Another Stuck Ferment

[motleybrew]

I posted in another thread, but didn't want to hijack...

I recently brewed an APA that has been fermenting for about 3 weeks now. I checked the SG and saw that it leveled out at 1.030. A second check a few days later and it hadn't budged.

Interesting...

I did some reading and decided to make a small starter and pitch more yeast. After letting it sit on the stir plate for 12 hours, and when it had a krausen in high form, I pitched it into the main wort bucket.

Now, 2 days after pitching, I recheck SG and it is STILL at 1.030. I don't see any sign of fermentation either.

At this point, I am leaning toward just dry hopping for a few days and then bottling.

Here's the details:

Grains were 2-row, vienna, munich, and crystal 40.
Hops were goldings, perle, and cascade (don't need to tell me about styles, blah blah blah)
Mashed at 156 for an hour (this was probably my first brew that I hit target temp on the nose and was able to maintain it for the mash)
OG was 1.067
Got 4.75~5 gal. in the fermenter.
Pitched a 2qt. starter of Nottingham.
After two weeks, the beer looks cleared (though my samples are slightly hazy, and SG has stalled at 1.030.




Is it just the high mash temp and crystal malt that is raising the unfermentables? Or maybe I'm not doing something right....

 

[RM-MN]

Are you using a refractometer to measure the FG? If so, get out a hydrometer before you do anything else.

 

[motleybrew]

I use a hydrometer for all SG measurements.

 

[tootal]

How does it taste? 156 mash temp should give you a thicker sweeter beer which will balance those hops. If your malt mill roller gap was too big you might not have mashed long enough leaving a lot of starch behind. I wouldn't worry about it as long as it taste good! Next time either mill a little finer and mash for an hour and see what happens or just mash for 90 minutes and see what happens. Just remember, only change one thing at a time when diagnosing a problem.

 

[motleybrew]

It does taste pretty good right out of the fermenter. I milled the grain at the LHBS which has it preset. But I ran all the grain through twice. I think it's time to dry hop and bottle. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Marc77]

What temp's were you fermenting at? From the quick 30 second search I did (because I've never used Nottingham) it seems to have a high attenuation which makes me curious about the first thing I mentioned. The other thing I'm curious about is how did you aerate? Shaking the fermentor, venturi or O2 system?

 

[motleybrew]

I pour very hard from the kettle to the bucket and then stir for a few minutes...never had a problem with that method before. I dont have control over ferm temp, but my apartment stays at a fairly stable 65-68F

 

[Marc77]

So the stir and shake method which like you I've done and never had a problem with. So that's fine and the temp is towards the higher range but still well within the range. Can you put it in a bath tub and give it a water bath? Keep it as close to 70 degrees as possible, that might force it to ferment some more.

The other thing I did with my last one (zombie dust clone) was that I brought it out to add gelatin and then cold crash it. Like you I found the gravity about 6 points higher than what I wanted. So back to the bath tub and a warm water bath. The movement shook up some stuff and the water bath got fermentation going again. That's the only other thing I'd try.

Past that, if it tastes good go with it!