New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association
Uncategorized Boards => General => Topic started by: tomoncanterbury on September 24, 2017, 09:48:12 AM
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Hey all,
I have a black IPA/CDA in primary, it's been a week at 18-20 celsius. Pitched 1 pack re-hydrated nottingham ale yeast at 23C. OG was 1.068 and it's now sitting at 1.030 seems to be not going down.
My question is, should I pitch another pack of yeast or should I just wait it out and see what happens? I'm looking to get an FG of 1.012-1.014 and I picked notty because it's supposed to be a high attenuating strain.
Thanks in advance, and apologies if I've posted this in the wrong spot.
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Definitely pitch more yeast. Notty is good. Alternatively you'd be fine to go with 1056 liquid or US05 the dry equivalent. It's clean in terms of flavour profile and can routinely do 1008 FG or lower.
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Definitely pitch more yeast. Notty is good. Alternatively you'd be fine to go with 1056 liquid or US05 the dry equivalent. It's clean in terms of flavour profile and can routinely do 1008 FG or lower.
Thanks for the reply,
Do you think I didn't aerate the wort well enough before pitching the yeast?
I'll have to wait until tomorrow to pick up some more Notty or US05.
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It is possible. Don't try to aerate now as it will do more harm than good. If you summarize your brewing process I can try to identify the issue for you.
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5.2kg dark lme
450g dark Crystal malt
170g malted wheat
90g black malt
30 minute boil. 52g Simcoe @ 30 mins, 55g Cascade @ 8 mins, 85g Simcoe @ 1 minute
Used ice bath to cool the wort and topped up to 23L with tap water (I know but tap water hasn't been an issue before). Stirred for several minutes with sanitized ladel and pitched 1 pack re-hydrated Nottingham ale yeast at 75 farenheit. Put fermenter in a tub of water and wrapped it in a towel which keeps it around 68 farenheit.
I looked at a calculator online and I may have under pitched. Should have possibly used 2 packs rather than 1. I do have a pack of ESB yeast in the fridge that I could toss in there.
Thanks again.
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Has it been gradually going down or did it hit 1030 and stop?
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two consecutive readings at 1.030 a day apart.
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I would add the ESB yeast asap.
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I would add the ESB yeast asap.
Thanks for the help. Already re-hydrating as we speak.
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How old was the yeast? Dry yeast is cheap so if they're a bit older sometimes I pitch 2-3 packs.
The manufacturer recommends (http://www.lallemandbrewing.com/product-details/nottingham-high-performance-ale-yeast/) fermenting at 10-22C, so you should of been fine at 23. I've only brewed with Notty a handful of times but its soposed to be a very resilient and forgiving yeast. If you have the means to control temp I would of aimed lower, as active fermentation usually brings the temperature of the beer up a bit and you were already a little high. Maybe with the higher temperature an older pack of yeast didn't have the gas to finish fermenting. If you bought it at Noble Grape chances are it was close to or already expired.
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How old was the yeast? Dry yeast is cheap so if they're a bit older sometimes I pitch 2-3 packs.
The manufacturer recommends (http://www.lallemandbrewing.com/product-details/nottingham-high-performance-ale-yeast/) fermenting at 10-22C, so you should of been fine at 23. I've only brewed with Notty a handful of times but its soposed to be a very resilient and forgiving yeast. If you have the means to control temp I would of aimed lower, as active fermentation usually brings the temperature of the beer up a bit and you were already a little high. Maybe with the higher temperature an older pack of yeast didn't have the gas to finish fermenting. If you bought it at Noble Grape chances are it was close to or already expired.
I don't have a proper ferm chamber yet so it's a little difficult to control the temperature still, especially with how warm this September has been. I did buy it at Noble grape so maybe it was old.
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It's been almost 24hrs since I re-pitched still not much going on. I guess I'll just wait a week and see what we're at.
Thanks again
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If the fermentation can't be kick started and you can spare your carboy/fermenter for a few months, I would pitch in Brett and forget about it for a while... Check gravity again in at least 3 months.
Brett will eat a lot of the more complex sugars that traditional yeasts won't. Nothing to lose (other than a fermenter for a while).
:cheers:
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If the fermentation can't be kick started and you can spare your carboy/fermenter for a few months, I would pitch in Brett and forget about it for a while... Check gravity again in at least 3 months.
Brett will eat a lot of the more complex sugars that traditional yeasts won't. Nothing to lose (other than a fermenter for a while).
:cheers:
Anything special I need to know about using Brett? It's been about a week since re-pitching and it only dropped to 1.028 from 1.030.
Thanks
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Not really, I treat it like normal yeast... With proper equipment sanitation I have never had any issues with Brett getting into other beers (unlike Lacto/Pedio bacteria which you would likely want separate equipment for).
I'd recommend making a starter to get a nice healthy amount of Brett cells before pitching.
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Ah bummer I've had this happen before as well - 1.068 is quite high to start out with and only using a single pack of yeast is likely not enough - even for notty... Makes it worse if the packet it old and a lot of the yeast is no longer viable...
When things get stuck in the middle (like 1.030) I think there's often more than one thing going on. Not enough yeast is a good candidate, couple that with complex sugars that are harder to break down and you can get a good stuck ferment. I have also tested PH before though and found I can get things going again by raising the PH and re-pitching. If the yeast can't do it by itself you can help it by getting the PH back above 5 or 6. Bi-carb works, but Sodium Carbonate is better, Potassium Carbonate is awesome. 1 tsp per 5 gallons will raise PH by 1 point. I know brewers don't talk about PH that much but I've found it can make a difference...
Brett is pretty heavy duty and won't have any issues with finishing your beer, but be prepared it wont taste anything like Notty ferment :frazzled:
I'd toss in a tsp of pot-carb, re-pitch another Notty packet (or US-05 as its pretty neutral) and give it another week... I have lots of pot-carb if you want to try this approach. Great if you have a PH meter to test with... (bring a 30ml test sample to my place if you want to test it and dont have a meter).
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I'd toss in a tsp of pot-carb, re-pitch another Notty packet (or US-05 as its pretty neutral) and give it another week... I have lots of pot-carb if you want to try this approach. Great if you have a PH meter to test with... (bring a 30ml test sample to my place if you want to test it and dont have a meter).
I already tossed more yeast can I just add pot-carb (don't know what that is..potassium carbonate now I get it) at this point?
Thanks again.
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I already tossed more yeast can I just add pot-carb (don't know what that is..potassium carbonate now I get it) at this point?
Yes pot-carb = Potassium Carbonate - really something to order off ebay or the like... sodium carbonate will do as well - can source from Pool supplies stores... (just makes sure its the pure thing)
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I'm wondering if you're right about the pH level. Unfortunately I can't test it right now. I racked to secondary to get it off the dead yeast and re-pitched a pack of notty and nothing is going on in the fermenter.
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I'm wondering if you're right about the pH level. Unfortunately I can't test it right now. I racked to secondary to get it off the dead yeast and re-pitched a pack of notty and nothing is going on in the fermenter.
The only way I've saved a stuck ferment is by pitching an active starter. Pitching a pack of yeast has never worked for me. Pierre's idea of adding Brett is a good one as well if it's truly stalled.
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I'mThe only way I've saved a stuck ferment is by pitching an active starter. Pitching a pack of yeast has never worked for me. Pierre's idea of adding Brett is a good one as well if it's truly stalled.
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I'll have to try a starter tomorrow when I can get more yeast