Rich Porter - Stalled

[Cloth Ears]

Hi Gents (and Ladies) of the wort!

I'm a kit 'n' kilo brewer who experiments with additives and differing malts, but I start with a basic kit. I find this enables me to reproduce the result more easily than with creating a wort from scratch (which was why I gave up brewing for about 15 years).

I've got a nice range of brews based on a Nut Brown Ale, but which end up with a very tasty (what I call 'dark ale' or 'light stout') flavour and between 6.5 and 7.5% abv.

This time I thought I'd go for something a little stronger and longer and ended up with a porter based kit, lots of malt, a bit of hops and an OG of 1095!!! It's been bubbling away reasonably vigorously at 22 degrees and has made it down to 1030, where it's stalled. Or, at least, it got down to 1032 and has taken ages to reach 1030. My hygrometer is pretty accurate (before anyone asks) and I've tried shaking, stirring (and talking to) the barrel, to no major effect.

What do you think? It doesn't taste very sweet, but 1030 is a bit high to lay it down (even though I bought PET bottles, deliberately, to avoid a Big Bada Boom - as Leeloo might say). I have laid down stuff before at 1018 quite successfully, but I'd be a bit worried about going higher.

Is it worth pitching another yeast in there, maybe even a wine or champagne yeast, to try to get it started again? Might the high alcohol content (it must be getting near 9%) have caused the yeast to shut down? Apologies, but I've only written down that it's an American Ale yeast - I don't have any batch or type numbers.

Yours in hope
Cloth Ears
(Yes, I know. But I started posting on Audio forums first, so that's where the name comes from. It looks a bit weird on wine, stock and motorcycle forums - but at least it's consistant)

 

[Lodan]

Hi Cloth Ears,

Welcome to AHB
A big beer may have a high FG (you have probably checked this). What were your ingredients and volumes? Perhaps the brew has finished fermenting

If there is stil some fermenting to go it might be best to pitch more yeast. However you will need to pitch strong, healthy yeast so that it's not stalled by the high alcohol. A yeast starter would be approriate. I wouldn't suggest using wine or champagne yeast as this might ferment the beer too far or change the beer's character

Lodan

 

[Rotgut]

I'd say you have plenty of active yeast still on hand but all a little tired and headachy. Maybe try popping in a bit of yeast nutrient to awaken their natural desires! Now, is it wrong to start chatting about THD and SNR here - better not... although I'd love to know about your thoughts on an AB valve power amplifier design...

 

[Cloth Ears]

Ingredients:
1 Cascade Choc Mahog Porter (2kg?)
1 Amber malt
1 Medium malt - both 1.5kg?
2kg Dextrose
.5kg rich brown sugar
some dry pitched 10-12 hops
A couple of hot chillies (doesn't really add heat, but does add a little character)
American Ale Yeast
Yeast food

I'll pop down tomorrow and grab another healthy yeast and some food. It's actually bubbling away, but fairly slowly, so some new yeast will probably help.

I can get away with bottling high, as it's going to be stored in someone's dirt cellar - so it doesn't matter if it leaks a bit. Most of my beers sit in the bottle for 3 months (minimum) before I will open them (except to check that bubbles have started to form). This one will probably sit for 6 months before I broach it.

It's a first experiment (that I'll probably try again) as I'm into just having one bottle of beer of a night time (or a bottle of wine). Either I share it with the Mrs, or by myself, but I find a nice, heavy, rich-flavoured beer more to my liking than the lighter, gassier varieties.

Now valve amplifiers - they're pretty, but only the single ended ones are worth listening to. And they tend to be expensive and low powered. I've got one in my bass guitar practice amp, but I stick to big'n'beefy transistor amps myself. Oh, sorry, not here you say?

 

[raven19]

You can always carb it ultra low too so if there is a few more points to drop it wont lead to bottle bombs.

Sounds like you have done everything bar raising the temp a few degrees to get it going again (subject to actually not already sitting at its FG already!)

 

[Cloth Ears]

You can always carb it ultra low too so if there is a few more points to drop it wont lead to bottle bombs.

Sounds like you have done everything bar raising the temp a few degrees to get it going again (subject to actually not already sitting at its FG already!)

Well, ummm, actually it was initially at 19 degrees, but that was my mistake - I adjusted that about a day or so in as I normally ferment ales at 22-24. Just to be consistant.

And, you're right, it could be at FG already. It tastes quite good for uncarbonated brew (and considering I stirred it up a day or so ago). Maybe I'll pitch some fresh yeast tomorrow and give it a couple of days to either start or settle.

And regarding bottle bombs - with PET bottles (which I'll use for these experiments until I get it right) I won't have to worry about any flying glass.

 

[Synthetase]

I won't have to worry about any flying glass.

Flying PET is still very dangerous. A mate of mine blew the shit out of the inside of his fridge with a yeast culture that he (stupidly) capped tight.

 

[mwd]

Hell of a lot of sugar in there I would be inclined to use the Champagne yeast most ale yeasts might struggle.

Temperatures seem O.K. 19C is a good temp.

 

[Cloth Ears]

Hey all,

I ended up bottling at 1030 as I was getting no further action (very slight bubbling through the 'bubbler') and no change in gravity. And, it was tasting pretty good for a flatty.

I racked it for a couple of days (I had to, as there was a lot of yeast in the bottom of the fermenter and I couldn't get a clear sample to measure gravity) and then bottle in (mostly) PET. I checked it recently, and there's no unsightly bulges in any of the plastic bottles.

I'll try a taste after a month to make sure secondary ferment is happening (and that it doesn't taste like crap). The rest will be ready for Christmas, I reckon.

Now to start a BIG porter

 

[manticle]

If you're going to use that much sugar, you need to pitch enough yeast - probably two packs of healthy yeast. You also need to look at the attenuation potential of the yeast you choose.

Do a fast ferment test to see what attenuation you can reasonably expect. If it does stall and nothing else works, make an active starter of fresh yeast and add that in.

Please forget bubbles as an indication of fermentation.

 

[Cloth Ears]

If you're going to use that much sugar, you need to pitch enough yeast - probably two packs of healthy yeast. You also need to look at the attenuation potential of the yeast you choose.

Do a fast ferment test to see what attenuation you can reasonably expect. If it does stall and nothing else works, make an active starter of fresh yeast and add that in.

Please forget bubbles as an indication of fermentation.

Well, it was a bit of an experiment. It did get two packs of yeast and some yeast food. Had the temperature upped a couple of times and shaken around a fair but. But it wouldn't budge off the 1030. It's been sitting in the bottles (PET ones, so I can check for expansion) for a couple of weeks without blowing - so I'd guess it had finished the fermentation (it did have quite a bit of malt).

The next one is going to get a shiraz or champagne yeast pitched in there after the initial ferment is complete. But that another story for another thread.

 

[Nick JD]

I recently had a Belgian Dark Strong stop at 1.026.

Yeast was dead. As a doornail.

There's attenuation, and then there's alcohol levels that kill the yeast.

 

[Cloth Ears]

I recently had a Belgian Dark Strong stop at 1.026.

Yeast was dead. As a doornail.

There's attenuation, and then there's alcohol levels that kill the yeast.

That's what I've been a little worried about. But I'll see whether we've got any bubbles forming in the next week or so (give it three weeks to start). If I haven't I might try a little more shaking and leaving them in an area that slightly hotter.

If the worst comes to the worst - it's a failed brew. But it will have taught me what not to do. And that's gotta be better than 100 peices of advice! Doesn't it?
:chug:

 

[freezkat]

I am working on an amber with an sg of 1.091 stall on me about 1.026. I started with Safebrew s33 ale yeast.

I repitched a wine yeast (Levin 1116) on top and a couple days later, added 4 crushed up beano tablets. I'll let you know how it all went.

This has been fermenting about a week since I added the beano and is just starting to slow down. Super cloudy, It was almost clear before the repitch.

Have you tried the beer? Maybe all it needs is a little more hops.

 

[Cloth Ears]

Have you tried the beer? Maybe all it needs is a little more hops.

I tried the beer when I measured the FG (I do this each time I measure gravity anyway - I figure if I don't like what I've extracted, then I won't like the beer). It actually tasted pretty good for no carbonation. And not nearly as sweet as I would have expected for 1030. that's why it's in the bottle and it's building up to an explosion, not carbonising at all or doing the right thing (I'm hoping for the last).

I'm going to try one at the end of the month and see if it's doing anything at all. And to check that my flavour estimate was correct. All will be revealed.

Actually, I'm about to go off and get a wine yeast for my next experiment. Is Levin 1116 for anything in particular - I was thinking of grabbing a champagne style yeast?

 

[stompin1]

I have been using Vintners SN9 in my high alc ciders and it been cleaning them right up. Its a Country wine sweet sparling wine, cider yeast for high alc brewing.

cheers
Tony

 

[felten]

If you're going to play with wine yeast and beer (especially the lallemand varieties) I highly suggest you listen to the brewing network podcast with Shea Comfort.

 

[Cloth Ears]

OK. Tasted this last night and it wasn't too bad. It's starting to get a little carbonation, had a nice thick (dark) head on pouring, and didn't have any nasty after- (or before-) tastes. Still a little sweet, but went very nicely with spicy sausages and mash. I expect a few extra bubbles will reduce the sweetness a little, as will a little aging.

As it's in PET bottles, I'll probably just have it right by the time I have to drink it. But it's experimental, so I regard it as a reasonable success. I've brewed some nice dark beers at about 7% - and had the same sweetness problem with them in the early days.

I'll go back to reading about other peoples trials and tribulations for a while!