Stuck Fermentation With Munton's Active Brewing Yeast

[Dr. Bubra]

Hey all,

So back on the 1st of Feb. I brewed up an extract Hef kit from True Brew, a holiday Gift from my bro. This was my first batch brewing with dry yeast (came with the kit). Was a packet of Munton's Active Brewing Yeast. I rehydrated according to the packet and pitched at about 62 F and let it rise up to temp freely. It took a while for fermentation to take off (~18-20 hrs) it definitely got going well with a hearty Krausen by the 3rd day.

Once it came up to temp, I kept the ferm temp around 66-68 the entire time. My SG was pretty spot on according to the recipe @ 1.047. I took a gravity reading on the 9th and it had reached 1.018. FG is supposed to be in the range of 1.008-1.012. I decided to let it ride for a while longer & just took another reading today, the 19th...stuck at 1.018 still. I have a packet of Safale US-05 on hand. Should I pitch that to finish it out? Thanks for the help!

[Afterlab]

I have a packet of Safale US-05 on hand. Should I pitch that to finish it out?

Except for the saison-specific yeast info, most of what I posted here should help.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30002&p=276038#p276038

[brewinhard]

some malt extracts are not as fermentable as others. Do you know what brand of malt extract you were brewing with? Did you oxygenate your wort prior to pitching? Both of these factors come to mind when a higher than desired FG is had.

Have you tried swirling your fermenter to rouse the yeast and keep it in suspension? Any way to tell how old the yeast packet was and if it was stored properly in the fridge?

[Dr. Bubra]

Thanks for the tips Afterlab, much appreciated. After mulling it over a while, since posting this yesterday, I was leaning more towards just letting it ride as is. All the points you made in that linked post make perfect sense.

Cheers,
Dr. B

[Dr. Bubra]

some malt extracts are not as fermentable as others. Do you know what brand of malt extract you were brewing with? Did you oxygenate your wort prior to pitching? Both of these factors come to mind when a higher than desired FG is had.

Have you tried swirling your fermenter to rouse the yeast and keep it in suspension? Any way to tell how old the yeast packet was and if it was stored properly in the fridge?

Thanks brewinhard. The malt extract brand, type & amount was 6.6 lbs. of Munton's Wheat LME. I did oxygenate the wort prior to pitchin, as i normally do. My aeration method has worked out fine with past batches as well as a batch brewed within days of this one. That second batch has just about fully attenuated.

I swirled her up this morning to try to get some more yeasties back in suspension. As for the age of the yeast packet, it said Best Before 11/2013. I popped it in the fridge as soon as I received the kit but I have no real way of knowing how long it went unrefrigerated before it got to me. Appreciate your suggestions & thoughts.