Why is 1.035 a stalling point ?

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TWAL

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Why do beers seem to stall around 1.035 ?
I brewed a saison 2 days ago and despite using the same yeast I always use for saisons (wyeast 3726* edit ) it seems to be stuck at 1.035 (from 1.055) .
There's no activity after 2 days and this yeast is generally very active so yeah i'm sure pretty it's tapped out.
Brewed enough that I know where the beer is at is not normal activity.
I used yeast nutrient,aerate,starter and I have it ramping up in temp Yeast was very fresh,1400ml starter which was active,not as much as I would have liked ...
The only difference is I used beet sugar and dextrose at the end of the boil (10 minutes) rather than candi syrup I would normally use if anything.
OK, I guess I'm indirectly asking why my beer stalled at 1.035 also...

Full disclosure: I broke one of those ****ty floating therms in the mash and burned out the motor on my grain mill and had to mill some rye by hand turning the pulley this day too..:mad:

*edit ) I incorrectly wrote 3026 instead of 3726 initially.
 
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Two days is very early to claim a beer has stalled. Fermentation can continue despite no airlock activity...

What temp are you fermenting at? Are you using a hydrometer? If so, did you check it in distilled water? Are you confident with your mash temps?

Either way, I'd say give it some more time to see where that gravity goes....
 
Readings taken w/ Hydrometer,mash was a very long 146.
Fermentation let free rise to 73º 24 hrs later turned on heating to keep at 73º 12 hrs later bumped to 74º ,24 hrs bumped to 75º..
Brought up to 77º now to try to jump it into gear.
Used this yeast no less than 1/2 dozen times on similar recipes and same heating schedule,only difference is the simple sugars rather than candi.

This is also in a SS conical not that it matters but to the comment of the airlock not having any activity I use blow of tubes in star san. If you are familiar w/ using a blow off tube rather than an airlock you can see if there has been activity in your star san bucket, a flat surface (no foam) in the bucket indicates no activity in my experiences.
 
TWO days!? Seriously, let us know what the reading is next week then we'll start troubleshooting.

My question was WHY do beers stall at 1.035.this seems to be a very common stalling point.

If you read the title of the post is says it all.

Since everyone inevitably asks what someone does I listed my procedure.
This being said I have had this yeast get under 1.020 in a few days every time I have used it.
I'd also suggest you read the reasons why I am suggesting my beer is in fact stalled.


And yes,it still reads 1.035.
 
I guess I've never heard of 1.035 as a common mark, seems like it's more all over the place to me. Re: your situation I did read your reasons, and I think watching for foam in your blow off bucket is a crap way to diagnose a stall. I'm not saying it is or it isn't, just that it's too early to make the call 3 days in.
 
While I can't speak to other beers (I've never heard of 1.035 as a common stall point), I did read somewhere that this yeast strain was purportedly genetically derived from the DuPont strain. Supposedly it's less fickle, but since the DuPont strain is infamous for the ~1.030 stall out, it wouldn't surprise me that a familial strain would occasionally decide to do the same thing.
 
How many beers have you had stall out at 1.035? Not to be d!ckey, but if others don't get the same results you may be making assumptions too quickly, so the need to reiterate your question may not be there. There has been a lot of talk about that yeast and co2 or head pressure sensitivity. I personally haven't experienced a proclivity to stall at that point. I would wait a week or two before you panic. You could also remove any airlock and try fermenting under sanitized aluminum foil. I doubt you are too concerned about blow offs at this point. That would eliminate one possibility.
 
My question was WHY do beers stall at 1.035.this seems to be a very common stalling point.

If you read the title of the post is says it all.

Since everyone inevitably asks what someone does I listed my procedure.
This being said I have had this yeast get under 1.020 in a few days every time I have used it.
I'd also suggest you read the reasons why I am suggesting my beer is in fact stalled.


And yes,it still reads 1.035.

I've never heard of a beer stalling at 1.035, so I don't think it's common at all, especially for a moderate OG beer.

I wonder in this case about the mash schedule, as well as this yeast strain. Some saison strains are notorious for stalling for a bit, and then taking off again, but I don't know if this is one of them.
 
I have heard of 1.035 for ONE particular yeast.

Every fermentation will be different. Even two very similar recipes might give you different time-frames using the same yeast.
Even with another 5 1/2 hours, I would not be confident in saying that you truly have a stalled ferment. Sometimes the gravity will drop pretty fast for a couple of days then slow to a snails pace for the rest of the way.

I too say wait a week, tell us the gravity then and we will troubleshoot.
 
We know none of the pertinent details, but I'm willing to speculate that a mash carried out at 165 degrees (just below denaturing temperature) might stall out in the 1.035 ballpark.
 
The only stall I've routinely heard of is at 1.020 for extract beers, and that's not really yeast specific. In any case, 2 days in is not remotely enough to talk about stalling. The OP also didn't mention if he'd checked multiple times for that - could be that;s just where things ended up there. If it was a week at 1.035 with every other possibility discounted, then we'd talk about a stall.
 
1.035 is not a general stalling point. I have found a couple saison strains that ferment stall then get active again. Strangely never had that issue with 3724 but have observed it with ecy14 and ecy03 and the 3726. Never had it with any other yeasts though.
 
If you search out Saison recipes, most suggest "Rock the baby" to help with stuck fermentations(Gently rock or swirl the sealed fermenter). Release some CO2, get yeast back in suspension. It's always worked well for the Saison's I've brewed.
 
I have heard some saison yeast are back pressure sensitive, If you using a airlock maybe switch a blow off tube or I know some like to open ferment saison.
 
I went through a phase of stalled beers and found 2 culprits. The first was a simple mistake which just didn't think about. My glass fermenter was on a concrete basement floor. While the temp sticker on side showed it was in range, the bottom was 10 degrees cooler. Assumption being the concrete floor was cooling the temperature. I now place it on foam pads and the problem is gone. You're using a SSconical so I assume this isn't an issue. The second was I increased dissolved oxygen prior to fermenting.

I had stopped in the past due to laziness and worrying it might lead to contamination. For awhile I then played with using O2 canisters and a wand just prior to pitching. Now I just drilled some tiny holes on the gravity fed tube after the plate chiller and brew-mometer.
 
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Three days since the OP's last post. So, is it still stalled? It is OK if it isn't. You seemed to ignore several assertions that two days of fermentation does not a stall imply. People are here to help. If it truly didn't stall, it is OK to admit it. For posterity's learning sake, what's the status?
 
OP was last on the sight 2 days ago in the afternoon. One day after replying his methods. Maybe he will come back and give an update. I bet it wasn't stalled.
 
Never had a beer stall at 1.035, this isn't common at all that I know of. Where did you hear this?
Result would taste like Malta Goya, hardly drinkable by my standards.

You are using a hydrometer right? Do not use a refractometer on a fermented beverage unless you really like to do math.
Maybe you need a new hydrometer?

Sounds like you could have a problem in your process. If it is all-grain you are mashing way too high; calibrate your mash thermometer and make sure you are measuring in the center of the mash.
If it is extract, you should expect it to stall right under 1.02 but not at 1.035.
 
By no means am I suggesting that anyone add unnecessary equipment to their brewery, this is just something I happened upon.

I bought out a brewer's supplies as he decided to hang brewing up. Included in the stash of gear was a Tilt floating hydrometer. I'll say upfront this is not an item I would have gone out and bought. Since I had it available I put it to good use.

Tilt best serves me showing trends in SG and I graph it and the temperature. Using Tilt keeps me from having to open the fermenter and drawing samples, in fact, it reads right thru my freezer (Ferm chamber) walls for SG readings. If I had a stall, I could tell quickly.

Once high krausen dies down, so does the exothermic heat generated by the yeast's own fermentation action. In essence, the yeast is creating its own heat source if you happen to have the fermenter in too cool of a place. After the reaction/heat subsides to a lower level, the fermentation slows drastically due to cool ambient conditions. For this reason, temp controlled ferm chambers are ideal.

I suppose I am stabbing at scenarios as the OP has asked for help but provided limited information.
 
The fact remains that the OP took measurements on DAY 2 and DAY 3. It is highly unlikely that the fermentation was done by then. So any talk of a stall is not relevant. I seriously doubt that it stalled. If the OP comes back at day 10 and has the same SG, and answers all the questions about procedure, then I will accept that it actually happened and we can then diagnose.

In response to the original question, Stalls do happen. It is somewhat common with certain yeasts. But 1.035 is not a common stall number. I have had one stall in 93 batches and it was about 1.030. A swirl and a warm up, and it finished easily. I took the measurement after 2 weeks in fermentation. That one was with Windsor yeast in a stout.
 
I have heard some saison yeast are back pressure sensitive, If you using a airlock maybe switch a blow off tube or I know some like to open ferment saison.


3724 is famous for this. I ferment in carboys with a foil cap until the fermentations slows then on goes an airlock. I seriously doubt the minimal pressure from an airlock is the culprit in stalling.
 
I have heard some saison yeast are back pressure sensitive, If you using a airlock maybe switch a blow off tube or I know some like to open ferment saison.


In addition to the comment above, I don't see how a blow off tube would reduce the pressure on your fermentor, assuming the other end of the tube is submerged in a liquid.
 
In addition to the comment above, I don't see how a blow off tube would reduce the pressure on your fermentor, assuming the other end of the tube is submerged in a liquid.


The claim is that it increased the (positive) pressure not reduces it.
 
FWIW, i would never consider checking SG < 2 weeks. 2 days is just overzealous. Pay no attn to the krausen, its not a good measuring stick either.

I was plaqued by underattenuated beer in the range youre experiencing early on due to bad aeration. I was doing the shake method and no matter how long i shook, no luck. Once i fixed that, ive never had an attenuation issue.

I use a bottle brush (dedicated to this purpose and kept immaculately clean) i cut down to fit in my drill. Works fantastic!
 
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