Glucose, yeast and stuck fermentation.

[jweidman]

Hey guys so I have a problem, after 2 1/2 weeks of fermentation my beer is stuck. My og was 1.069 suppose to hit 1.010, it's at 1.028 now after 2.5 weeks.

Here are the stats to help,

10g batch
A 1l yeast starter plus 1 smack pack added per carboy
5 min carboy slosh by hand.

I gave a sample to my brewing lab and they said the yeast are perfect, except the cell walls are think so that means and oxygen problem.

I talked to a few Brewers here in Sd and I have an understanding on what to do but still lost,

I have a .5lb of glucose which was given to me by a Brewer he told me to dilute it down and pitch it in the carboys, do I just pitch it with filtered water or should I boil it and cool it and then pitch.

Any help would be great.

 

[TheMadKing]

I don't think adding more sugar is going to solve your problem. Effectively what you'll do is raise your gravity back up a couple points and then it will likely drop back to where it is and stop again. You'll boost your alcohol content but it won't drop your gravity.

A few questions:

What yeast are you using?

What has your temperature been doing?

What was your grain bill?

 

[jweidman]

I'm using white labs London ale yeast,

68f been in a chest freezer to controlled the temp with a +/- 1.5 degrees

20lbs of 2row
3lbs chocolate
2lbs barley flaked
1lb Carmel malt 60
1lb midnight wheat
2lbs lactose

So the reason why the Brewer said use glucose was to just help restart the yeast, was also thinking about adding more oxygen but I don't wanna ruin the beer.

 

[TheMadKing]

I'm using white labs London ale yeast,

68f been in a chest freezer to controlled the temp with a +/- 1.5 degrees

20lbs of 2row
3lbs chocolate
2lbs barley flaked
1lb Carmel malt 60
1lb midnight wheat
2lbs lactose

So the reason why the Brewer said use glucose was to just help restart the yeast, was also thinking about adding more oxygen but I don't wanna ruin the beer.

Without running the numbers, my money is on the lactose. It's unfermentable so it will raise both your OG and FG and it won't go away. You could try raising the temp to 74F and you may get a few more points of gravity drop, but I really think that's about all you're going to get out of it.

I'd certainly wait for more opinions besides mine before deciding anything though.

 

[jweidman]

I used beer smith to create the recipe, don't they take in account the lactose?

 

[TheMadKing]

I used beer smith to create the recipe, don't they take in account the lactose?

Hmmm I don't have my computer in front of me so I'm not sure, I've never actually checked how it handles it.

If it does already account for it, then I'm not sure what else to check.

Do you know what your mash temp was?

EDIT: after a quick search it sounds like most calculators do not factor in the unfermentability of lactose, but in Beer Smith if you double click on lactose there is a check box to designate it as "adjunct, unfermentable" or something similar. You could check that.

 

[passedpawn]

i used beer smith to create the recipe, don't they take in account the lactose?

I have NO explanation for this. But Beersmith says 1.035 SG (meaning it's highly fermentable) and it has fairly high diastatic power (which seems impossible to me, since this is a measure of enyzmatic action and I'm thinking lactose has no viable enzymes). Color = 0? Dunno, I've got a tub of lactose here and it's brown - maybe that doesn't translate into the brew, but given everything else it's in question. Looks like Brad Smith didn't handle lactose correctly at all. Maybe I'm missing something here.

 

[TheMadKing]

I have NO explanation for this. But Beersmith says 1.035 SG (meaning it's highly fermentable) and it has fairly high diastatic power (which seems impossible to me, since this is a measure of enyzmatic action and I'm thinking lactose has no viable enzymes). Color = 0? Dunno, I've got a tub of lactose here and it's brown - maybe that doesn't translate into the brew, but given everything else it's in question. Looks like Brad Smith didn't handle lactose correctly at all. Maybe I'm missing something here.

View attachment 332977

I think the 1.035 refers to the amount of gravity points that it adds per pound per gallon, not its fermentability.

as for diastatic power, I agree that's totally wrong, it should be 0.

Also, I found this

http://www.beersmith.com/forum/index.php?topic=7519.0

Reply #11 tells you how to fix it in Beer Smith

I hope that helps!

 

[passedpawn]

I think the 1.035 refers to the amount of gravity points that it adds per pound per gallon, not its fermentability.

as for diastatic power, I agree that's totally wrong, it should be 0.

Also, I found this

http://www.beersmith.com/forum/index.php?topic=7519.0

Reply #11 tells you how to fix it in Beer Smith

I hope that helps!

Thanks, you're right on all. Checking that fermentable box is the ticket. I can't understand why that isn't the default.

 

[TheMadKing]

Thanks, you're right on all. Checking that fermentable box is the ticket. I can't understand why that isn't the default.

I bet if you add the lactose during the mash, the amalayse from the barley goes to work on it and makes it fermentable.

 

[jweidman]

I'll double check it when I get home, and make sure that beer smith is correct, you guys rock.

 

[jweidman]

Ok i did the adjustment and it brought it from a 1.010 to a 1.019 so that's good, my brew house efficiency is at 60% so I'm pretty sure I won't hit the 1.019 mark, I'm gonna do a reading today and if it dropped a little I think cold crash and keg, unless anyone here can give me better advice?

 

[TheMadKing]

Ok i did the adjustment and it brought it from a 1.010 to a 1.019 so that's good, my brew house efficiency is at 60% so I'm pretty sure I won't hit the 1.019 mark, I'm gonna do a reading today and if it dropped a little I think cold crash and keg, unless anyone here can give me better advice?

I think raising the temp a few degrees and giving it a swirl may get you a few more points. I think 1.025 is achievable

 

[pdxal]

How's it taste? If it tastes good, why worry about gravity, just enjoy it.
If it is too sweet work on it.
I'd like to see what your mash temp was. That's a lot of unfermentable ingredients besides the lactose, too, it should finish higher due to this.
Are you testing gravity with a refractometer?

 

[jweidman]

How's it taste? If it tastes good, why worry about gravity, just enjoy it.
If it is too sweet work on it.
I'd like to see what your mash temp was. That's a lot of unfermentable ingredients besides the lactose, too, it should finish higher due to this.
Are you testing gravity with a refractometer?

I'm using a hydrometer, the mash temp
Was 153

 

[jweidman]

How's it taste? If it tastes good, why worry about gravity, just enjoy it.
If it is too sweet work on it.
I'd like to see what your mash temp was. That's a lot of unfermentable ingredients besides the lactose, too, it should finish higher due to this.
Are you testing gravity with a refractometer?

I'm using a hydrometer, the mash temp
Was 153 it taste kinda roasty but it was 68f so I wanna taste it colder

 

[TheMadKing]

I'm using a hydrometer, the mash temp
Was 153 it taste kinda roasty but it was 68f so I wanna taste it colder

Your recipe has a lot of chocolate malt, so the roasty taste is to be expected, but it will mellow some over time. I usually use 1/3 to 1/2 that amount of chocolate malt in recipes

 

[jweidman]

Your recipe has a lot of chocolate malt, so the roasty taste is to be expected, but it will mellow some over time. I usually use 1/3 to 1/2 that amount of chocolate malt in recipes

Awesome, thanks for the input, I'm gonna test the reading tonight after my brew day at ballast point, I'll post the findings so everyone can see what is going on.