First stalled fermentation - I need help!

Hi folks,

This is my first post, and I come cap in hand asking for advice.

I repitched a Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale yeast into an extract tripel recipe last week and after a day of good fermentation (about a bubble per second) things slowed down and stopped pretty quickly. Today I racked to secondary (I needed my primary for my next batch) and checked the gravity - 1.030.

So it looks like I have a case of stalled fermentation.

I've saved the trub in a sanitized jar, and I had the crazy idea that I could could let it settle, pour off the liquid, get hold of some of the viable yeast and make a starter with sterile water and brown sugar (or dextrose). I could then pitch this into my stalled wort, and get the gravity down further.

Is this a completely hare-brained scheme? Should I just go to the store and buy more yeast instead?

Your thoughts are very much appreciated.

Justin

I'd have to say... yes... it's a hare brained scheme.

Don't sweat it. What temp is it sitting at? If it got too cool, it can stall out. If so, warm it up and give it a very gentle swirl to rouse the yeast that settled up into suspension and give it some more time. One week is a bit early to resort to drastic measures.

Just because you don't see activity in the airlock does not mean the yeast has stopped working. I find its good to let the beer stay on the yeast for a while, not rack it to secondary as soon as the airlock stops.

Also, I'm not sure how well brown sugar or dextrose work for starters. I usually use DME since it has nutrients to make healthy yeast.

Thanks for the responses!

Unfortunately I've already racked to secondary, so leaving it in primary is no longer an option.

I'm going to have to do something to save this poor tripel!

So... the big questions is... Why would you rack it to secondary when it wasn't finished with the primary?

What temps did you have? Belgian yeasts are verry sensitive to too cool temps and will stall out if you let them cool during fermentation.

As I said in the original post I needed my primary bucket.

It was fermenting in the kitchen, the temp wouldn't have gotten to low. I did move it to the bathroom and put a heater in there, but it didn't seem to restart.

You could also have used your secondary vessel for the primary for the next beer and skipped the whole secondary step on this stalled beer. Secondary is generally unnecessary.

In the scheme of things it will probably turn out fine. I suggest buying more fermenters so this doesn't have to happen again.

pdxal said:

You could also have used your secondary vessel for the primary for the next beer and skipped the whole secondary step on this stalled beer. Secondary is generally unnecessary.

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Or just picked up another bucket.

I'm gonna let it sit for a while and see if the gravity will go down.

In future I might put my Belgians straight into a carboy and keep them there till ready to bottle.

Thanks for the feedback all.