I am having some issues. I did a full grain Left Hand Milk Stout Clone and stuck fermentation. Brew day went well, verified starch conversion and hit planned OG of 1.075. Did a starter the same that worked well with my 10%RIS a while back. Fermentation started well but stopped at 1.035. Temperature was a bit low in the room and raised it to 70 added more yeast and has been for the past 5 days. I added 3oz to each 5 gallons and both showed signs of fermentation an hour after with an inch on top. It has since fallen and SG is still 1.035. I have tested my hydrometer and it is good. Any thoughts to save my brew?
Stuck Fermentation
- Thread starter Darken99
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It seems Your problem is the low fermentable/nutritious wort probably since You are saying yeast,temperature and measurement have been ok and repitching,rousing and raising temp did not work. If You do not fear of contamination like me! You can mash some base malts in the lower side of temperature, preparing some fresh unboiled wort and add it to the stuck beer. It's enzymatic power causes some dextrins are been broken down to fermentable sugars and so fermentation restart.I would use some DAP along with that too.But if you're concerned about the potential infections You can use synthetic amylase enzyme powder or beano tablets.But note that using them is likely resulting in too much dryness even They can bring your FG to 1.000.
It could be done due to a few things like mash temp. If your mash temp was a little high, you'd get a hair less fermentables, giving more body & flavor. The yeast might not attenuate as much as you desire as well. Not to mention the amount pitched. I had this happen to a Burton ale once. But the rousing yeast & raising temp thing knocked off a few more points in my case.
Provide the recipe, mash temp, are you sure your thermometer is calibrated, my guess until you post is you mashed higher than you thought or used a lot of less fermentable ingredients or a combination of both
Mash temp was 70c. I use 3 thermometers so I know temp is correct.
Recipe is below but x 2.25 batch size.
Fermentable Amount
Briess 2-Row Brewers Malt 7.0 lb 56 %
Briess Roasted Barley 1.0 lb 8 %
Milk Sugar (Lactose) 1.0 lb 8 %
Briess 2-Row Caramel Malt 60L 0.75 lb 6 %
Simpson's Munich Malt 0.75 lb 6 %
Briess 2-Row Chocolate Malt 0.75 lb 6 %
Barley, Flaked 0.62 lb 5 %
Simpson's Oat Flakes
Recipe is below but x 2.25 batch size.
Fermentable Amount
Briess 2-Row Brewers Malt 7.0 lb 56 %
Briess Roasted Barley 1.0 lb 8 %
Milk Sugar (Lactose) 1.0 lb 8 %
Briess 2-Row Caramel Malt 60L 0.75 lb 6 %
Simpson's Munich Malt 0.75 lb 6 %
Briess 2-Row Chocolate Malt 0.75 lb 6 %
Barley, Flaked 0.62 lb 5 %
Simpson's Oat Flakes
Mash temp being about 158F could be one culprit.
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So does that mean there were 2.25lbs of lactose and 1.75lbs of chocolate malt? That's a lot of lactose which is unfermentable and a lot of less fermentable malt. Coupled with a mash temp of 158oF its quite possibly done
Lactose is not a fermentable sugar and if your last 4 beers were different recipes then your findings are irrelevant to the beer in question
chickypad
lupulin shift victim
An estimated OG of 1.018 sounds low to me for that recipe, what program are you using? When I put it in Beersmith, set lactose as non fermentable, and adjust the batch volume and efficiency to get an OG of 1.075 the estimated FG comes out at 1.029. What yeast was it?
Actual number I used
20lb Pale Mal 2 row
2lb 12.8 oz Roasted Barley
2lb 3.2oz Caramel Crystal Malt 60L
2lb 3.2 oz Chocolate Malt
2lb 3.2 oz Munich Malt
1lb 8oz Barley Flaked
1lb 3.2oz oats flaked
2lb 8oz Lactose
Looks like there is an issue in Beersmith that the non-fermentable tab is not automatically checked off for Lactose. Says now that final SG should be 1.027 which is 8 points off. Much closer and a lot less concerned. I am most concerned that when I go to bottle it that it starts to ferment again and make bottle rockets. I used London Ale Yeast and did a 2 liter starter per 5 gallons.
20lb Pale Mal 2 row
2lb 12.8 oz Roasted Barley
2lb 3.2oz Caramel Crystal Malt 60L
2lb 3.2 oz Chocolate Malt
2lb 3.2 oz Munich Malt
1lb 8oz Barley Flaked
1lb 3.2oz oats flaked
2lb 8oz Lactose
Looks like there is an issue in Beersmith that the non-fermentable tab is not automatically checked off for Lactose. Says now that final SG should be 1.027 which is 8 points off. Much closer and a lot less concerned. I am most concerned that when I go to bottle it that it starts to ferment again and make bottle rockets. I used London Ale Yeast and did a 2 liter starter per 5 gallons.
helibrewer
Well-Known Member
That's about 20% unfermentable grain (roast, chocolate, lactose) so I think you are done with fermentation.
Black Island Brewer
An Ode to Beer
I can't offer much that hasn't been said, except: how does it taste? I had a belgian tripel recently that didn't go to it's expected FG, and while it tasted a tad sweet, once I carbonated it to 3 volumes of CO2, the carbonic acid helped balance it out. How does your brew taste?
I found out myself how carbonic acid in the right amount of carbonation can aid bittering & even crispness a bit myself.
That was my thought exactly
Some sites that sell "unfermentables" will list how little fermentability they may have & other attributes. Like maltodextrin, for example, is up to 5% fermentable.
