Stuck fermentation or WYSIWYG

[fermentalist]

After a fifteen year layoff, I brewed some beer with the following recipe in a vain attempt to get an 80S Scotch export:

Muntons dark 3.3Lb
Munton's Light 3.3
1 # each of 40 and 90L caramel
2 oz Hallertauer hops at various times (too much for style I know, unknown AA content, was just relying on tastebuds in kettle and added 3/4 more oz than originally planned)

The dark extract was further caramelized by cooking seperately for an additional 45-60 minutes

SG 1.055 (about 5 gal), pitched with Wyeast 1056. Fermentation was not particularly vigorous but steady--seems to have neared completion as of yesterday.

This morning ( pitched 6 days ago) so I took a reading.
1.020 WTF ???

Flavor: uninspired, insipid, bland (now I remember why I went to all grain) with some residual sweetness. At best I see something like a Dundee beer here.

Questions: First I'm not sure whether I'm stuck or just have a lot of unfermentables. Clinitest? We only have the one carboy, and as disappointed by the brew so far, I don't want it to be tied up waiting--I'd like to get on with another batch and ditch the extract. I've tasted wonderful extract beers, just never have made any!

Do I risk bottling it in the hopes it won't explode or gush? Man I wish I had a Corny to pop this into.....

Also any tips/comments about the LME properties (plus caremelizing it), high proportion of xstal, and attenuation would be most welcome.

[BDawg]

I'd give it some more time to attenuate some more. Maybe repitch with some more yeast?

[fermentalist]

Good answer, patience is not one of my virtues.

But I'll hang tight and check it again in 2-3 days. In meantime I roused the yeast some. This fermentation has never seemed right, but it seemed good enuf. Til now. My problem is just completely clueless as to what the xstal and added caramelization did in terms of fermentable content. With the 1056 yeast, I was expecting an Fg of 1012-1014. Who knows, at least no cats have pissed in it. Life could be worse....

[DucBrewer]

A couple of quick thoughts/qestions...

Did you aearate? If so, how and how long.

Did you pitch enough yeast? ie, make a starter?

If you didn't make a starter, how old was the smack pack?

Proper aeration and enough yeast are critical in getting good attenuation.

Hopefully that will give you some areas to look into for help.

[Mylo]

You can also warm it up some to increase yeast activity. 2# of crystal malts in a 5G batch is also a lot in that recipe - so I wouldn't be surprized if it doesn't drop much further.


Mylo