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Stuck fermentations
November 13, 2009 - 12:09pm
I have a stalled fermentation from Saturdays' teach a friend to homebrew day. I made an Irish Stout, and got the right OG (1.055) and pitched a starter I made 3 days earlyer with WPL 004 and used a stir plate to constantly aerate it. It had a good yeast cake on top within a day but then it just fizzled. I had it at 65-70 degrees in the closet, but no bubbles in the airlock and it just stalled out. I took a gravity reading Wed and again today, it's at 1.033. I need it to get down to about 1.017.
I heard that Champagne yeast is the magic bullet in these cases, but some websites said it's only when it's a big beer, which this isn't. Some said to boil 3oz of corn sugar with some nutrient and add it to the wort. Others said to make a duplicate batch and blend them.
Which is the best way to go? Or is there another option?
Thx,
Scott
November 13, 2009 - 12:33pm
#2
Yes, I did that 2 days ago...a couple of bubbles, but that's it
November 13, 2009 - 1:05pm
#3
Try raising the temperature a little bit. I've heard that helps some.
November 13, 2009 - 1:46pm
#4
Only way I have revived a stuck fermentation is by dumping the beer on a new yeast cake. GL!
November 15, 2009 - 12:53am
#5
Funny you should mention this. I have had this problem with wpl yeast three times in the last year. This is a problem I haven't had to deal with before. I have a batch of IPA that stalled out at 1032 a few days ago. This was right after the cold front moved in. Since this has happened before, I tried a few things differently this time. I aerated with oxygen this time. One 5 gallon batch had yeast nutrient and one batch didn't. It didn't make a difference, they both stopped at the same point. In the past I have kept the fermentations around 63deg. All of the batches had 1qt starters. I normally keep the carboys in a water bath to minimize temperature extremes. Of course I broke my thermometer for this batch so I wasn't able to monitor the water temp. When the batches stalled, I was a bit more motivated to check the temp. The water was at 61deg. This is within fermentation range for ale yeast but since this is the third time this has happened the only thing left was the temp. In the past I have swirled the carboys and they would ferment for a day but the gravity would not drop much. Today I swirled and raised the fermentation temp to around 67deg. The bubbles continued throughout the day. We shall see. I have a feeling this liq yeast wants a higher fermentation temp and stops fermentation with a temp drop. Your fermentation temp was over 65 deg but did it drop lower at night? All three of my stuck fermentations have been with the Cal Common yeast with OG between 1055 and 1065.
November 15, 2009 - 1:11am
#6
I kept it in my fermentation closet under the stairs, which gets cooler than other parts of the house, but not down too low. Since my initial post, others mentioned the temp too. I hooked up a 2stage temp controller to a kegerator and set it to stay b/n 70 & 72 degrees. 2 days later I took a gravity reading and it's staying the same. I'm making a yeast starter now, and every few days I'll decant the wort and add fresh wort/nutrient to make a large start to pitch. I'll also look into that other product you mentioned, not the nutrient but the re-energizer thing.
November 15, 2009 - 10:21am
#7
I'm curious to see how your starter/repitch comes out. On one of the other stucks I pitched some Nottingham’s dry yeast on top but it never started. When I use to use only dry yeast in my early years, Nottingham’s would stop at 1010. I ended up kegging it and enjoyed the beer but it wasn't as dry as I wanted it.
November 30, 2009 - 11:56am
#8
Well I started another starter and pitched it after it took off. Not a thing happened. The one area that I will be checking with my next fermentation is the starting PH and monitoring it throughout the fermentation. I couldn’t get the beer to ferment past the 1032 mark. Low PH is one of the items that will stop the yeast from working.
February 27, 2010 - 8:36am
#9
Bob - sorry forgot to mention - the starter took the gravity down 5 points which still kept it at a light ABV Irish Stout, but it tasted pretty good. Plus some of my friends don't want the higher alcohol beers (not that this was going to be) if they're driving home so this was popular!
Have you pulled the Trub? Or maybe give it a slight stir?
If you ever need someone to drink beer with, I´ll drink beer with you. If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I´ll drink beer with you. I guess what I´m trying to say is: I love to drink beer!