Stuck fermentation help

[palmtrees]

I am brewing a Brooklyn Sorachi Ace clone using their recipe from BYO in 2011
It's basically a simple smash with 2-row and Sorachi. (The recipe calls for pilsner, but I accidentally got American 2-row.) It's a 2.5 gallon batch with 6 lbs of 2-row and a half pound of sugar added to the boil. The recipe calls for a step mash, but those are hard to do with my Biab setup, so I just mashed at 152 for an hour. My post boil gravity was 1.062, right on target.

I did a 1.7L starter with Wyeast 1214. I cold crashed it and then decanted it. I pitched half the slurry and kept the other half for a future batch in my fridge.

I pitched at 70 and thought I had set my inkbird to hold it at 72, which is where Brooklyn recommends. Fermentation took off like a rocket, with full convection in a few hours from pitch. It was going strong for about 24 hours, when I noticed the temp had hit 74. I check my inkbird and realized I had put in the wrong settings that would have let it go up to 76. I fixed it and it started cooling things to more like 71. In hindsight, I'm pretty sure this disrupted the yeast and caused it shut down because when I woke up the next morning, which was Thursday, fermentation had almost totally stopped and the yeast was floccing out.

I pulled a gravity sample this morning and it's at 1.020. My target is under 1.010. Normally, I would let it sit for a while and check back in a few days or a week. But this beer is surprise for my wife's birthday the first week of December. So I would like to get things moving, as I'm going to need time for bottle carbing.

I think my options are building another starter from the 1214 in my fridge and pitching at high krausen, or dropping in some Us05 to try and push things along. The sample I took this morning had a great amount of esters and such, so I'm not worried about developing further yeast character. I just want to get the gravity down and clean things up. Dropping in another yeast wouldn't be terribly inconsistent either because Brooklyn uses champagne yeast to carb.

Does anyone have any suggestions on which option to go with? Or another idea altogether? Thanks for the help!

 

[VikeMan]

I'm not sure, but it sounds like you brewed this about 4 days ago? If so, it's way to soon to call this stuck, unless you got the same gravity reading 2 days apart. But if you're determined to speed this along, you could bump the temperature up and/or add more yeast.

 

[NobleNewt]

I would say, if it's truly stuck, no amount of yeast you add to the wort will kickstart it. I would try boiling some yeast nutrient in about a cup of water and adding it to your fermentation vessel. You don't need to worry about cooling it down if it's a small amount of liquid.

As @VikeMan said, bumping fermentation temperature up could also get things moving. Also, a gentle swirl may get some yeast back into suspension to help finish the job. If you add nutrient, you could also give the fermenter a gentle stir with a sanitized SS spoon or sanitized mash paddle being careful not to introduce too much oxygen.

Another thing you could try is to boil some nutrient in with a little bit of DME in order to give the yeast something to eat in order to better kickstart things. Not much DME, mind you, but just enough to help stimulate some activity in the fermenter.

Most of this comes from a recent Brew Strong podcast episode where Jamil and Palmer talk about ways to jumpstart stuck fermentations.

 

[VikeMan]

I would say, if it's truly stuck, no amount of yeast you add to the wort will kickstart it.

Why not?

 

[NobleNewt]

Why not?

Well, I'm going under the assumption that he pitched enough yeast, has a fermentable wort, and has kept fermentation in an optimal temperature range. If all of the boxes are checked there, it very well could be a nutrient deficiency.

Not saying you're wrong. Read my post again (I added some updates).

 

[VikeMan]

Well, I'm going under the assumption that he pitched enough yeast, has a fermentable wort, and has kept fermentation in an optimal temperature range. If all of the boxes are checked there, it very well could be a nutrient deficiency.

We really don't know the amount or the health of the yeast pitched. We know the starter size and that he used half of it, but we don't know how much viable yeast went into the starter, whether the starter actually finished, or even if the main batch beer wort was oxygenated.

The wort, based on the description, should be very fermentable. Temps shouldn't have been a problem, but perhaps not high enough to get this batch done by OP's deadline.

 

[NobleNewt]

We really don't know the amount or the health of the yeast pitched. We know the starter size and that he used half of it, but we don't know how much viable yeast went into the starter, whether the starter actually finished, or even if the main batch beer wort was oxygenated.

The wort, based on the description, should be very fermentable. Temps shouldn't have been a problem, but perhaps not high enough to get this batch done by OP's deadline.

Yeah, you're right. Worst case scenario, the OP could make a starter with yeast nutrient, and add the whole slurry to the fermenter. Or pitch an entire yeast packet with some boiled yeast nutrient just to eliminate either of those problems.

I've had issues with Voss Kveik attenuating enough, and I narrowed it down to lack of enough yeast nutrient. That's why I'm on that kick.. Plus Jamil and Palmer's podcast about stuck fermentations.

 

[palmtrees]

Thanks, all. The starter was from a full pack of one-month old 1214, and based on my hydrometer readings, it fully fermented the 1.040 wort. The yeast calculator I used said it would have enough cells for a 5 gallon batch, which was my goal since I wanted to split it. And based on the super quick start I got, it seems like it was a good pitch amount. And as far as oxygen, I shook the crap out of the carboy. I don't have an oxygenator.

I agree that it's probably too early to know if it's truly stuck, and I'd normally just wait a week and see where I'm at. But the time crunch plus the finicky nature of Belgian yeast has me jumpy. It's also starting to drop clear, about halfway down the carboy at this point, which has me concerned it won't finish up. I don't want to wait a week just to learn I'm at the same gravity and out of time to fix it.

Good idea with the yeast nutrient. I haven't added that to my routine yet, but I'll pick some up and add to a new starter of 1214. Couldn't hurt!

 

[NobleNewt]

Thanks, all. The starter was from a full pack of one-month old 1214, and based on my hydrometer readings, it fully fermented the 1.040 wort. The yeast calculator I used said it would have enough cells for a 5 gallon batch, which was my goal since I wanted to split it. And based on the super quick start I got, it seems like it was a good pitch amount. And as far as oxygen, I shook the crap out of the carboy. I don't have an oxygenator.

I agree that it's probably too early to know if it's truly stuck, and I'd normally just wait a week and see where I'm at. But the time crunch plus the finicky nature of Belgian yeast has me jumpy. It's also starting to drop clear, about halfway down the carboy at this point, which has me concerned it won't finish up. I don't want to wait a week just to learn I'm at the same gravity and out of time to fix it.

Good idea with the yeast nutrient. I haven't added that to my routine yet, but I'll pick some up and add to a new starter of 1214. Couldn't hurt!

That's exactly it! I'm not familiar with the yeast you're using, but something getting north of 1.060, I would definitely use nutrient. Not that 1.060 is that high of an OG, but it can be a stressful environment for some yeasts.

I think if you pitch an active starter, add some nutrient, and perhaps give it some heat to finish out, you'll notice some results. I recently had a "stuck" Voss Kveik version of Biermuncher's Ode to Arthur. It got too cool during a recent cold spell and "stuck" at about 1.016 which was only about 65% attenuation. Added some heat and yeast nutrient, and I've got it down to somewhere closer to 1.011 and hope it'll drop a couple more gravity points before bottling.

 

[palmtrees]

I wanted to update, in case someone runs across this in the future. I have taken a few more gravity readings now, and it was still sitting at 1.020. ordered some yeast nutrient, but Amazon lost it and my LHBS is back ordered. Given my time constraints, I went ahead without the yeast nutrient.

I made a 1L 1.040 starter using about a third of the Wyeast 1214 slurry I had left in my fridge. I put it on a stir plate for about 24 hours. When it was at high krausen and had gotten the starter down to about 1.020, I pitched the whole starter plus the rest of the slurry from my fridge. The beer was at about 72, which was my goal fermentation temp. It took off very quickly and formed a small krausen within an hour or two. Today, about 18 hours after pitch, the beer's gravity is now down to 1.010, and I expect will drop a bit lower. My target gravity was 1.008. Overall, I'm happy with the results!

 

[VikeMan]

Today, about 18 hours after pitch, the beer's gravity is now down to 1.010, and I expect will drop a bit lower. My target gravity was 1.008. Overall, I'm happy with the results!

FWIW, I ran your recipe and specs through BrewCipher when you first posted, and it predicted an FG of 1.010. You may have a couple of points to go, but maybe not.

 

[NobleNewt]

I wanted to update, in case someone runs across this in the future. I have taken a few more gravity readings now, and it was still sitting at 1.020. ordered some yeast nutrient, but Amazon lost it and my LHBS is back ordered. Given my time constraints, I went ahead without the yeast nutrient.

I made a 1L 1.040 starter using about a third of the Wyeast 1214 slurry I had left in my fridge. I put it on a stir plate for about 24 hours. When it was at high krausen and had gotten the starter down to about 1.020, I pitched the whole starter plus the rest of the slurry from my fridge. The beer was at about 72, which was my goal fermentation temp. It took off very quickly and formed a small krausen within an hour or two. Today, about 18 hours after pitch, the beer's gravity is now down to 1.010, and I expect will drop a bit lower. My target gravity was 1.008. Overall, I'm happy with the results!

That's good news! Thanks for the update. Having run into a similar situation myself, this is encouraging to see someone with results.