What's my best option to fix a high gravity?

[strangerinthealps]

Did my first brew, a canned Munton's Nut Brown Ale kit. No real issues with the boil, added 2 gallons of cold water to carboy, topped with cooled wort (around 85 degrees before adding to carboy), added yeast to hot water like instructions said. The only thing that went wrong was that I forgot to take my OG in all the activity. The kit says it has an OG of 1040 to 1044.

Stored my carboy in the pantry. Temp in the pantry has been set to around 68-70 the whole time, but we had a snowstorm a week ago that made the entire house feel colder. I admittedly haven't been very dilligent about checking the carboy's temperature.

I was gone the first two days of fermentation, so I cannot say whether there was a huge krausen or not. When I got back on the third day, I noticed a thin brown "muck" clinging to the carboy. I assume that meant it had fallen. The airlock had stopped bubbling after the 3rd day.

Checked gravity on Thursday (almost 2 weeks in) and it was 1020. Checked again yesterday (2 weeks and 1 day in) and it was also 1020. Both samples tasted about how I expected, like flat beer. Nothing funky tasting, just kind of watery.

By the calculators I can find, it sounds like my beer only has about a 3% ABV. Ug. I'm wondering if I have a stuck fermentation or if I'm just doomed to end up with a really weak but decent tasting beer.

The options I can think of are:

1. RDWHAHB. Do nothing. Bottle after 3 weeks and enjoy getting to drink a lot of beer per sitting without falling over.
2. Give the carboy a gentle swirl and see if that gets things moving again.
3. Put some kind of heat on the carboy or move it to a warmer spot.
4. Pitch more yeast.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[apratsunrthd]

The muck you're seeing is likely yeast from the krausen, so no worries there. My nut browns hit about 1.016 FG with US-05. I have zero experience with the yeast in Munton's kits so I haven't a clue how much they attenuate.

Here's what I would do: #2, then #1. There's little harm in gently swirling on the off chance you can wring a little more attenuation out of your yeast. Past that, exactly what you said in #1. There's little to gain in pitching more yeast to get yourself down from 1.020.

Most importantly, add this to your arsenal of knowledge on homebrewing. I brewed my first two batches without taking an OG. After that, never again did I neglect it. Especially now that I'm all-grain brewing, it's absolutely critical for me to know how much attenuation I'm getting so I can tweak my process.

 

[pericles]

I would do #2, then #4, then #1. If you still don't see lower numbers in a week, try #2, then #3, then #1.

 

[Homercidal]

If you're abotu 70s now, then the yeast is likely going to continue normally, so no worries there.

I'd probably roust the yeast from the bottom and RDWHAHB. You'll need to give it time to settle again, but there's no hurry on that, and it's a brown, so it's not that big a deal if it's not perfectly clear.

I seriously doubt more yeast is going to affect a beer of that gravity. The yeast you used is obviously working, and adding more is not going to make it better. If you changed yeast styles, that *could* get it down a bit, but could also throw off the flavor.

1.020 is a notorious number for extract beers. It's not uncommon for many recipes to stop fermenting at about that range, depending on the yeast and malt used. Take a sample and taste it. See how you like it.

 

[pvtschultz]

I had a nut brown (extract plus steeping grains) that started life at 1.053 and got hung up at around 1.020. I racked into secondary to free up the primary and after three weeks (the beer had a bitter after taste) the FG was 1.012. So, I'd rack to secondary which should also suck up a little yeast and hope they continue on with their work.

 

[strangerinthealps]

That's one I had not considered. I have the 5 gallon carboy just sitting there. I suppose I could give that a try.

 

[sockmerchant]

There are some options that many overlook. I guess its frowned upon and can have some unpredictable results. I did an all grain tripel recently that stopped too high for my liking (1.028). Some would have just let that be. Seeing as i was after much higher attenuation (85% as opposed to 65% I was stuck with) I decided to take some action.

I added a small amount of dry enzyme (Amylase) into the fermenter. These enzymes are produced when you mash and breaks down the complex sugars to something the yeast can get at. Stay away from beano, that'll keep going unless you feel like heating your beer (screw that).

This small amount of enzyme brought my tripel down to 1.012. Much much more what i was after.

Now before someone rants...yes obviously it is much better to get the fermentables sorted before pitching. However that doesnt help a great deal when you are looking at a fermenter.

There are options.... however if you are at 1.020... I'd probably not worry too much.

Another hint. With my last extract brew I threw a bit of 2-row in a bag along with my extract and kept it at 65C for half an hour, then ripped that out and did my boil as normal. This helps do the same thing but in a more controlled setup. It breaks down some of the more complex stuff in your extract so that you get better attenuation.

brew on