If my FG is high can I add more yeast?

FG should be closer to 1.014, but at 1.020 10 days into the ferment. This is a heff yeast. Can I make a starter and add more active yeast to bring it down a bit more?

There are many stuck fermentation threads where they get stuck at 1.020. I had this same problem with my hefeweizen this week. My hefeweizen was stuck at 1.020 at 11 days, so I brought it inside (from 60 degrees to 72 degrees) and fermentation kicked in, within a couple days it finished off at 1.012 and tasted great, all the sweetness was gone.... try warming it up a bit.

kevreh said:

FG should be closer to 1.014, but at 1.020 10 days into the ferment. This is a heff yeast. Can I make a starter and add more active yeast to bring it down a bit more?

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At 10 days, it's too soon to conclude that your fermentation is stuck. Give it a bit longer to see what happens. Adding more yeast may or may not help. It depends on why the gravity isn't dropping. If it's because of yeast health or underpitching, it might help. If it's becasue of an unfermentable wort, it won't help. That's why you should wait a little longer and see what happens.

Thanks denny and seigex. I'll wait a couple more days to see if it drops. The temps inside and outside have been swinging a lot lately, for low 60s at night to 80 during the day. Since the ac and heat are off this means temp swings inside too. Maybe the cooler evening temps are slowing this yeast. Usually heffs ferment FAST, like in 3 days.

Don't bother waiting, warm it up now. Especially with a heff, where you want some of those esters, you're not in danger of producing off-style flavors, and, with it already down to 1.020, you're unlikely to notice any flavor change at all. Also, once you get it up to the low 70's, give the closed fermenter a couple of swirls to rouse the yeast back into suspension.

There are several cheap, easy things you can (and should) do to help with those temp swings, too -- wrap it in a blanket, stick it in a bath in a 15-gallon plastic tub (10-12 gallons will resist swings a lot better than 5-6), or, both!