Mr. No-Tip
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- Joined
- 26/9/11
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Hey All,
Normally I'd play this one out, but this is my second laggy yeast in a row, so my confidence is shattered and I wanted to get some opinions.
My initial thought is that I should have waited before adding the 25% dextrose. I used to do this religiously but got kinda slack for this batch. I suspect the yeast has pigged out on dexxy dessert before finishing their maltose dinnner...
...but, I thought perhaps these other things could be at play...these are probably just me second guessing myself..
Normally I'd play this one out, but this is my second laggy yeast in a row, so my confidence is shattered and I wanted to get some opinions.
- Eight days ago I pitched a 2l started, chilled and decanted WLP545 into 27l of 1.071 wort. Single pure oxy delivery.
- The recipe is a lot like the Brewing Classic Styles Belgian Golden Strong with over 25% dextrose.
- The beer took off pretty quickly and chewed down to 1.039 in the first 48 hours.
- The krausen then dropped pretty hard and took another 48 hours to drop 4-5 more points.
- I'm now at day 8 and 1.022. There is still some small signs of ferment, but nothing significant. Bubles not krausen. I did a spoon based yeast agitation yesterday.
- I am used to complete ferments on even big beers within seven days.
My initial thought is that I should have waited before adding the 25% dextrose. I used to do this religiously but got kinda slack for this batch. I suspect the yeast has pigged out on dexxy dessert before finishing their maltose dinnner...
...but, I thought perhaps these other things could be at play...these are probably just me second guessing myself..
- The BCS BGS recipe suggests ramping from 18-28 degrees over the course of fermentation. This is with a recommended yeast (WLP570) that has a top ideal temp range of 24. I used WLP545 with its recommended top at 22 and was planning to go to 24 given the style I was going for (yes, with a less than ideal yeast I know). The krausen dropped out at just the same time as the beer got above 22 degrees. Now everything I know about yeast generally suggests more vigor at higher temperatures - the recommended range is just about getting the best flavour and ester profile, right? We wouldn't expect a belgian yeast to conk out coz 24 was too hot?
- This yeast did come from my LBHS and I was told the recent batch had gotten warm in a delay from white labs. This set off alarm bells, but the starter went off ok. This would suggest the beer should be OK?
- This is the second time I've used my beer bug and the second stuck beer.s. I can't imagine a plastic weight and a metal probe could be having some yeast dulling reaction though?
