Witbier stopped fermenting

[doug33]

I tried a belgian wit for the first time, recipie is
4 lb pale malt
4 lb flaked wheat
1 lb oats
S-05 ale yeast ( I'm not a fan of banana and clove flavor )
Bitter orange and corriander

Mashed biab method at 154 for 60 min, 60 min boil. Post boil gravity was 1.055. Fermented at 68 degrees. Fermentation stopped at 1.025, it is extremely sweet. Come to find out my thermometer is reading 6-7 degrees high so I probably mashed at 145-148. Could this be the reason for the ferment issues? I was under the impression mashing at low temps would create a dryer beer, not sweet.

 

[Kene64]

I doubt it's an issue with your mash temperature. However, if you do mash in at the lower temp it's ideal to do a step mash, stepping the temp up to around 165 or 170. But that's not what you're asking.
How much Yeast did you pitch? How long did it ferment for? Did you use a Yeast starter?
If you still have it in the fermenter you can add more Yeast to it to get fermentation going again.

 

[doug33]

I pitched a full packet of so5, rehydrated but no starter. Should have been plenty, the wort was only 3.5 gallons or so. Fermented very well for 4 days. I'm thinking the issue is I ended up with a lot of unfermentable sugars, I'm just not sure how.

 

[flars]

Are you using a hydrometer or refractometer for FG? Refractometers won't give you an accurate SG in the presence of alcohol.

 

[doug33]

Refractometer for OG, hydrometer for FG

 

[flars]

Everything in your recipe looks good and fermentable. How long has your beer been in the primary?

 

[bucketnative]

If you indeed mashed in the upper 140's, then you would actually finish drier than if you'd mashed at 154. Are you reading it after only 4 days? It's probably not done yet.

 

[doug33]

Sorry for the confusion, but the fermenter was actively foaming/bubbling for 4 days. Beer has been in primary for 10 days. I guess I can try re-pitching, I've just never had an issue with so5 yeast.

 

[doug33]

So I assumed it's an issue with the wort