - Brewprint) was for 1.018. The actual final is 1.029

I was hoping for a high FG. I mashed at 162 and used 4oz of Maltodextrin. However, based on OG of 1050 and FG of 1028 my ABV is 2.9% and that seems a little low.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[KozHops]

Anyway you can warm it back up? I'm also wondering if that high mash temp left too many unfermentables in the wort. Same thing happened to me with a Belgian Strong.

I would warm it back up to see if you get any activity.

 

[Salmonhouse]

+1 too high a mash temp and bring up your fermentation temp,

maybe try to rouse the yeast or repitch.

Your gravity is much too high so you should definitely try something.

The 67% base grain means you have 33% specialty and they are not as fermentable either. I would have used more 2-row personally and mash at 154F for sweetness.

60 is outside of the temp range for Irish ale yeast but make sure that was the temp of your beer, not the air, cause they are not the same.

If it was a stalled fermentation and there are sugars to be had you could try to pitch the French Saison yeast, it will go to town and finish your beer.

Otherwise you need to look into alph amalyse or beano or something but everyone will tell you that it's a bad idea so forget i mentioned it.

Maybe drink it anyway? Add a shot of whiskey to each glass?? Make another batch with high ABV and blend them? Dump it and consider it a learning experience??

Good luck and let us know what you do and how it turns out,
-Brad

 

[akinsgre]

Thanks everyone. I'll take a stab at warming it up and repitch if that doesn't work.

 

[dcp27]

id rouse it and warm it first before wasting money on more yeast. i dont see it helping much in either case tho, thats way too high of a mash temp and the malto-dextrin just added to it. brett, bugs, or amylase are probably you're best bets for getting a lower FG. id go with the amylase and then just add a lil more malto dextrin at bottling to get your desired fg.

 

[akinsgre]

I just checked and it's at 69 and still not fermenting anymore. I don't want to raise it too high and risk esters. I think I'll try to hit 72 and check the gravity again.

I hear what you are saying about the high mash temp. I did that because the last stout I did was too thin. that was mashed at 158 -156.

If this one doesn't turn out right, I'll just have to try again