stuck, again

[duskb]

I brewed up a higher gravity pumpkin ale about 3 weeks ago and pitched on top of a live cake of White Labs witbeir yeast (for the hell of it). Fermentation went mad. I was scraping sludge up off the floor for an hour before I put in a blow off tube.

Given its hasty start I figured in two weeks the yeast would've cleaned up. Instead, I checked gravity last week and I'm only at 1.030. I need to squeeze at least another 6-7 point out of this before I think of kegging it. Before folks have suggested dropping in a more neutral yeast in there to start things up again. I can't remember what though. I have plenty of 001 I could throw in to start things up, will that work?

Also, I was planning on using the yeast from this batch for another witbier. How will having two different yeast strands mixed together affect my next wheat batch? Should I just dump the yeast and go get a new tube?

 

[hoppymonkey]

The FG could vary depending on a lot of things so you will need to post a recipe and processes to get a better idea. As far have two different yeasts goes, usually one is a better reproducer than the other so it will eventually take over especially from batch to batch. don't let me discourage from experimenting though. Anything is worth a try.

 

[david_42]

I'd decant to another fermenter and add the new yeast if you want to harvest the witbeir yeast. You can mix yeasts, but there's no telling what your results might be.

Alternately, you can siphon some of the trub out and save that for your next witbier.

 

[Sacdan]

If you used pumpkin in the brew, it could still be in suspension, giving you a false reading using your hydrometer. I have had this happen before. How clear is the brew?

 

[duskb]

The FG could vary depending on a lot of things so you will need to post a recipe and processes to get a better idea. As far have two different yeasts goes, usually one is a better reproducer than the other so it will eventually take over especially from batch to batch. don't let me discourage from experimenting though. Anything is worth a try.

i thought you might say that. I don't have the exact recipe but it was something like this...

9lbs pale extract
1lb specialty grain
various spices and orange peel
hops per recipe

1 hour boil, top off to 5 gallons. OG 1.068

Dumped batch into fresh cake of WLP400.

I don't recall what the FG should be (and I'm not very anal about it as long as it's below 1.020).

The sample I had tastes great, very sweet though. I'd like to shave off several points if I can.

 

[duskb]

If you used pumpkin in the brew, it could still be in suspension, giving you a false reading using your hydrometer. I have had this happen before. How clear is the brew?

Good point, I should be clear that I did not use pumpkin, just pumpkin pie spices. I cheated on this one to save time.

 

[hoppymonkey]

Assuming you didn't mash very high, the first thing i would try is to bring the temp up to 72-75 degrees and give the carboy a good swirl to bring the yeast back into suspension. I would try that first before resorting to harder measures.

 

[Clementine]

I would not plan on reusing this yeast it is like trying to bred a race horse and you are using a three legged mule for the stud?!? Also the pumpkin means you will have to wash the heck out of it to get the muck out of it.

If you add more yeast it is not really going to do much. There is no O2 left in the beer so adding more yeast meaning you are adding 100 Billion yeast it takes somthing like a Trillion yeast cells to ferment a brew hence why we aerate and add nutrients so the yeast multiple out before going to work on the wort. You can't re-areate the brew or you will Oxidize the brew. Typically if you have a stuck brew you pitch it onto a cake and the large number of yeast work for you to fix your beer but as you did that I think the beer is probably as low as it will go. I had a brew hang higher than I hoped (wanted 1.015-.012 got 1.018) I did a Force Fermentation test on it and when that did not budge I bottled it, One of my favoriate beers now.

I would raise temp and swirl the yeast up or try a FFT before I mess with it.

Clem