Stuck or all that should be expected

[wikki]

This is the 3rd extract batch that I've made and after 2.5 weeks of fermentation I seem to be in the same place again.

I'm brewing a brown ale from LME and DME, w/ some specialty grains. Starting gravity was about 1.045 and it's gotten down to 1.017 now and has been sitting there since Saturday.

I used Safale S04 and re-hydrated it according to their instructions before pitching, and shook the bucket pretty good before and after I pitched the yeast. I fermented at 64 for the first week then inched it up to about 68 for the past week or so.

The kit instructions say it should get down to 1.010 - 1.012 so I think i'm still a good way off.

Should I expect this to be about as far as this will go or should I be doing something different?

 

[3PegBrew]

Should be fine. If you have time to kill check out the sticky thread of Attenuation. Under all grain partial mash area. It will describe how mash times and mash profiles will affect your FG and attenuation.

 

[3PegBrew]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/controlling-attenuation-through-mash-times-60576/

 

[peterj]

Since this is an extract batch with a low attenuating yeast, I would say that's probably about as low as it's going to get. Extract has a lot of unfermentable sugar in it. And after 2.5 weeks your beer is almost definitely done fermenting. But that FG sounds ok for a brown ale. If it's stayed at the same FG since Saturday I think you're probably ready to bottle/keg.

 

[dangerbrew]

I agree with peterj, it's been sitting on that yeast long enough that it probably won't do much more and most of my ales finish around 1.015 or 1.016 normally anyway.

S-04's a british yeast, so it tends to flocculate out pretty quickly anyway. I doubt you'll be able to squeeze many more points out of that yeast at this stage.

 

[slarkin712]

How does it taste? If the gravity is stable and it tastes good then package it. Also, check that your hydrometer is calibrated. Put it in some room temperature water and see how close to 1.000 it reads, then adjust your gravity readings accordingly.

 

[wikki]

Hydrometer is pretty much spot on. It tastes good too, the mouth feel is a little silky, but I think that goes away when it sits in the bottle for a while. I'll bottle it up.

I figured there wasn't much to do with this one either way, but i'm going to brew another batch this weekend so I was mainly wondering if I should change up anything in my process.

 

[3PegBrew]

Once it's bottled and conditioned properly, you'll notice a change in the body and flavor. It'll be awesome.