Help with stuck ferment.

[Bridges]

G'day
I've found heaps of details on what to try so here's my story

16/1/13 mix up the following

I can of Coopers Australian Pale

1 kg Brewenhancer two

250g light DME

250 grams maltodextrin

12g Cascade @ 15min

24g Cascade @ 2 min

S-04 yeast

Pitched dry at mid 20's

OG 1.047

Into stc-1000 cotrolled fridge @ 17.5 degrees

25mm krausen within 2 days seems to be going ace. 6th day Krausen has died down and seems to have settled to the bottom of the FV.
Check SG 8th day1.020 tastes good a bit sweet but good.
Check SG 9th day1.020 start to worry bump up temp to 19 degrees and swirl fermenter a couple of times over the next couple of days.
Check SG 11th day 1.020 more swirling
Check SG12th day (today) 1.020...

Running out of ideas a bit and am thinking I'll lob the coopers kit yeast that I still have in...
All other ideas welcome. Sorry for the novel but I wanted to make sure any potential suggestions of help know what I've tried to this point.
Cheers
Bridges

 

[carniebrew]

While wary, I'm tempted to suggest this would be very close to done. I've heard S-04 is not particularly attenuative (although I think the exact words were "it's a lazy *******"), and with the ingredients you've listed my calculations show an expected FG around 1017. So 1020 is pretty close...just not close enough for complete comfort.

Problem is, if it's 'stuck' due to dead yeast, it's not going to carbonate in the bottle (are you bottling?). If it's finished due to the yeast having no sugars left to convert, then that's ok. But 1020 does sound high.

Perhaps give some though to pitching that kit yeast as you said, perhaps even by making a 500ml starter with it first to make sure it's up and running. Then give it another couple of days before checking the gravity again?

 

[Bridges]

I will be bottling, and when I try it from the test tube it tastes good to me just sweet. I think i'll to try and fire up the kit yeast to see how that goes
Cheers
Bridges

 

[wbosher]

I'm with Carnie here, I'd be tempted to pitch some more yeast and give it a few more days. While it might be done at 1020, I'd feel very uncomfortable bottling at that level, especially if you're using glass.

 

[Bridges]

Well three days later after all that my gravity has dropped to 1017.
All going well it'll drop another couple of points and I'll drop my fridge down to 2 degrees for a few days and bottle the lot.
Frustrating thing is now I'm not sure what got it going again. The swirling, the temp increase or the kit yeast. Still better than having to get rid of the lot.

 

[Yob]

Doesnt the BE2 already have a maltodex component?

I rekong it's a mix of a few different things...

I frikkin hate S-04, always had trouble with it and I never use it now, much better yeasts out there to use IMO... especially for a Pale Ale..

Have you tried a fast ferment test?

 

[manticle]

Problem is, if it's 'stuck' due to dead yeast, it's not going to carbonate in the bottle (are you bottling?). If it's finished due to the yeast having no sugars left to convert, then that's ok.

Unlikely to all be dead - just dormant. Dormant yeast can rouse and become active again which means carbonation will still occur and bottle bombs are a definite risk.

If it's dropped OP then be patient. Gentle rousing of the fermenter can help before you worry about adding active yeast starters (a definite solution but probably unnecessary at this point). Also FF test suggested by Yob to see what potential FG you should expect.

 

[Amber Fluid]

500g is a fair whack of Maltodextrin, I wouldn't be half surprised if it has finished.... best do the FF test to be certain though.

Edit: are you kegging or bottling?... (although still best to let it fully ferment it doesn't matter so much of you are kegging)

 

[Dan Pratt]

just to check , is that SG reading with a Refractomer or a Hydrometer?

If its with the refractomer then the 1.020 reading = all done and dusted.

http://onebeer.net/refractometer.shtml

 

[carniebrew]

Bridges already said it had dropped to 1017...which looks to me like the expected FG given the ingredients (drop the maltodextrin if you do this again btw...as Yob said BE2 already has 250gm of maltodextrin so another 250 isn't necessary).

If your brew stays at 1017 over the next couple of days it looks to be ready to bottle.

 

[Bridges]

Pratty1 Readings all taken with a hydrometer.
For everyone else... Yeah I didn't find out untill later that be2 had maltodex, reading the pack after I'd chucked it all in the fermenter. Slapped myself on the forehead and figured it shouldn't make it undrinkable. May have to look into the fast ferment test, I won't be able to bottle for a few days or maybe even a week so I'll look at it again in a couple of days to see where its at. I'm pretty keen to chill it right down before bottling to try to clear it a bit more.
Thanks for all your replies

 

[carniebrew]

Fast ferment test is great if it's truly "stuck", but as I said with half a kilo of maltodextrin, 750gm of DME, 250gm dextrose and a can of Coopers LME, 1017 should be about as low as it's gonna get.

Certainly shouldn't be undrinkable, but will be quite 'syrupy' in terms of mouthfeel. Would like to hear back about it when you start drinking....

Just out of curiousity, what made you use S-04 yeast with Australian Pale Ale?

 

[Bridges]

I had plans to do a black and tan toucan with a tin of stout and a tin of bitter and was planning to use the s-04. I never quite got around to doing and then the weather was warm and I thought an APA would be great, so I sort of just used the s-04 figuring it'd be better than the kit yeast. I'm also curious as to how its actually going to turn out. When I tried the sample that measured 1017 it smelt and tasted pretty good.
I'll get around to that toucan at some stage will probably give the s-04 a miss though. Not real impressed.

 

[Bridges]

Well now at 1016. So will give it a couple more days.
Thanks again for everyones input :icon_cheers:

 

[Bridges]

Still at 1016. So turned the fridge down to 2 degrees, bottling weekend or monday.

 

[Bridges]

Just to let you all know cracked a bottle of this just now and it tastes pretty good to me, maybe a tiny bit on the sweet side but with a good hop flavour. I think next time it could do with a longer boil to get a bit more bittering. Still well chuffed with it. Was convinced that it was all going bad so thanks for the help.
It doesn't seem overly syrupy or thick to drink either so whilst the extra maltodex didn't ruin it, or the mouth feel it is probably why it seems slightly sweet to me.
Carbed up well in the bottle though with dextrose, great head no gush or anything, spot on I think which was also a worry when it was bottled at 1016.
Thanks again for your feedback guys. Cheers. You helped me save this one!!!

 

[carniebrew]

Excellent news, thanks for reporting back and great to hear it turned out well.