Help! Anything more i can do...?

[salb29]

I brewed a milk chocolate stout from northern brewer, og should be 1.051, I got 1.058 so all was well, I made a yeast starter the previous Tuesday, I added new wort a couple times so I would have plenty of yeast for the fermentation, didn’t have any problems there. I fermented with wyeast smack pack northwest ale temp range was 65—75, I fermented at the lower end.
It has been sitting in primary for almost a month, during fermentation I thought it might have stalled, asked the question on here and of course everyone said not to worry everything is okay, which 95% of the time that is correct so I left it alone…well I’m pretty sure it stalled I took a gravity reading today and its 1.026…

My question is there anything more I can do or is my chocolate milk stout a lawnmower style beer now?

Any help would be great

 

[Johnnyhamer]

Pitch more yeast? Maybe it stalled.

 

[PhillyMike]

Did you try raising the temp to 70 and see if any activity happens?

 

[salb29]

Did you try raising the temp to 70 and see if any activity happens?

Temp has been around 68-70 degrees for over a week now to have yeasties clean up

On a side note I just took a gravity reading on my imperial and it to reads 1.026 for gravity, og was 1.090, does this all sound right? I also made a starter for that one as well

I would think its to late to pitch more yeast...?

 

[tre9er]

Make a starter of any old good chewing ale yeast (nottingham, S05, etc) and pitch it when it starts to krausen, rather than letting it finish.

 

[salb29]

Make a starter of any old good chewing ale yeast (nottingham, S05, etc) and pitch it when it starts to krausen, rather than letting it finish.

Now? Or next time?

 

[tre9er]

Now? Or next time?

now. This is the 2nd to last thing you can do. Try this first. If it doesn't work, we'll talk about amylase enzyme.

 

[prpromin]

Before you spend any additional time and/or money, calibrate your hydrometer to make sure you're getting accurate readings.

EDIT: If it is accurate, then the above advice is good.

 

[salb29]

I put hydrometer in water around 65 degrees it zeros out so that's good, I called my lhbs and they recommended about 3 oz of priming sugar and to use the safale 04 yeast, that's only yeast I had in the house...i just pitched both so I guess lets see what happens...they also said to let temps get around 73 degrees

 

[salb29]

Also I was carefully moving bucket in and out of bath tub water to maintain ferm temps could that have stalled the fermentation?

 

[beergolf]

I brewed a milk chocolate stout

Nobody mentioned this, but a Milk stout could quite possibly be finished at .1.026. How much lactose was in the recipe?

 

[salb29]

Nobody mentioned this, but a Milk stout could quite possibly be finished at .1.026. How much lactose was in the recipe?

I lb of lactose

 

[Jipper]

This is a good point, but 1.026 still seems a little high. Was this an all-grain recipe? 5 gallon? If it was all-grain what was your mash temperature?

 

[Yooper]

Nobody mentioned this, but a Milk stout could quite possibly be finished at .1.026. How much lactose was in the recipe?

I totally agree. It's a little higher than "normal" but if it started at 1.058, and it ended at 1.026, that's not too bad. I think a pound of lactose adds 9 points to the OG AND the FG, so without the lactose that's 1.017. That's not bad at all.

Instead of pitching more yeast, I'd consider it done if it tastes good. And remember that carbonation provides a little acidity to balance residual sweetness, so you may have a perfectly fine sweet stout there.

 

[salb29]

This was an extract kit, so did I do a bad thing by adding priming sugar and more yeast?

 

[PhillyMike]

Temp has been around 68-70 degrees for over a week now to have yeasties clean up

On a side note I just took a gravity reading on my imperial and it to reads 1.026 for gravity, og was 1.090, does this all sound right? I also made a starter for that one as well

I would think its to late to pitch more yeast...?

If the OG was 1.090 and you are sitting on 1.026, then there is a decent chance the beer is done. Imperials will finish higher. I also have an imperial sitting in primary. OG was 1.086, sitting at 1.025. I have one final reading, which I feel will be right at 1.025. I'm considering this to be good to go.

 

[salb29]

If the OG was 1.090 and you are sitting on 1.026, then there is a decent chance the beer is done. Imperials will finish higher. I also have an imperial sitting in primary. OG was 1.086, sitting at 1.025. I have one final reading, which I feel will be right at 1.025. I'm considering this to be good to go.

I'm more worried about my milk chocolate stout not finishing I'm sure my imperial is good

 

[PhillyMike]

I'm more worried about my milk chocolate stout not finishing I'm sure my imperial is good

You have to remember that a milk chocolate stout contains lactose, which will not be eaten by yeast. So, there is a decent chance that your readings are your final readings.

Be aware that the lower the FG, the crisper and drier the beer will taste. Milk chocolate stouts are designed to be sweet.

I also did the same beer last year and had a FG of 1.022. Everyone loved the beer. I say take another reading in a few days and if nothing changes, either transfer to secondary (if that's your plan), let it go for a few more weeks, or bottle (or keg).

Have you tried the beer? What does it taste like?

 

[salb29]

You have to remember that a milk chocolate stout contains lactose, which will not be eaten by yeast. So, there is a decent chance that your readings are your final readings.

Be aware that the lower the FG, the crisper and drier the beer will taste. Milk chocolate stouts are designed to be sweet.

I also did the same beer last year and had a FG of 1.022. Everyone loved the beer. I say take another reading in a few days and if nothing changes, either transfer to secondary (if that's your plan), let it go for a few more weeks, or bottle (or keg).

Have you tried the beer? What does it taste like?

Beer tasted good, did I ruin it by pitching more yeast?

 

[Hoppity]

Probably no damage with extra yeast. It will drop out if it can't find sugar and oxygen. How well did you oxygenate the batch? Stalls can happen if yeast can't find both sugar and oxygen.

 

[salb29]

I stir for 5 min, shake pretty well when I add yeast but from what I'm hearing it didn't stall the lactose I guess gave a false reading?

 

[Hoppity]

My advice was generic, no lactose experience. If it tastes good now, it will only get better. Good luck.

 

[JLem]

I stir for 5 min, shake pretty well when I add yeast but from what I'm hearing it didn't stall the lactose I guess gave a false reading?

Not a false reading. The lactose is unfermentable sugar, so it will increase your gravity. As others have pointed out, 1 lb of lactose will add 8 or 9 gravity points compared to the same beer without it. Given this was an extract batch that probably contained darker extracts and/or dark steeping grains, both of which will also add some unfermentables, in combination with a pound of lactose, I would comfortably call this beer done (and not stalled) - bottle it up and enjoy!