Stuck fermentation?

[jakwi]

Hi all, I'm looking for advice on the brown ale that is in my fermenter.

First a little background. I just moved to Florida, and as a result had to change home brew shops, so that has thrown my method a little out of whack. I was used to a brew house efficiency of around 80%, so I planned my first batch around that efficiency. The LHBS I went to had a hand crank victoria grain. Unfortunately that crush wasn't sufficient and I ended up with a very low efficiency, 48%.

So I tried a different shop and adjusted my recipe for an efficiency of 70%, keeping my fingers crossed. When I was at the shop I made a mistake and ended up with an additional pound of 2 row on a 10 gallon batch. Given the issue with efficiency I figured no problem.

Well it turns out the grain mill at the second shop has a much finer crush, and I ended up with an efficiency of 88%!

So this pushed my OG from an expected 1.053 to 1.071

My yeast is wyeast 1332 North west ale yeast.

Two weeks later now and my fermentation seems complete, but the FG is 1.017 instead of the expected 1.011. I took a sample on friday and I'll check it again tomorrow to see if it is done.

I have mixed feelings about this because on the one hand an abv in the 7.4% range is really high enough, but the end result I was looking for was supposed to be a little dryer than it is right now.

So my question is, Is there anything I can do to kick it off again and drive the FG down? And Should I? Have any of you guys been in a similar situation? How did it turn out?

Thanks and Happy Memorial day!

 

[V-Fib]

I'd just let it ride but you can increase your fermentation temp some to see if the yeast will work more.

It may need to condition longer than normal for the "alcohol bite" to fade if you get one also.

 

[flars]

I used WY 1332 for a porter. Fermentation stopped at 1.018. After a month of bottle conditioning I noticed carbonation was increasing. Check the SG of a bottle. SG was 1.011.

I would try rousing the yeast without aerating the beer and raise the temperature to 70° to 72°F to finish the fermentation.

 

[jakwi]

Thanks for the ideas, and Flars for sharing your experience. I took the fermenter out of the chamber this weekend and tried to spin it to swirl the yeast without aerating it. I'll check it again in a few days to see if it has come down any further. I also bumped the temp.

thanks again