WLP-400 extremely slow / stuck fermentation???

[squigley]

I am currently brewing a Belgian Wit. This is my third batch of beer, so I'm relatively inexperienced, but I've been very careful to follow all the directions and much of the current advice.

This beer started with an O.G. of 1.054, and after 7 days I checked the SG, which was at 1.04. I was expecting it to be at 1.015-1.02 by this time, so I became a bit concerned, at which point I did a bunch of research on this particular yeast strain and found out that many others have had issues getting it to ferment completely (or be very slow). No one I've read has had a SG so high though!

So over the last week I took some measures to get it going: stirred the beer carefully with a sanitized spoon, swirled the entire carboy, and took it out of the swamp cooler, raising the temp from 68 to 74 degrees. All of this has seemed to help slightly, but now much. We're now on day 12, and the SG is currently 1.034, which still seems way too high. Possible solutions I've heard might be:

-Do nothing, just let it sit longer and hope it ferments out.
-Add another vial of WLP-400 to try to get it going.
-Add another vial of a different strain of yeast that might ferment it out faster.

Of note, this batch was the first one I've made a yeast starter, and this is the first time I've added much of the fermentables as a late addition (added 1.5 lb at the beginning of the boil, and added 4.5 lb with 15 min left). Any ideas or suggestions to finish this beer without ruining the style of beer?

 

[drawdy10]

Dang, that really sucks to have a ferment not go well... I had a beer completely not start at all so I made another starter for 24 hours and pitched that and it got it going, fermented it out. Go ahead and pick up another vial of 400, do a starter and pitch. That'll get it to finish for you and preserve the flavor that you are going for. Good luck! Belgian wit is one I my favorites.

 

[slarkin712]

Did you get a big krausen? I've had this yeast stick/slow at 1.025. I raised the temp the same as you and then gently swirled the bucket a few times a day to help get the yeast in the krausen back into suspension. I also stirred the krausen when I did my gravity checks to get the yeast back into suspension. Eventually the gravity reached 1.012, but it took 3-4 weeks. It wouldn't hurt to pitch more yeast. I'd just be patient and try to keep the yeast you have working. If the gravity continues to lower keep at it.

 

[tagz]

Your pitch rate and temp are pretty important with this yeast. My first ferment with it I pitched the recommended amount and ferment in the low/mid 60s. Took about 3 weeks for the krausen to drop... Never dropped completely, but it did finish. My second batch I pitched a little more than the target amount and fermented 68 and let it rise to 73. It was done in less than a week. The flavors were much better at the higher temp as well. I have read other threads where people complain about this strain taking a long time to finish, but I think you can avoid that with a healthy pitch and a warm fermentation.

I think yours will finish up if you give it time and keep the temps up. Your late extract addition is good technique and did not cause the problem. Start planning your next brew to distract yourself from this batch and it will be done before you know it.

 

[MNDan]

400 is too slow & unpredictable IMHO - I don't even know why that's their standard wit yeast when they could make 410 available year round instead. Use 410 for wits - it's awesome!

 

[squigley]

I don't think I got a bigger krausen than I've gotten in the past...seemed about normal. I'm wondering if I messed up the original starter...I did do it on a pretty short time scale. I decided I wanted to brew on Sunday, so bought all the ingredients on Saturday, let the yeast warm up, and made it as close as possible to John Palmer's instructions (except for the 3 days ahead of time part). I basically boiled 1 pint of water with 1/2 cup wheat DME. Cooled it to room temp and pitched the yeast. Let that sit overnight (seemed to have mostly fully fermented), so it was about 24 hours after making the starter that I pitched the starter into the wort. Maybe I should have done that all 2-3 days ahead of time.

 

[squigley]

Update: I made a new starter with a new vial of WLP-400 and pitched that into the primary on Sunday evening. Come Monday morning, lots of bubbles and a new Krausen!!! I am excited because this seems to have worked. I'm going to continue to stir/mix up the yeast occasionally, as I've done it so many times at this point I don't think a few more will hurt it. I'll be checking the SG in the next few days to see where we're at. It looks like this remedy might have worked.