Help with stuck fermentation options

[smarch0]

I have a few (5-6) all grain brews under my belt and decided I wanted to try liquid yeast. I brewed an Oktoberfest style lager and did a double crush on the grains which gave my BIAB a much higher efficiency than I was planning on. My original estimate of 1.056 was inflated to 1.07!

I did make a 1L yeast starter (first time for this as well) of Wyeast Oktoberfest blend and I knew even at 1.056 it was under pitching but figured I would give it a go. I aerated with a winewhip attached to a drill for ~5min and just threw the whole 1L of liquid into the primary (there was some yeast cake in the starter that was stuck and did not get pitched, not a lot but enough to make me kick my self). So I know this batch is VERY underpitched.

To finish off the calamity of errors I wanted to ferment in my keezer and forgot to increase the temp so it started fermenting ~38F and after a day or 2 I noticed no activity and increased the temp to closer to 50F, at which time it took another day or 2 to start fermenting

At least I made a lot of mistakes on one batch instead of ruining several...

Now close to the 3 week mark it has stabilized at a gravity of about 1.030 and has been stuck there for a few days. I have read several options but am wondering what people (with a lot more experience that me) think is the best in this case.

1. I have a pack of Saflager S-23 Dry lager yeast I could rehydrate and pitch

2. I have another lager ready to move to the secondary on Wyeast Bohemian lager that I could rack the Oktoberfest onto (although this was under pitched as well).

3. I have read that adding Beano can restart fermentation. I am setup to keg so I am not worried about bottle bombs, and I also plan to lager this for a while so don't mind if it keeps going.

4. I could RDWHAHB, keep reusing the yeast and see if time will do the trick.

Sorry for the long read, any advice is appreciated!

 

[AmandaK]

Go for option #2.

And for the love of the Sweet Baby Jesus, stop underpitching your lagers.

 

[smarch0]

Thanks for the reply, and I know I need to better plan my starters...and get a stir plate!

If I was to rack onto the other cake, I would just siphon from the Oktoberfest bucket into the other bucket (once empty of course). Nothing else special to consider?

 

[AmandaK]

Yes. And try not to aerate it while you're doing it, siphon quietly. Wouldn't want that Oktoberfest to taste like a Cardboard-fest.

 

[smarch0]

Just an update, I racked onto the Wyeast Bohemian lager yeast cake several days ago and it has yet to drop at all. To me this says there are to many unfermentable sugars in this brew. Think I will try the Beano and watch it and crash cool when it gets closer to a reasonable FG. Will update with the results for any one with similar issues.

 

[duboman]

Just as a side- at what temperature did you mash at, if you mashed higher than you should the wort may have had a lot more unfermentable sugar in it. In addition are you sure your hydrometer and thermometer are calibrated and are you temperature correcting your readings? While there is success with beano it is highly unpredictable in its results.

 

[smarch0]

I dont have my notes on me but if I remember right this did mash a little high ~157-159 (was shooting for 155) but not a huge difference imo. I have used my hydrometer for a while and when I make wine (which is a little less unpredictable than beer) I always hit my hydro readings right down below 1.000, but your right I should probably do a full check on it.

I have found that very few of my beers get below 1.018 so I am going to do some research today to try and figure out why that is. My guess would be either incorrect mash temp or inadequate aeration. I just bought an aquarium pump with air stone to get better aeration going forward which should hopefully help some.

Thanks again for the response, I'll take any help I can get!

 

[duboman]

I dont have my notes on me but if I remember right this did mash a little high ~157-159 (was shooting for 155) but not a huge difference imo. I have used my hydrometer for a while and when I make wine (which is a little less unpredictable than beer) I always hit my hydro readings right down below 1.000, but your right I should probably do a full check on it.

I have found that very few of my beers get below 1.018 so I am going to do some research today to try and figure out why that is. My guess would be either incorrect mash temp or inadequate aeration. I just bought an aquarium pump with air stone to get better aeration going forward which should hopefully help some.

Thanks again for the response, I'll take any help I can get!

Your mash temperatures were too high and you got a less fermentable wort. Shoot for 150-152. If you are consistently high in your FG you may also need to verify your thermometer is properly calibrated.

 

[AmandaK]

I dont have my notes on me but if I remember right this did mash a little high ~157-159 (was shooting for 155) but not a huge difference imo.

The difference between 155 and 158 (or worse with an un-calibrated thermometer) is quite a huge difference. I would be surprised if you got down to 1.018-1.019 with that mash temp.

Also, oxygen is a good step in the right direction for your lagers. I've noticed a big improvement in mine.

 

[smarch0]

Thanks for the input, I dished out the whole $12 for a digital thermometer so we will see how the next batch goes. I think I will try to mash on the lower side (around 150) to try and get better conversion and see where that takes my FG. To bad it is going to be a few weeks before I will have time to brew again

 

[duboman]

Thanks for the input, I dished out the whole $12 for a digital thermometer so we will see how the next batch goes. I think I will try to mash on the lower side (around 150) to try and get better conversion and see where that takes my FG. To bad it is going to be a few weeks before I will have time to brew again

You still need to be sure it's calibrated, there are many threads discussing digital thermometers being inaccurate as well