High FG? What's wrong with my proc

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

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jmorignot
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High FG? What's wrong with my proc

Post by jmorignot »

Hi,

I started a beer fermentation on the 8th of October.(10 days ago) The OG was 1.057.
I pitched 2 packages of US-05 at 20C. Then I left the fermentor in a room at 18C. A couple of hours later the fermentation was very active...so far so good :).
I was preparing myself to transfer it to a secondary, so I took a gravity reading, 1.034. Hmmmm quite high and the fermentation seems to be really slow now.
Twice in a row I have the same problem, for the same recipe, would it be a low fermentability problem?

My recipe is for a scottish 80 export:
2 oz Peated Malt
2 oz Roasted Malt
5.5 lbs DME
1.5 Oz Fuggles (4%) 60 mins
0.3 lbs Malto-Dextrin (20 mins boil)
My notes are:
Steeped Grains for 20 mins at 65C. (1.5L)
Sparged grains with 65C water (0.75L)
Added the needed water to topup at 9L in kettle.
Added the DME
Took 2L of the kettle and then caramelized it to 1L then back to the kettle and topup with 1L...then brewing as usual

Boil Time after caramelized wort added: 1.5 Hours

Any advice would be appreciated...I decided to let the beer in the primary and I moved it to a 20C room.
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slothrob
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high FG

Post by slothrob »

That's very high. But if it's still fermenting, wait it out.
What brand of DME are you using. This isn't as much a problem as it used to be, but some brands have lower fermentability. If you happened to get an old bag of Laagerlander, that would explain the FG.
Also, are you aerating your wort before adding your yeast?
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jmorignot
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Post by jmorignot »

Thank you for the reply, my intent is to be patient (and start another one in the mean time)
I'm aerating the wort by splashing it first, then stirring it hard for 2-3 mins, not good enough you think?! I thought about an aeration problem too, but I followed the exact same proc for Bock I did before, and it fermented happily....
About the DME, that's a generic one, supposed to be 80% fermentable and supposed to be quite recent (the HBS is a very well known place with a lot of customers...)
krussader
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Post by krussader »

Hey jmorignot,

If you are still having problems with a high final gravity there may be several causes for this. Most likely, it is either a slow or stuck fermentation. This is normally from your yeast health.

If your yeast package has been kicking around for a while it could have a high percent of dead starting cells. If your yeast is fresh then keep reading.

Yeast is an organism that needs all manner of nutrients to keep it going healthy, and if some stresses show up, it could be detrimental to your yeast.

Since you have a higher OG (I would say anything above 1060 is higher), and the bulk of that is coming from extract, you should be adding yeast nutrient or energizer. If it was an all grain batch or at a lower starting gravity I wouldn't be as worried, but since you are starting at 1068 with only 4oz of grain, help out your yeast by giving them their vitamins. You should be able to find powdered supplements at your local home brew supply store. Otherwise a half cup of citris juice and a teaspoon of salt could be used per 19L or 5 gallon.

Let me know if this helps,
krussader
jmorignot
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Happy New Year! and an hint for my problem

Post by jmorignot »

Hi Krussader,

Thank you for your reply, I will try that next time. But I think I may have found my problem, maybe you could confirm:

When I added my DME, I left the pot on the burner. As it was boiling I added the DME. Could it be that the DME is so caramelized that it's not easily fermentable?

In oder to unstuck my beer, after testing many things, I added some beano...and it fermented. It's almost finished fermenting now...but of course it will be extremely thin :(. Any advice for improving it?

Thank you!
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