Stuck fermentation question...........

[BrianKarl]

What's up guys. I was hoping to get some help with a batch of sweet stout I made about 8 days ago. I'm a new all grain brewer and I believe that I'm getting good conversion so I think my fermentation is the problem with this batch. The gravity was 1.059 and I pitched Wy 1084 at about 67*. My fermentation started after about a 10 hour lag (no starter this time), but slowed and eventually stopped after about two days. I'm pretty sure it was because my wife kept turning our central air on and off over the first couple days of fermentation and the temp of the beer actually dropped to 62* at one point. I "spoke" with my wife on the importance of stable temperatures and then roused and heated the batch up to 72*. Fermentation started slowly again but over the course of 5 days my gravity has only come down about 3-4 points. I'm hoping to get to about 1.020-23 but right now im sitting at about 1.038.

Should I just give it extra time and hope the 1084 finishes the job slowly, or create a starter and pitch active yeast. Any help would be appreciated.

[hotrod38]

Making an appropriate starter, oxygenating your wort and stable fermentation temps are a few keys to making great beer.

What mash temp did you mash at? A high temp say, 156-160 will cause a more dextrose wort. This could have an affect on achieving a complete fermentation.

I would let the fermentation go another week and see what happens. Pitching another active starter may work, but I doubt it.

[Oktober]

I agree with hotrod (although I can't stop looking at his avatar). If the mash temp was too high, you might have a whole lot of unfermentables. If you do another starter, get it started and then pitch it at its high point so you have a strong active fermentation going when it hits the fermenter.

If the the repitch doesn't do anything, you have two options - dump it and cut your losses, or try adding a couple drops of Bean-O to breakdown the long-chain sugars. Be conservative with the Bean-O, as a little can go a long way. And don't bottle a Bean-O beer, unless you can filter or pastuerize the beer. The enzymes may keep breaking down the sugars while in a bottle, which means more fermentation, which could lead to a bottle bomb.

Best of luck.

-Okt