Vermont Ale Yeast - Fermentation Troubles

[PackBrewer]

Hi guys,

So I brewed an IPA using the recipe listed below this past Friday and pitched a healthy starter of Vermont Ale Yeast from The Yeast Bay at about 70F and was able to drop the temperature down to about 66F an hour later. Within about 3 hours, bubbling in my blow off tube began and by the next day, it was fermenting vigorously. However, after about 36 hours, bubbling completely stopped. I decided to open the lid to the bucket today to check the gravity to see if the yeast really did tear through it that quickly. The gravity is currently 1.019 and the estimated final gravity is 1.009. I know I have not given it much time but I am concerned due to the lack of bubbling and the fact that the krausen has completely fallen back down. Is there anything I should do to attempt to restart fermentation? Thanks and here is the recipe:

Boil Size: 6.78 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated Color: 9.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 65.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 77.1 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 78.4 %
1 lbs Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 2 7.8 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.9 %
8.0 oz Golden Naked Oats (10.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.9 %
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 60. Hop 5 44.0 IBUs
8.0 oz Cane (Beet) Sugar [Boil for 20 min](0.0 Sugar 6 3.9 %
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 5.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 7.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 9 8.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Vermont Ale Yeast (The Yeast Bay #) Yeast 13 -
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Day Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 15 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 12.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 30.71 qt of water at 157.1 F 150.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min

Sparge: If steeping, remove grains, and pre

 

[Weezy]

1.065 to 1.009 is 86% attenuation. that was your goal?

1.019 is about 71% attenuation.

Yeast bay lists it at 75-82%. Assuming its about 90% done, you should get to 75% or so, I'd guess. That sounds fair for your recipe.

How do you maintain mash and fermentation temps?

How confident are you that you are maintaining the temps that you think you are?

Getting to 86% att without replacing a fair bit of malt with sugar, and mashing low and long seems tough.

Note that pitching hot and letting it cool can cause yeast to shut down and flocc out.ive not used this yeast so I dont know how sensitive it is.

 

[PackBrewer]

Yea I was hoping to be able to dry it out some and get high attenuation. I did use a half pound of cane sugar and added it with 20 min left in the boil. And I tried to mash relatively low, and maintained it between 152-148 degreesF. And I am pretty confident in these temperatures as I would make sure to throughly stir the mash before taking a temperature reading. Ive never had this happen before where fermentation appears to stop so quickly and the krausen fall back down so fast. and i forgot to mention that I missed my OG slightly, and it was actually 1.062.

1.065 to 1.009 is 86% attenuation. that was your goal?

1.019 is about 71% attenuation.

Yeast bay lists it at 75-82%. Assuming its about 90% done, you should get to 75% or so, I'd guess.

How do you maintain mash and fermentation temps?

How confident are you that you are maintaining the temps that you think you are?

Getting to 1.009 without replacing some malt with sugar, and mashing low and long seems tough.

 

[Weezy]

I hear you, you probably need to go to like 10% sugar, mash real low like 146F, and pray.

Ferm time? It depends on the yeast and the wort gravity, imho. My small beers are DONE in 2.5-3 days...but I let them sit for a week.

To get to real high attenuations, you really need proper temp control as well. A term chamber with a space heater lets you bump temps every couple days to aid in keeping the yeast active.

 

[RmikeVT]

I think you need to relax and give it some time. Those last handful of points are going to take a little while longer. Just because you don't see bubbles doesn't mean its not still fermenting -- especially, the case with buckets as they don't always seal up perfectly, which is no big deal in primary. I bet the rest of those points will drop off by 7-10 days into fermentation.

As the yeast deplete their nutrition source and food supply and the pH decrease and alcohol increases it becomes increasingly hard for them to do their job. But, they will, given enough time and appropriate sugar profile, which you probably achieved with a 150 mash temp.

 

[duboman]

Since you are now a few days into fermentation and the yeast has dropped I would see no reason why you cannot allow the temperature to rise a bit and gently rouse the yeast back into suspension by gently agitating the bucket. The higher temperature will get the yeast busy again since at 66 you are at the lower end of the temperature range for this strain. There is no concern about off flavors at this point. I do agree that expecting 86% attenuation is a bit of a reach but I would expect it to drop a few more points, maybe 1.012 or so

 

[PackBrewer]

RmikeVT -- Thanks for the reassurance! I hope that is the case!

duboman -- My issue is that I have no way of raising the temperature above about 67F at this point. I am not using a fermentation chamber and my house has poor insulation and does not allow my carboys reach a higher temperature. I can still try to rouse the yeast back into suspension but I need to find a solution for raising temperatures.

 

[duboman]

You can use a swamp cooler with an aquarium heater, you can use a brew belt, you can use a heating pad set on low, you can wrap it in a blanket and try insulating it in an interior warmer space with a space heater perhaps, lots of creative ideas........

 

[PackBrewer]

You can use a swamp cooler with an aquarium heater, you can use a brew belt, you can use a heating pad set on low, you can wrap it in a blanket and try insulating it in an interior warmer space with a space heater perhaps, lots of creative ideas........

Thanks! I will definitely look into that. I may have a heating pad laying around here somewhere..

 

[Fermented_minds]

71% apparent attenuation is pretty good for only being 36 hours into fermentation! Give it another 5-7 days following their recommended temps and I'm sure it will drop a little more for you. Your target of 1.009 is a little lower than I would expect in a beer like this, but in my experience with this strain you should get into the 80% apparent attenuation range.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew