Suggestions on how to finish this RIS

[jnxbrews]

First of all, HI! First post, long time lurker. You guys have been a wealth of knowledge throughout my brewing adventure over the years. Thank you!

Thoughts on this?

Brewed 5 gallons of RIS back at the beginning of November:

15 lb United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale
3 lb American - Munich - 60L
1 lb American - Caramel / Crystal 80L
1 lb Belgian - CaraMunich
1 lb American - Chocolate
1 lb American - Special Roast
0.75 lb Belgian - Special B
0.75 lb American - Roasted Barley
1.5 lb Flaked Barley

Mashed thick at 154 for at least 60 mins, probably more like 75 mins once I got the mash unstuck. Batch sparged.

OG - 1.129

Two packs of Mangrovejack Dark Ale dry yeast, fermented 65ish degrees.

Fermented violently for a few days, massive blowoff.

Checked gravity at 3 weeks, 1.060. Roused yeast, moved to warmer location.

Checked again in a week, still 1.060. Roused again. Cussed at it- purely motivational though, just a pep talk of sorts. Two weeks later, still no movement. I may have potentially reached the alcohol limit of this yeast, even though it says it's good for a bit more.

Purely out of desperation and curiosity I threw some Champagne yeast at it.

Nothing. 1.060.

I moved it off the yeast because it had been nearly three months since brew day. Now it's sitting in secondary at 1.060. Roughly 9% as it sits now.

Any of these ideas sound interesting?

1. Drink several bottles of Jolly Pumpkin and toss the dregs in it and forget about it until summer.

2. Toss some Brett L in it and forget about it until summer.

4. Beano and more ale yeast.

5. Hit it with a bunch of slurry from my next beer, use pacman.

6. Keg it. Mega sweet desert beer.

 

[dcp27]

#5 then #1 or 2 if it doesnt work. you could try pitching in an active starter of WLP099 as well, that should take it down a bit more.

in the future, you should mash lower for that high of OG and all those unfermentables.

 

[sfrisby]

#5

 

[mbobhat]

#5 I would try and rack it to a proper amount of yeast, preferably a yeast cake from another beer. something tolerable to 12% or more to get it down to not be so sweet. You don't really need to worry about overpitching because it is only there to finish it out, not to impart that much flavor.

Good luck

 

[jnxbrews]

Thanks for the suggestions, i'm going with #5, pacman slurry.

While it's still really tempting to just turn this beer into a weird experiment and throw brett and bugs at it, I think i'll save that idea for a beer I plan, rather than taking this one to an unintended destination.

Thanks again for the input!

 

[jnxbrews]

Figured i'd follow up on this in case anyone else faces the same dilemma- plus I've read several threads here before that the OP didn't follow up and I sat there wondering "wonder what ever happened with that?"

I ended up debating about what to do for another month after I started this thread. I settled on ordering a vile of White Labs Super High Gravity yeast, WLP099, made a starter, and pitched it into the stuck 1.060 RIS. The starter itself wasn't very impressive, so I had mixed feelings when I pitched it into the carboy and began to wonder if this "super" yeast was going to do anything, especially after i'd already hit it with champagne yeast. WLP09 barely created a fuss on the surface, just a minor layer of bubbles and eventually slow, but consistent, activity from the airlock. I left it and forgot about it for another month or so. After that time, I lowered the thief into the carboy, pulled a sample, and dropped it in with the hydrometer and BOOM - 1.020!

It has since been hit with rye soaked oak cubes, vanilla, and chilies...ended up at 14%, now aged almost 8 months (due to my lengthly documented process here), and it turned out pretty damn fantastic.

Moral of the story - Don't give up!