Stuck Fermentation! Thoughts on fixes!

[joaoking]

Okay so on 12/7 I brewed an IPA. Got an OG of 1.076, when I went to check on it last week on the 26th I found that it had only dropped to 1.040. My fermometer showed it at 58 degrees. Using US 05 that is the bottom of its range I thought maybe the yeast dropped from getting too cold. Unfortunately for me I do not have a fermentation chamber yet. Some day hopefully. anyways the grain bill is as follows.

14lb American 2-Row
1 lb Crystal 20L
.5 lb Crystal 60L
.5 lb Victory
.5 Centennial 60m
.5 Falconers Flight 60m
.75 Centennial 20m
.75 Falconer's 20m
.75 Centennial 5m
.75 Falconer's 5m
was going to dryhop with 3oz Centennial for 7 days

Mashed for 60m at 154
and Mashed out 170 for 10 mins

Once again I pitched US-05. when I discovered what happened I pitched another packet and gave it a good shake. Any other suggestions it has been a few days since I have done it.

 

[Calder]

Did you measure gravity with an hydrometer or a refractometer?

Is your mash thermometer correct?

Move the beer to a warmer location.

 

[buzzerj]

What's the current S.G.? You said you don't have a fermentation chamber yet? What is the beer fermenting in now? I'd definitely get the beer up in temperature. Put it in a warmer room. Did you happen to add any yeast nutrient. I've always found Safale S-05 to be a strong fermenter. Stalling fermentation is frequently due to pH issues but I don't see that it would be an issue with your recipe. A teaspoon of Potassium bicarbonate might not hurt. Nor would a gentle stir to get the yeast off the bottom in a warmer room. Otherwise I'm stumped too.

 

[joaoking]

Thanks for the replies, I did move my bucket from my garage to my cellar and it has gone up in temperatures do also added a tsp of yeast nutrient. I am going to check on it tomorrow and see if the Gravity has dropped any.

 

[Rcbandl]

If you were at 58 im sure it was alot colder than that at night. The yeast probably dropped out of suspension. first thing would be to get it to a proper temp and hope that wakes up the yeast.

 

[buzzerj]

Thanks for the replies, I did move my bucket from my garage to my cellar and it has gone up in temperatures.

Move it to a warmer room (like 70 degrees) indoors, not in the cellar. Put a blanket around it and let it warm up into the upper 60's. Check the S.G.s tomorrow with a sanitized hydrometer in each carboy.

 

[joaoking]

Okay, so I moved it into the house wrapped up in a blanket and temperature shows it had moved up to about 65. I tested gravity yesterday and it showed still at 1.040. I shook the hell out of the bucket in hopes that maybe I just didn't get the yeast back up to eating sugar and haven't seen any airlock activity. I hope I didn't ruin this batch. Any ideas as to what I can do now?

 

[tomaso]

https://byo.com/stories/issue/item/3170-stuck-fermentations-techniques

 

[buzzerj]

Agreed with Tomaso. A new big yeast starter (S-05 is still ok to use or WLP001/ Wyeast 1056) if you have the room in the fermenter. Make it very active in a 1.040 oxygenated wort with yeast nutrient added at 68 degrees and let it run 24-30 hours then pitch. Try to get your carboy temperature as high as you can toward 68 degrees in the meantime. If it works, you will have a double IPA but so what? It's drinkable while still being plenty malty.

But I'm still scratching my head how it happened in the first place. How much did you oxygenate the original batch? What's your process for getting the wort oxygenated?

 

[joaoking]

Tomorrow marks 7 days since I have pitched a starter to reignite fermentation. How long do you think I should wait before checking gravity again? I'm really hoping this works.

 

[joaoking]

Was gonna check gravity today just wanted to make sure no one thought I should give it more time. Anyone?

 

[buzzerj]

Go ahead and check but if you haven't seen any airlock activity since re-pitching I wouldn't expect much drop in S.G. What is the wort temperature?

 

[Bobbybob]

You didn't answer if it is a hydrometer or refractometer. Did you take the reading with a refractometer? If it has alcohol in solution it messes with density of the solution and how light travels thru it.

 

[joaoking]

I used a hydrometer. There was some airlock activity but not a lot. Temperature was brought up to 68. I hope it works out, I don't want to lose this batch.

 

[beer_expert]

Buy your yeast for the next batch from a different supplier.
Sounds like you got yeast that wasn't any good.