Stuck Barley Wine at 1.058

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zinger084

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Hello,

Started at 1.310 and right now is stuck at 1.058 (for probably at least 2 months now...). It's already been transferred from the primary to the secondary.

Using US-04 Safale yeasties.

Should I re-pitch another couple packs of yeast?

Swirl around some with the airlock off to oxygenate?

Other ideas?

Thanks,
 
im assumming thats 1.130? definitely dont oxygenate it at this point. what was your recipe, mash temps, fermentation temps?
 
no, that's 1.310.

don't have recipie on hand...

ferm temp around 55 deg f...

i think i need to pitch another pack of US-04 and if not, I should probably go with champagne yeast.

the beer at 1.058 is very thick obviously. it's still fermenting, but very very slow...

other ideas?
 
theres no way that was 1.310, otherwise you'd be at 33%ABV, which no yeast stands a chance in.

champagne yeast won't help, its been cultured to eat simple sugars not the more complex sugars in beer that will mostly be left at this point.

S-04 already tends to floc out pretty strong so its possible at such a low ferm temp that it prematurely floc'd even more. i'd give it a light swirl and warm it up into the low 60s. if it doesnt get going, then id make a starter and pitch it at high krausen.
 
1.310 > 1.058 is ~33% ABV

i don't think US-05 or any other Ale yeast can survive that high of an alcohol level

even if they could 55° is prob too low to get much activity from ale yeast
 
From 1.131 down to 1.058 will give you an alcohol percentage of about 9.6%. Thus at the current alcohol levels in your wort are approaching the yeast's tolerance level of about 10%. I think S-04 is similar to Whitbread strain which I don't believe has the stomac to deal with really big beers. In my opinion, I would try to select another strain. For really big beers, I like to go with Wyeast 1728 Scottish ale yeast. That yeast is a beast and will certainly knock of a few more points. Make a solid starter and pitch it. Don't stir your beer at this point or you'll be risking oxidation and also warm it up. 55 Fahrenheit is too cold to ferment an ale.
 
+1, the S-04 is going to start petering off at this point, but it should be able to take you closer to 12%. chico (S-05/WLP001/1056), scottish (WLP028/1728), belgian (WLP530/3787, etc), or high gravity (WLP099) can take you the rest of the way. i think even notty can too
 
I agree with the above posts. I'd also add that you should certainly make a starter and pitch it at its most active state. If it were me, I'd do a two stage starter with the wlp099. Maybe a three liter starter, cooled, decanted, then a one liter starter, and pitch the whole thing 8 hours into stage two. Pitching active, aerated yeast could make or break the batch.
 
Why did you rack to secondary before hitting the final gravity? I would make up a liter of wort and pitch another pack of yeast in. Once it hits high krausen, pitch it into the barleywine. raise the temp to 70f at this point. If this was all extract with no simple sugar, you might get it down to 1.045 or so.
 
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