Stuck Fermentation?

[texasbrewandbbq]

Brewed an Imperial Milk Stout Sunday. 5 gallons ar 1.092 OG. Pitched 3 packs S04 at 70 degrees, shook the wort and dropped the fermentation chamber to 68. It's been two days and Krausen/bubbling seems to be gone. Only down to 1.048 gravity... stuck fermentation or am I being impatient?

Thanks.

 

[frenchbrewer]

My 2 cents guess is that it still working but you are already in second fermentation after the cold break...

 

[RM-MN]

I think you are being impatient. You brewed a big beer and unless you really shook that fermenter prior to pitching the yeast you probably didn't get as much propagation as needed for faster fermentation. The yeast only produce the CO2 that promotes krausen for a couple days, then goes silent but keeps on eating. Do a gravity check after a full week to see if this is happening or if you really do have a stuck fermentation. I think it is way to early to tell.

 

[porterpounder]

How much lactose did you use? With a lb to 5 gal I usually don't see a beer that bbi go far below 1.035. Give it a good swirl a few times a day and bump the temp up into the low/ mid 70s and check again in a week.

 

[isomerization]

How much lactose did you use? With a lb to 5 gal I usually don't see a beer that bbi go far below 1.035. Give it a good swirl a few times a day and bump the temp up into the low/ mid 70s and check again in a week.

1 lb of Lactose in 5 gal beer only increase specific gravity by about 8 points.

So a beer finishing at 1.020 with 1 lb of Lactose would have finished around 1.012 without it.

 

[texasbrewandbbq]

How much lactose did you use? With a lb to 5 gal I usually don't see a beer that bbi go far below 1.035. Give it a good swirl a few times a day and bump the temp up into the low/ mid 70s and check again in a week.

1 lb

 

[bracconiere]

just because i have to ask, what are you checking the gravity with?

 

[texasbrewandbbq]

68* hydrometer

 

[bracconiere]

68* hydrometer

ok, just had to make sure it wasn't a refractometer....

buckets are notoriously leaky, carboy, or bucket?

(i use 13 gal plastic pails, got a crack in one of my o-rings from age....didn't bubble at all after 2 days, but still fermenting)

 

[texasbrewandbbq]

Big Mouth Bubbler

 

[bracconiere]

i am completely unfamiliar with them, someone else would have to chime in on if they leak...

i would say the only time i ever had issues with stuck ferments is when i was trying to ferment sugar water, never grain....

 

[isomerization]

Depends on what type of kid, but the BMB are usually pretty good about not leaking air. Could always been a cracked air lock, bung or lid though.

It’s been 2 days, you should have a significant drop in gravity from 1.048

 

[bracconiere]

Depends on what type of kid, but the BMB are usually pretty good about not leaking air. Could always been a cracked air lock, bung or lid though.

It’s been 2 days, you should have a significant drop in gravity from 1.048

i agree, there should have been a drop in gravity....and yeah, them damn kid's leaking gas!

 

[texasbrewandbbq]

Last night was down to 1.34... working slowly it appears.

 

[isomerization]

Last night was down to 1.34... working slowly it appears.

Likely indicates underpitch and not a stuck fermentation from a mash/recipe issue. Good sign!

 

[deeve007]

Likely indicates underpitch and not a stuck fermentation from a mash/recipe issue. Good sign!

"Underpitch" just means leave it longer for the yeast to do it's work?

 

[Vale71]

"Underpitch" just means leave it longer for the yeast to do it's work?

It also means "don't cheap out on yeast and buy enough packets next time"...

 

[isomerization]

"Underpitch" just means leave it longer for the yeast to do it's work?

Basically yes, although I’d guess that final attenuation is likely to be lower (ie final higher gravity) than it would be with proper amount of yeast. Depends on the yeast strain too.

 

[deeve007]

Newbie question: If the yeast didn't fully activate due to not aerating the wort enough at the start, for example, can adding more yeast later help? And would it hurt if you tried that?

 

[Lemmie]

We are dealing with a stuck fermentation right now. We are brewing a Belgian dubbel that turned into a high gravity quad at 1.078. We had originally aerated the wort before pitching a decanted starter but It stalled at 1.023. We made another starter and pitched it at high krausen and it has been bubbling for the last three days. We’ll take a gravity reading when it stops and decide what’s next. We had a stuck fermentation before and were able to get it started again using CBC-1, but we wanted to try to stay with the original yeast this time. If you are going to pitch dry yeast, you are likely going to need to aerate the wort before doing that. When you pitched the dry yeast, did you rehydrate it before pitching. My understanding is that pitching dry yeast before rehydrating can be very stressful on the yeast.

 

[Riley Henderson]

ok, just had to make sure it wasn't a refractometer....

buckets are notoriously leaky, carboy, or bucket?

(i use 13 gal plastic pails, got a crack in one of my o-rings from age....didn't bubble at all after 2 days, but still fermenting)

May I ask why you mention "making sure it wasn't a refractometer"
I use a refractometer that is intended for beer use and that according to the instructions is perfectly calibrated. Yet I still question my gravities as from what its reading I'm making 2.5-3.5% beer but it gets me pretty hammered and I can drink a decent amount of strong mass produced alcohol.

 

[isomerization]

May I ask why you mention "making sure it wasn't a refractometer"
I use a refractometer that is intended for beer use and that according to the instructions is perfectly calibrated. Yet I still question my gravities as from what its reading I'm making 2.5-3.5% beer but it gets me pretty hammered and I can drink a decent amount of strong mass produced alcohol.

You need to correct for alcohol presence in the fermented beer when using a refractometer.

See a calculator like this:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/

 

[passedpawn]

May I ask why you mention "making sure it wasn't a refractometer"
I use a refractometer that is intended for beer use and that according to the instructions is perfectly calibrated. Yet I still question my gravities as from what its reading I'm making 2.5-3.5% beer but it gets me pretty hammered and I can drink a decent amount of strong mass produced alcohol.

Refractometers do NOT read correctly if there is any alcohol in the solution. There are correction methods to correct for the presence of alcohol, but I've found those methods don't work well across different types of beers.

Hydrometers do work perfectly after the yeast is pitched.

 

[Riley Henderson]

Thank you both for that information. I will definitely have to keep that link on hand going forward.