Short version: I brewed a batch of BierMuncher's Blue Moon clone (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/blue-balls-belgian-wit-blue-moon-clone-24978/) three weeks ago, using US-05 yeast as recommended elsewhere in the thread. Starting gravity was 1.038. The gravity has been stable at 1.020 for at least the last two weeks. What to do?
Longer version: This is my third batch, and it was a lot of "first"s. First all-grain, first BIAB, first using my eKeggle, first no-chill, and first doing any kind of water chemistry adjustment. I may have changed too many variables at once here. I know I had some trouble with temperature control during the mash, but I'm not sure if that might be causing my problems--I recall that high mash temperatures can result in more unfermentables in the wort.
I started with 8 gallons of distilled water (couldn't find a RO kiosk), and added 1.5 tsp calcium chloride per https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/. I modified BierMuncher's recipe by adding 2.6 oz (just under 2% by my math) of acidulated malt, also per the primer thread. Heated the water to 155 F per my temp probe and added the grain (4.5 lb. Marris Otter, 4.5 lb. flaked wheat, 2.6 oz. of the acid malt). At this point, the temperature rose to 159 F and took quite a while to come down. Mash pH after about 15 minutes (cooled to 30C) was 5.25.
After an hour's mash, removed the bag, let drain, squeezed a little bit, and brought to a boil. Boiled for an hour, adding the hops (1 oz EKG) 20 minutes in. Added the coriander and orange peel (.75 oz each) with 5 minutes to go. Drained into a cube and let sit overnight.
The next afternoon, I poured the wort from the cube into a 6.5-gallon carboy using a funnel. Pitched the yeast dry at about 75 F, then wrapped the carboy in a wet towel and pointed a fan at it--this seemed to bring and keep fermentation temperature to 68-70 F.
After a week, there had been no visible signs of fermentation--never any active bubbling of the airlock, no notable krausen, etc. However, the gravity had dropped to 1.020, so obviously fermentation had been taking place. I chalked it up to just getting a slow start. However, it's now two weeks later, and there's been no change in the gravity.
So, given the long version of the story, what should I do? I have another packet of yeast (though it's Nottingham, not US-05) that I could pitch if that would help. Or should I just bottle/keg it and accept that the ABV will be lower than intended (which isn't the end of the world)?
Longer version: This is my third batch, and it was a lot of "first"s. First all-grain, first BIAB, first using my eKeggle, first no-chill, and first doing any kind of water chemistry adjustment. I may have changed too many variables at once here. I know I had some trouble with temperature control during the mash, but I'm not sure if that might be causing my problems--I recall that high mash temperatures can result in more unfermentables in the wort.
I started with 8 gallons of distilled water (couldn't find a RO kiosk), and added 1.5 tsp calcium chloride per https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/. I modified BierMuncher's recipe by adding 2.6 oz (just under 2% by my math) of acidulated malt, also per the primer thread. Heated the water to 155 F per my temp probe and added the grain (4.5 lb. Marris Otter, 4.5 lb. flaked wheat, 2.6 oz. of the acid malt). At this point, the temperature rose to 159 F and took quite a while to come down. Mash pH after about 15 minutes (cooled to 30C) was 5.25.
After an hour's mash, removed the bag, let drain, squeezed a little bit, and brought to a boil. Boiled for an hour, adding the hops (1 oz EKG) 20 minutes in. Added the coriander and orange peel (.75 oz each) with 5 minutes to go. Drained into a cube and let sit overnight.
The next afternoon, I poured the wort from the cube into a 6.5-gallon carboy using a funnel. Pitched the yeast dry at about 75 F, then wrapped the carboy in a wet towel and pointed a fan at it--this seemed to bring and keep fermentation temperature to 68-70 F.
After a week, there had been no visible signs of fermentation--never any active bubbling of the airlock, no notable krausen, etc. However, the gravity had dropped to 1.020, so obviously fermentation had been taking place. I chalked it up to just getting a slow start. However, it's now two weeks later, and there's been no change in the gravity.
So, given the long version of the story, what should I do? I have another packet of yeast (though it's Nottingham, not US-05) that I could pitch if that would help. Or should I just bottle/keg it and accept that the ABV will be lower than intended (which isn't the end of the world)?