stuck fermentation?

[johnsc12002]

After about an 11 year hiatus from brewing, I decided to pick it back up again. My first beer I chose was a Black IPA kit from Northern Brewer. The kit had 1 pound of specialty grains, 9.15 pounds dark malt syrup, and 1 pound of corn sugar.

I had issues with the boil because the stove in the house I just bought was a POS glass top electric and I could never get a good rolling boil, just a light one. Replaced the stove already with a gas range with a high BTU speed boil burner.

Anyway, my OG was 1.078. Two weeks in the primary and racked it over to a secondary. At that point, my gravity was at 1.025. It has had three weeks in the secondary. The first couple days after racking it over, it was still bubbling a couple times a minute. It slowed over time but was still bubbling some.

I went to dry hop it last night and checked the gravity, and it was still at 1.025. That seems pretty high to me as I expected it to have dropped some over the last couple weeks.

So, my question is, is it stuck? Should I do something to try and get it to ferment more, and if so, what?

Thanks.

 

[Cheeto]

what is the complete recipe,

and I think that you may have racked it too early, I have found that for beers over 1.060 a longer primary is a must.

 

[wonderbread23]

I'd say you're pretty much done. 1.078 to 1.025 is 68% attenuation... probably close to the limits you can reach with that much extract in a big beer.

 

[johnsc12002]

Complete recipe.

Specialty Grains
.25lbs Dehusked Carafa III
.25 lbs Chocolate Malt
.5 ls Briess Caramel 80

Fermentables:
3.15 lbs Dark malt syrup at 60 mins
6 lbs Dark malt syrup at 15 mins
1 lb corn sugar at 0 mins

Hops
1 oz Summit at 60 mins
1 oz Simcoe at 15 mins
1 oz Centennial at 10 mins
1 oz Cascade at 5 mins
1 oz Amarillo at 0 mins
1 oz Ahtanum dry hop

Yeast:
Wyeast 1272 American Ale Yeast II

 

[AnOldUR]

The kit had 1 pound of specialty grains, 9.15 pounds dark malt syrup, and 1 pound of corn sugar.

Have to agree. With a beer that big, another week of so in the primary may have helped. The other side is that with that much LME it's probably done. The corn sugar will help, but that much LME is notorious for low attenuating beer. Hope you made a starter to go along with that OG?

 

[Cheeto]

I'd say you're pretty much done. 1.078 to 1.025 is 68% attenuation... probably close to the limits you can reach with that much extract in a big beer.

Directly from Wyeast;

With many of the best qualities that brewers look for when brewing American styles of beer, this strain’s performance is consistent and it makes great beer. Fruitier and more flocculent than Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast, slightly nutty, soft, clean with a slightly tart finish. Ferment at warmer temperatures to accentuate hop character with intense fruitiness, or ferment cool for clean, light citrus character. Expect good attenuation, but this will vary with grist makeup, mashing protocol, or other wort characteristics. Reliably flocculent, producing bright beer without filtration.
Origin:
Flocculation: High
Attenuation: 72-76%
Temperature Range: 60-72F, 15-22C
Alcohol Tolerance: 10% ABV




I am going to hold to my earlier statement about transferring too early.

You can try to wait it out, Or warm it up to about 72 and gently rouse the yeast resting on the bottom

 

[johnsc12002]

Hope you made a starter to go along with that OG?

I did.

 

[kegtoe]

you can warm up the beer a little and kick the bucket a few times to revive the yeast. i have done this with a few beers with moderate success. Really haven't had this issue anymore since i went to white labs and making starters.

 

[lackluster]

Sorry to hi-jack this thread, but I'm in essentially the same situation, and my answer is likely relevant to the OP as well.

I know now that I under pitched on an extract American Stout I brewed. OG 1.075, target FG 1.018. 15 days in primary and I've bottomed out at 1.022 (~70% AA). I've rousted the yeast, and will wait another week or so, but I'm resigned to the fact that this beer will be a little heavier and sweeter than I anticipated (1.022 is still within the style guidlines).

The question is, if it stuck at 1.022, will there be enough viable yeast to bottle carb?

Brian

 

[Yooper]

Sorry to hi-jack this thread, but I'm in essentially the same situation, and my answer is likely relevant to the OP as well.

I know now that I under pitched on an extract American Stout I brewed. OG 1.075, target FG 1.018. 15 days in primary and I've bottomed out at 1.022 (~70% AA). I've rousted the yeast, and will wait another week or so, but I'm resigned to the fact that this beer will be a little heavier and sweeter than I anticipated (1.022 is still within the style guidlines).

The question is, if it stuck at 1.022, will there be enough viable yeast to bottle carb?

Brian

What yeast strain did you use? If you started at 1.075, and are currently at 1.022, that's just a bit under 70% attenuation as you noted. Some yeast strains don't do much more than that. Also, some stouts have a higher percentage of non-fermentables or less fermentables than some "drier" beers so you could have that as an issue as well. Lots of crystal malt, dark roasted malt, and lactose can all cause a higher FG.

 

[lackluster]

The yeast I used in the stout was US-05. I fermented for the first 12 days at 66F or so, then I increase the temp to about 70F for the last 3 days after rousing the yeast. The recipe was my first attempt at throwing my own thing together. I should have pitched two packages of yeast.

Batch Size: 6 gallons
Boil Volume: 7.5 gallons
Boil Time: 60 min

2.20 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 16.69 %
8.82 lb Pale Liquid Extract [Boil for 15 min] Extract 66.78 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 5.51 %
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 5.51 %
0.75 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5.51 %

1.5 oz Chinook [11.40 %] (60 min) Hops 43.1 IBU
1 oz Cascade [4.80 %] (5 min) Hops 2.3 IBU
0.5 oz Chinook [11.40 %] (2 min) Hops 1.2 IBU

1 Pkgs SafAle American (DCL Yeast #S-05)