Hardly fermented

[Ryho]

Hey guys I have a chocolate stout that im brewing and having some problems with the fermentation.. my initial potential alcohol was 7% and 2 weeks later im ready to rack it so I took a hydrometer reading and its now only at 5% potential alc.. only 2%? Not sure what to do I figured i would keep it in there for another week, tried swirling it a bit to get some yeast re suspended into the beer and I added some champagne yeast to try and get it going again.(per suggestion from my homebrew store)
I used wyeast 3068 and Im unsure since thats typically a weizen yeast if its unable to handle a stout? Im lost. Please help me save this beer it smells great but at this rate itd be safe to give a child. :what:

 

[Psylocide]

Makes sense, potential alcohol goes down as fermentable sugars are converted to alcohol.

What is the specific gravity? Should look something like 1.016 (just an example of the format).

 

[yeastylad]

What temperature are you fermenting at, and what is your recipe? It's definitely an odd choice of yeast for a stout. I've used that yeast only for classic German Hefeweizens before, and it is renowned for having an explosive fermentation, and usually finishes pretty quickly, within a week. As Psylocide says, can you post your actual hydrometer readings?

I'd do the champagne yeast as a last resort. That type of yeast can eat through a lot of sugar and may end up leaving your stout a lot drier than you might like, as you probably want to retain a little residual sweetness in there, no?

 

[Ryho]

Makes sense, potential alcohol goes down as fermentable sugars are converted to alcohol.

What is the specific gravity? Should look something like 1.016 (just an example of the format).

Its now at 1.038 specific gravity, im really just wondering whether its slow or if its done altogether and what I can do to save it...

 

[Ryho]

What temperature are you fermenting at, and what is your recipe? It's definitely an odd choice of yeast for a stout. I've used that yeast only for classic German Hefeweizens before, and it is renowned for having an explosive fermentation, and usually finishes pretty quickly, within a week. As Psylocide says, can you post your actual hydrometer readings?

I'd do the champagne yeast as a last resort. That type of yeast can eat through a lot of sugar and may end up leaving your stout a lot drier than you might like, as you probably want to retain a little residual sweetness in there, no?

I have done a good job at keeping the fermentation at 70 degrees although when I was adding the water to top off to 5 gallons I used to cold of water and it was around 60… as for the recipe..
6 lbs dark malt syrup
.25 lbs extra dark crystal
1 lb chocolate malt
2 oz cluster hops
wyeast 3068

the thinking behind using that yeast was to get some of the banana flavors so I would end up with a chocolate banana stout. The initial fermentation took off really well and I ended up having to put a blow off on so I know the yeast was good.
As for sweetness Im adding a lb of lactose when I rack and adding some nibs. Ive already added the champagne yeast so hopefully those two things will help if this yeast makes it too dry.
thanks for your help

 

[McKnuckle]

What temp did you mash at, and what was your OG? 1.038 is pretty darn high. Yeast doesn't know beer from apple juice as long as there's sugar to eat, but there will be a higher amount of unfermentables in a stout vs. a weizen. Here are the specs for the 3068 yeast:

Attenuation: 73-77%
Temperature Range: 64-75° F (18-24° C)
Alcohol Tolerance: approximately 10% ABV

It's going to be at the low end of the range if you mashed high and/or have lots of lower PPG grains in the grist.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

A reading 7 potential alcohol would equate to roughly a 1.052 OG.

 

[Ryho]

I used extract no mash.

 

[Ryho]

ya so initial OG was 1.052 and its now at 1.038. So by the specs you posted I should be ok maybe this yeast just takes longer than 2 weeks then.

 

[hunter_le five]

ya so initial OG was 1.052 and its now at 1.038. So by the specs you posted I should be ok maybe this yeast just takes longer than 2 weeks then.

That yeast strain is typically a pretty fast fermenter, in my experience. It should be long since finished.

What temperature did you ferment at?

How are you taking gravity readings?

 

[kombat]

My concern would be the fermentability of the "dark malt syrup." I have no idea if that's intended to be used as your base malt extract, or if you're supposed to use a standard light/amber DME/LME as the base and achieve the dark colour/roasted character with steeping grains.

 

[McKnuckle]

My concern would be the fermentability of the "dark malt syrup."

Not bad, it has 36 PPG:

"Dark malt syrup is a blend of pale malt with some caramel 60, Munich, and black malt. It creates a dark wort with a smooth taste, suitable for Porters, Stouts, and all other dark beer styles. Approximately 30L, 1.036 ppg. Our malt jugs are made from BPA-free plastic."

 

[Ryho]

I fermented at 70 degrees and I'm using hydrometer to take my readings.

 

[hunter_le five]

I'm using hydrometer to take my readings.

Yes, but how? What is your method?
Are you sticking it directly into the fermenter, using a graduated cylinder, etc?

The reason I ask is that on more than one occasion has someone posted on here that their FG is too high, and it turns out that their hydrometer is bottoming out in their sample tube and giving a false reading.

 

[Ryho]

Yes, but how? What is your method?
Are you sticking it directly into the fermenter, using a graduated cylinder, etc?

The reason I ask is that on more than one occasion has someone posted on here that their FG is too high, and it turns out that their hydrometer is bottoming out in their sample tube and giving a false reading.

Im using a graduated cylinder with a satellite bottle right now. I thought maybe the satellite bottle I was using was off so I pulled some out from the Carboy and the reading was the same… Im not sure what you mean by the false reading but I make sure that the hydrometer is suspended not touching sides.

 

[flars]

What is the brand of dark malt syrup that you used. I ask because there is a dark malt syrup that is intended for baking, not brewing.

I would not consider moving this beer to a secondary, if at all, unless it ferments out.

 

[Ryho]

What is the brand of dark malt syrup that you used. I ask because there is a dark malt syrup that is intended for baking, not brewing.

I would not consider moving this beer to a secondary, if at all, unless it ferments out.

Well I hope its for brewing I got it at my local homebrew store

 

[day_trippr]

Not bad, it has 36 PPG:

"Dark malt syrup is a blend of pale malt with some caramel 60, Munich, and black malt. It creates a dark wort with a smooth taste, suitable for Porters, Stouts, and all other dark beer styles. Approximately 30L, 1.036 ppg. Our malt jugs are made from BPA-free plastic."

Wrong metric. A pound of maltodextrin is 40 ppg.

Without even knowing the fermentability of the LME, there's a high percentage of unfermentable "grains" in that bill, but I'd still be surprised if it netted below 50% attenuable. Something else must be going on...

Cheers!

 

[eadavis80]

If the ABV tolerance of your yeast was 10% and you had it at 70 degrees, swirled and waited two weeks the yeast is going to do what it is going to do. I added champagne yeast to a wheat that was stuck and it ended up being fair - very, very dry. I would think that would not go well in a stout that you're making, but good luck as it's already been added. I have no experience in adding lactose to secondary. Lactose is non-fermentable sugar so it will not add to your ABV. If it works in the secondary it should bring back some of the sweetness/body you lose from the champagne yeast. If you started around 60 and it rose to 70, it sounds like you did the right thing there - start low and let the heat of the fermentation warm itself up some. My only ideas here is that maybe the yeast was bad/old. Did you make a starter? Another possible cause is that the wort was not properly aerated prior to you pitching your yeast. Did you shake up your carboy? Use an aeration system? O2 tank? Good luck.

 

[Ryho]

Wrong metric. A pound of maltodextrin is 40 ppg.

Without even knowing the fermentability of the LME, there's a high percentage of unfermentable "grains" in that bill, but I'd still be surprised if it netted below 50% attenuable. Something else must be going on...

Cheers!

I actually didn't add any LME.. looking back i probably should of.

 

[McKnuckle]

Dark malt syrup is Liquid Malt Extract (LME).

And thanks for the reminder about PPG not equating to fermentability... but in this case, the description implies that it's from pale ale malt with some darker components for color. I assume it's pretty fermentable as nothing there is literally devoid of fermentable sugars.

 

[Ryho]

If the ABV tolerance of your yeast was 10% and you had it at 70 degrees, swirled and waited two weeks the yeast is going to do what it is going to do. I added champagne yeast to a wheat that was stuck and it ended up being fair - very, very dry. I would think that would not go well in a stout that you're making, but good luck as it's already been added. I have no experience in adding lactose to secondary. Lactose is non-fermentable sugar so it will not add to your ABV. If it works in the secondary it should bring back some of the sweetness/body you lose from the champagne yeast. If you started around 60 and it rose to 70, it sounds like you did the right thing there - start low and let the heat of the fermentation warm itself up some. My only ideas here is that maybe the yeast was bad/old. Did you make a starter? Another possible cause is that the wort was not properly aerated prior to you pitching your yeast. Did you shake up your carboy? Use an aeration system? O2 tank? Good luck.

Ya the lactose is to try in make up some sweetness not the abv. My fermentation worked like your saying and I used the wyeast smack pack which swelled up after 7 hours so I know that was good. Ill post back how its looking come friday.