Wyeast 2565 SLOW Fermentation - Berliner Weisse

[KarmaCitra]

Having some fermentation issues with a Berliner I'm fermenting with Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch). Hoping somebody has some insight. Here's the rundown:

Finished about a week ago, had heck of a time getting the pH down (long story, but the L Plantarum pills were past date so I had to use GoodBelly).

Once I did get it down to 3.4ish, I boiled like normal for about 30 mins to kill off the lacto, dropped temp to ~68°.

Pitched starter I made of clearly viable yeast (smack pack swelled, starter was milky, etc etc)

Now after 7 days my gravity went from 1.051 to 1.040. I know this is a good thing bc fermentation is happening, but what's the deal with the slowness of it? The last batch I did of the same recipe went from 1.039 to 1.008 in 11 days (I know, OGs are different, I overshot the boil this time so didn't collect as much and is a bit more concentrated).

I know I need to just let it do it's thing, I'm just concerned that I'm going to get to 1.030 or so and it's gonna just decide to stop there.

Any help/advice would be appreciated!

 

[RPh_Guy]

Is it still at 68°F? You could warm it up a little.

You could also rehydrate and pitch some US-05. You won't get much yeast character anyway.

Cheers

 

[Dgallo]

Having some fermentation issues with a Berliner I'm fermenting with Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch). Hoping somebody has some insight. Here's the rundown:

Finished about a week ago, had heck of a time getting the pH down (long story, but the L Plantarum pills were past date so I had to use GoodBelly).

Once I did get it down to 3.4ish, I boiled like normal for about 30 mins to kill off the lacto, dropped temp to ~68°.

Pitched starter I made of clearly viable yeast (smack pack swelled, starter was milky, etc etc)

Now after 7 days my gravity went from 1.051 to 1.040. I know this is a good thing bc fermentation is happening, but what's the deal with the slowness of it? The last batch I did of the same recipe went from 1.039 to 1.008 in 11 days (I know, OGs are different, I overshot the boil this time so didn't collect as much and is a bit more concentrated).

I know I need to just let it do it's thing, I'm just concerned that I'm going to get to 1.030 or so and it's gonna just decide to stop there.

Any help/advice would be appreciated!

Even your last batch went slowly if it took 11 days to hit fg from a 1.038. With a proper pitch rate most beers will finish in 3-5 days, obviously could be longer for a big beer and colder ferm temps. Did you run a pitch rate calculator? What was the age of the yeast pack? I agree with @RPh_Guy, repitch with 05 after rehydrating and just finish it up

 

[TheHopfather]

I just did a sour and had a slow ferment as well. Wort was at 3.44 pH when I added some US-05, it ended up taking 10 days to hit FG. Normally my beer would hit FG is about half that time. You have to keep in mind that a 3.4-ish pH is not an ideal environment for our little yeasties. They are doing their best, I'd just ride it out, it'll take a bit longer but the yeast will finish up. You can always bump the temp up a bit to help them out.

 

[dmtaylor]

2565 is just about the slowest yeast in existence. It typically will take 5-6 weeks to complete fermentation. PATIENCE. Or add a different yeast instead. Either way.

 

[KarmaCitra]

I think I'm going to let it ride out, I just didn't have this experience with 2565 before.

2565 is just about the slowest yeast in existence. It typically will take 5-6 weeks to complete fermentation. PATIENCE. Or add a different yeast instead. Either way.

 

[rhys333]

Having some fermentation issues with a Berliner I'm fermenting with Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch). Hoping somebody has some insight. Here's the rundown:

Finished about a week ago, had heck of a time getting the pH down (long story, but the L Plantarum pills were past date so I had to use GoodBelly).

Once I did get it down to 3.4ish, I boiled like normal for about 30 mins to kill off the lacto, dropped temp to ~68°.

Pitched starter I made of clearly viable yeast (smack pack swelled, starter was milky, etc etc)

Now after 7 days my gravity went from 1.051 to 1.040. I know this is a good thing bc fermentation is happening, but what's the deal with the slowness of it? The last batch I did of the same recipe went from 1.039 to 1.008 in 11 days (I know, OGs are different, I overshot the boil this time so didn't collect as much and is a bit more concentrated).

I know I need to just let it do it's thing, I'm just concerned that I'm going to get to 1.030 or so and it's gonna just decide to stop there.

Any help/advice would be appreciated!

WY 2565 works very slowly, and there's nothing that can be done to speed it up. In my experience it can take 4-6 weeks before a batch is ready for kegging. If you want fast results, and don't mind a more neutral yeast character, you can try WY 1010 American Wheat.

 

[Vale71]

Kölsch yeasts are actually quite vigorous considering that you usually have them fermenting at rather low temperatures for an ale, but if you pitch them into a soured wort you are making things harder for the yeast. Yeast has a PH optimum of 4.0 to 4.5, anything below that and you're stressing it. While it will still be able to perform you can expect sub-optimal performance for any given yeast strain.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I think I'm going to let it ride out, I just didn't have this experience with 2565 before.

FYI
The FG will be several points higher than expected because of the lactic acid.

 

[KarmaCitra]

Even your last batch went slowly if it took 11 days to hit fg from a 1.038. With a proper pitch rate most beers will finish in 3-5 days, obviously could be longer for a big beer and colder ferm temps. Did you run a pitch rate calculator? What was the age of the yeast pack? I agree with @RPh_Guy, repitch with 05 after rehydrating and just finish it up

Yeah, did a calculator and ended up with a pitch rate of .91m cells /ml. It went just as all of my other starters go, just not as much volume was needed because the smack pack was less than 2 months old.

 

[Dgallo]

Yeah, did a calculator and ended up with a pitch rate of .91m cells /ml. It went just as all of my other starters go, just not as much volume was needed because the smack pack was less than 2 months old.

That’s plenty I pitch at .6 for my ester forward strains. I’ve never used the yeast personally but seems like those with experience using it had similar fermentation times or even longer

 

[RPh_Guy]

Cells/mL or cells/mL/°P ?

 

[rhys333]

Cells/mL or cells/mL/°P ?

Gigawatts.

I pitch mine at 1.21. If I get it up to 88 mph, I can have it fermented out before it's even brewed.

 

[dmtaylor]

Gigawatts.

I pitch mine at 1.21. If I get it up to 88 mph, I can have it fermented out before it's even brewed.

Einstein... you little devil!

 

[KarmaCitra]

Cells/ml/p

Cells/mL or cells/mL/°P ?

 

[KarmaCitra]

°P*

Cells/ml/p

 

[Bilsch]

2565 is just about the slowest yeast in existence. It typically will take 5-6 weeks to complete fermentation. PATIENCE. Or add a different yeast instead. Either way.

Are you talking about in a low pH environment or in general? My last Kölsch with 2565 went from 1.045 to 1.009 at 57f in 6 days so I wouldn't exactly call that slow.

 

[rhys333]

Are you talking about in a low pH environment or in general? My last Kölsch with 2565 went from 1.045 to 1.009 at 57f in 6 days so I wouldn't exactly call that slow.

Witchcraft.

 

[OnePlate]

Are you talking about in a low pH environment or in general? My last Kölsch with 2565 went from 1.045 to 1.009 at 57f in 6 days so I wouldn't exactly call that slow.

This has been my experience with 2565 as well. I use it for almost all my beers lately from berliners to kolsch to American wheats and 5 days is pretty typical at 60 degrees. I bottle at 14 days. Bottles carbonate fully in less than a week.

The kettle sour berliner weisse I did recently was ready to bottle in 14 days as well. Went from 1.038 to 1.010 in 10 days, according to my notes. I have a wheat I brewed on 7/28 that's been pushing a good amount of blow-off all day today, which in my experience means it's mostly done. I don't know if I'm a yeastmancer or I just have a super-healthy batch of yeast I keep over-building starters from but in my experience it's a beastly yeasty.

The only thing I can think of for the OPs slow/stuck fermentation is lack of oxygen?

 

[hottpeper13]

2565 is my house yeast, and if it doesn't blow off or come real close you did something wrong. It's an ale yeast fermented at close to lager temps,so a healthy size pitch is called for. It's at FG in 5-7 days starting at 55* , bumping up to 64* when krausen starts to fall, but I leave it in primary for a total of 21 days before kegging.

 

[KarmaCitra]

This has been my experience with 2565 as well. I use it for almost all my beers lately from berliners to kolsch to American wheats and 5 days is pretty typical at 60 degrees. I bottle at 14 days. Bottles carbonate fully in less than a week.

The kettle sour berliner weisse I did recently was ready to bottle in 14 days as well. Went from 1.038 to 1.010 in 10 days, according to my notes. I have a wheat I brewed on 7/28 that's been pushing a good amount of blow-off all day today, which in my experience means it's mostly done. I don't know if I'm a yeastmancer or I just have a super-healthy batch of yeast I keep over-building starters from but in my experience it's a beastly yeasty.

The only thing I can think of for the OPs slow/stuck fermentation is lack of oxygen?

I used pure O2 for 2 mins as I normally do, and most of my fermentations I usually get to FG in about 5 -7 days. This one just seems odd. And the starter was active and healthy....

 

[KarmaCitra]

Alright, update. Since I posted this, it's dropped to 1.036. so I know something is happening, I think this round it's just being very slow...I'm just going to let it ride.

 

[dmtaylor]

Are you talking about in a low pH environment or in general? My last Kölsch with 2565 went from 1.045 to 1.009 at 57f in 6 days so I wouldn't exactly call that slow.

It's not done until it gets the hell out of my beer. It's extremely slow to flocculate out. You may be right, the low pH might have slowed down attenuation as well in this particular case.