Stuck oatmeal stout fermentation

[coleandrobin]

Alright, I'm working on an oatmeal stout that had an OG of 1.046. Right now it's sitting at a SG of 1.023 and it's been there for the past four days. I originally pitched safeale US-05 by just sprinkling on top. Should I pitch some more yeasty sing a starter? The only two yeast I happen to have on hand are a red star pasteur champagne and lalvin D47. Would either of these help me to get my fermentation unstuck?

 

[coleandrobin]

Temperature had maintained 72 degrees throughout BTW

 

[BeerLoverHere]

You won't need a starter with dry yeast for your stout. Dry yeast has way more yeast than what is needed, which is a good thing! You did not do anything wrong here even though you sprinkled it on top. Some will argue that you need to rehydrate it first. As long as you didn't sprinkle it on top when your wort was really high in temp still as this could have killed some of the yeast.

What temp did you mash at? I am thinking that your mash temps were too high maybe mid to upper 150s and as a result you have less fermentables for your yeast to eat. I recommend mashing at 152 for most beer styles. It depends, but this is usually a safe temp. If you want a drier/more alcohol beer/lower attenuation/lower FG/ then ferment upper 140s but not higher than 150. The website below is some nice reading for mash temps:

http://www.homebrewkorea.com/?p=346

 

[BeerLoverHere]

How long has it been fermenting?

If your temps were lower, I would say raise temps, but 72 seems like your yeast should be really active. I don't like to ferment that high as I prefer lower 60s for a cleaner finish.

Have you tried to gently slosh your carboy around to re-circulate your yeast back in suspension? Has your yeast settles or is some still on top?

 

[coleandrobin]

Just took another reading today, dropped 1 point. This particular brew is only a partial mash with specialty grains. Most of The fermentables came from dark LME. Pitched at 80°F. I've stirred up the wert pretty good and still nothing.

 

[BeerLoverHere]

What is your current gravity reading? I am willing to bet everything is going to turn out fine. My stouts are always a little higher than desired, but turn out okay once I bottle and give some time for the beer to age some. The last always tastes better than the first!