Would love some help saving this beer

[hufcat05]

Hello everyone,

I'm on my third batch and this thing is incredibly problematic. First things first, I tried new equipment (installed a brew thermometer in my kettle and added a spigot, bazooka screen for straining after mash). That said, I measured 78% efficiency using the process in my recipe below. At the end of brew day I measured 1.051 Original Gravity

I think I have a stuck fermentation and I can't seem to get it going again. I've attached a picture of a graph of the fermentation below (I have a bluetooth hydrometer that floats in the bucket and posts data about the current temp and gravity every 15 minutes). The blue line is gravity. Fermentation kicked off perfectly and ran for a few days then completely leveled off around 1.024/1.025 (this hydrometer is accurate within .003).

I decided it was stuck and went out and got a new batch of yeast. Boiled .35 oz of DME in 1L of water. After cooling I pitched the yeast and let it sit. I realize that I made a mistake here in that I never stirred, swirled, or oxygenated the starter wort (I don't have a stir plate). 15 hours later, there was a small amount of foam on top of the starter, I swirled it and a bunch of CO2 was released so I figured it was good even though there was a good amount of cake on the bottom. -- Yes, I know now that this was a mistake.

Anyways, I pitched into the beer and let it sit. The hydrometer readings dropped to 1.023/1.024. It is now 24 hours later and I'm getting concerned.

This morning, I opened it back up and took a sample. Glass hydrometer read 1.020. Glass thermometer read 61F.

So, with all of this information, what does a guy need to do to get anywhere close to his target gravity of 1.014?

Should I buy a stir plate and get a better starter going and try again?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Recipe:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.82 lb Briess Gold DME
1.75 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain
2.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain
1.75 lb Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain
0.50 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain
0.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain
1.5 oz Hallertauer (60 min) Hops
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (5 min) Hops 5.2 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs White Labs (WLP029) Kolsch Yeast -- Ale

Mash 60 Min @ 152 -- 2.8 Gallons
Batch Sparge 10 Min @ 168 -- 2.31 Gallons

Boil 60 minutes

 

[ncbrewer]

The temperature has a downward trend. A typical ale fermentation would have a constant temp for several days, then warm up by 5 - 10 degrees over a couple of days. I'd let it warm up. Since you're at 61F now, I'd say take about 3 days to warm up to around 70 - 72 (this is not at all exact). Good luck.

 

[hufcat05]

The temperature has a downward trend. A typical ale fermentation would have a constant temp for several days, then warm up by 5 - 10 degrees over a couple of days. I'd let it warm up. Since you're at 61F now, I'd say take about 3 days to warm up to around 70 - 72 (this is not at all exact). Good luck.

This is a lower temperature yeast. I've been trying to keep the temp in the low 60's. Everything I've read thus far says that it can handle this temperature range just fine.

 

[The_Bishop]

Have you checked it with an actual manual hydrometer? Your digital one might not be working correctly.

Also, that recipe is all over the place. What it is supposed to be?

 

[hufcat05]

Have you checked it with an actual manual hydrometer? Your digital one might not be working correctly.

Also, that recipe is all over the place. What it is supposed to be?

Glass Hydrometer read 1.020 which is within the margin of error for the digital one.

It's a Spotted Cow clone (Cream Ale). The recipe is based on this one https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=4055670&postcount=275

I converted some of the pale grain to extract because I can only mash about 7 lbs of grain in my system.

 

[ncbrewer]

This is a lower temperature yeast. I've been trying to keep the temp in the low 60's. Everything I've read thus far says that it can handle this temperature range just fine.

Raising the temperature after most of the fermentation is complete can help the beer attenuate fully. I haven't experimented to confirm it, but the book "Yeast" discusses it (p 97), and it seems to be pretty well accepted.

 

[hufcat05]

Raising the temperature after most of the fermentation is complete can help the beer attenuate fully. I haven't experimented to confirm it, but the book "Yeast" discusses it (p 97), and it seems to be pretty well accepted.

Alright, well I'll give it a shot. Will update in a few days. Someone else suggested I stir up the trub when it gets up to temperature to release some of the dormant yeast, so I'll try that as well