Stuck Fermentation - Porter

[yerffejecarb]

Need some Advice please!!!

I don't have the recipe in front of me but here a few details -

OG = 1.052
Wyeast - Brittish Ale yeast II (pitched straight from the fully inflated sack)

After 12 hours it took off fermenting hard and by the 24 hour mark the temp on the fermometer was 75'F (in a 68' room, really close to the thermostat) so I decided to throw a damp towel over it and try to cool it off ...hoping for a 65-68'F fermentation.

Next morning it hadn't gone down too much in temp but by the next night it was down to 62, so I removed the towel to let it come back up. It leveled off at about 68' and appeared to still be fermenting away....slower than at 75 .

3 nights ago I took a reading because it didn't appear to be churning any more...SG=1.026. Directly after taking the gravity I rousted the fermenter good hoping to wake things up. Took another gravity last night...SG=1.026.

Pretty sure I shocked my yeast and they are now dorment. I had a few thoughts...

1 - make a starter with the same yeast and pitch it.
2 - rack it and wait to see if it wakes up a bit....if nothing make a starter and pitch it.
3 - RDWHAHB - check it in a week.

I wanted to get your opinions on what I should do and ask if there are any drawbacks to re-pitching the same yeast.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[ian-atx]

I would give it another day or so and keep an eye out. Racking may get some yeast back into suspension.

One time I had a stuck fermentation, and after giving it ample time and letting it warm up a bit, it still wouldn't budge. So I hit it with some US-05 and that was able to get it down a few more points to an acceptable level.

 

[Nateo]

First off, always make a starter using vials or smack packs:

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Racking can help stir up the yeast so it has better contact with the remaining sugar, which may restart your fermentation. I would try swirling the beer around a bit in primary first to see if that helps.

How long has it been in primary? It seems like it's been less than a week, from your description. If it's only been a week (or less) I'd do #3 first, then try #2 if that doesn't work.

 

[Hermit]

You may have no fermentable sugars left. My only 'stuck' fermentation was my second brew using extract. The only one I ever had blow off on too. Since it carbed up with the priming sugars I wrote it off to the extract. Repackaged from who knows where by a reputable dealer, but for all I know he was getting the cheapest possible and it wasn't really meant for brew but for bakers.

 

[yerffejecarb]

It has been 9 days in primary.

If I decide to make a starter it would be with a fresh smack pack and some DME. When I said the same yeast I mean another package of Brittish Ale II...not "the same" yeast off of the bottom of the fermenter .

I rousted the fermenter and got everything moving around really good, so I am not sure if racking will help. And the LME from the LHB store has always been consistantly good, I can't imagine it was bad or unfermentable sugars either.

 

[Nateo]

I'm cheap. I mean, cheeeeeap. I'd use Nottingham to re-pitch. Just one packet, drop it in. It's like $1.69 from my LHBS, vs $7 for a smack pack.

I leave my beers in primary for 4+ weeks, so 9 days isn't very long to me. I'd give it more time.

 

[yerffejecarb]

. Just one packet, drop it in. .

Like dry??? just dump in the dry packet? or mick it with some warm water and get it into solution first?