Adding extra yeast to secondary

[Kozwald]

I brewed an ale a few weeks ago and during the mash process got an extremely low efficiency. Now after 3 weeks fermenting, the ale is looking to be only 3%. The OG was 1.036 and the FG is 1.012.
My question is, what would happen if I hit it with another smack pack of yeast???

Would this ferment out any remaining sugars? The flavor isn't too bad, but the body is like a Mich Ultra.

 

[RM-MN]

You would probably got nothing by adding any more yeast. The only option to get yeast to eat more of the sugars is to utilize a yeast that can eat the more complex sugars but then the taste of the beer will likely suffer and it may become undrinkable. I purposely brew beers in that ABV range just because I like the taste and don't have a need to get drunk off my beers. I'd suggest you bottle or keg this batch and enjoy it for what it is, a nice session beer or a thirst quencher. Then brew another batch when you figure out why your efficiency was so low.

 

[TopherM]

+1. Attenuation is what it is. Adding more of the same yeast isn't going to do anything.

What was your recipe's intended OG? Your main concern here should be figuring out what went wrong on that end and fixing it going forward.

 

[eastoak]

leaving it on the yeast might have better squeezed out the maximum efficiency.

 

[duboman]

My guess is your OG reading is off. Perhaps you could list your recipe and process and more help can be provided. The FG listed isn't bad and pitching more yeast won't do anything at this point

 

[Kozwald]

+1. Attenuation is what it is. Adding more of the same yeast isn't going to do anything.

What was your recipe's intended OG? Your main concern here should be figuring out what went wrong on that end and fixing it going forward.

According to Brewer's Friend my OG should have been around 1.056 and I ended up with 1.036.
I just switched to a 10 gallon cooler mash tun and have been having all sorts of efficiency issues. In the 4 batches I've used the mash tun my efficiency has ranged from 45% to about 70%. I used to mash in my boil pot then sparge through a 5 gallon Lowes bucket with a whole bunch of holes drilled in the bottom. With that setup I was consistently in the high 70% range. I can;t figure out what's going on, it's driving me crazy. I may have to resurrect my Lowes bucket.

 

[TopherM]

If your process in consistent, your efficiency will be consistent, so you're are changing some variable to jump around from 45% to 70%.

The main culprits would be crush size, mash temps, and sparge temps and volumes.

Slow down on your next brew and really focus on dialing in your process to something you can repeat over and over exactly the same. That establishes your consistent brewhouse efficiency, then you can adjust your recipes from there.