Possible Stuck Fermentation -

[pannell77]

I have a left hand milk stout clone going right now and it appears that fermentation has come to a halt. It has been holding steady at 1.03 for a few days now.

Originally brewed on 7/21 with an OG of 1.06, pitched a 1L starter of white labs WLP001 at 72F, fermentation kicked off after about 8 hours and is now holding pretty steady. There is little to no airlock activity but still some bubbling on the surface. Fermenting temps are around 67-70 during the day.

Should I possibly re-pitch some yeast? I have tried "gently" rousing the yeast by slowly swirling the bucket around.

The issue I have with re-pitching is that I do not have any WLP001 on hand. I have the following yeast strains that I washed from previous batches however:

White Labs 028 - Edinburgh Ale
Wyeast 1028 - London Ale
Wyeast Greenbelt
Danstar Nottingham

 

[Copbrew133]

Are you using a hydrometer or refractometer to measure?

 

[VolFan]

Did you use lactose sugar in your milk stout? that does not ferment and will yield a higher FG... 1.030 may be all you are going to get. If you put your recipe out here, will be able to provide more input.

 

[ChillWill]

Have you measured your gravity?

 

[pannell77]

Are you using a hydrometer or refractometer to measure?

hydrometer

 

[pannell77]

Did you use lactose sugar in your milk stout? that does not ferment and will yield a higher FG... 1.030 may be all you are going to get. If you put your recipe out here, will be able to provide more input.

yea, the recipe does have lactose in it. I don't know the exact recipe, it is an all grain Left Hand Milk Stout clone kit from Austin Homebrew Supply. I will look at the instruction sheet to see what other information it had on it. I remember adding the lactose in the last 10 minutes of boil I think along with the yeast nutrient.