Stuck?

[David R]

Brewed this on 17-Dec, pitched rehydrated US-05 at 17C and kept it there for a couple of days before raising it to ~20C, yeast took off with a flurry of action then slowed right down after a few days. It was still at 1.022 a week ago so I chucked another rehydrated pack of US-05 at it on Friday, but it still hasn't moved from there. I mashed at 68C but it lost a couple of degrees over the hour as I forgot to insulate the pot.

Not really sure what to do with it now, chuck a saison yeast at it to try get it to finish lower? Tip it down the drain? Drink it as-is?

Type: All Grain
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 24.44 l
Final Bottling Vol: 18.30 l
Equipment: BIAB 20L
Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Original Gravity: 1.047 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Bitterness: 24.8 IBUs
Est Color: 5.6 SRM

Ingredients

Amt	Name	Type	#	%/IBU
3.90 kg	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	1	81.2 %
0.50 kg	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)	Grain	2	10.4 %
0.40 kg	Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)	Grain	3	8.4 %
7.00 g	Columbus (Tomahawk) [15.20 %] - Boil 60.0 min	Hop	4	12.9 IBUs
10.00 g	Amarillo [8.40 %] - Boil 10.0 min	Hop	5	3.7 IBUs
10.00 g	Riwaka [6.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min	Hop	6	2.6 IBUs
20.00 g	Amarillo [8.40 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 min	Hop	7	3.7 IBUs
15.00 g	Riwaka [6.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 min	Hop	8	2.0 IBUs

[Peter Church]

whats the taste test results??

[Crusader-Rob]

what temp did yo mash at?

[Barry]

How sure are you of the accuracy of your hydrometer, and also your mash thermometer?
How sweet does it taste?
How old was the S05, was it well stored?

I've had some pretty crap experiences with S05 recently, long lags and poor fermentation generally. I've started kicking it up as a starter, not to grow cels but to get it kicked off well. It's worked and I'm going to continue to do it. Of course conventional wisdom says that proper rehydration is enough but I just wasn't getting results.

[Crusader-Rob]

It's funny you should mention that, I've actually started to try moving away from US-05, as I've started having some poor experiences with it.

[Barry]

The last 2 beers I've made with it (both fresh pitches, different breweries) I've kicked it up in some starter wort first. Much better experience, hardly any lag, stronger faster healthier ferment and far cleaner finish.

I've heard the podcast where Jamil says a starter is counter-productive for dry yeast as when they're rehydrating as they can't properly regulate what goes through their cell walls but for me the proof is in the pudding. Works far better than a simple re-hydration in water before pitching. I guess I should probably do both – re-hydrate in water before kicking up in a starter.

[David R]

Tastes ok, bit sweet, kinda funny but I usually don't like the taste of the samples anyway...

Mashed at 68C, probably lost a couple of degrees over the hour as I didn't insulate the pot. Thermometer is one of those 'Mad Millie' ones, nothing too flash, but I have two of them that read within a couple of degrees of each other at boiling and in a slurry, so I'd say "reasonably" accurate. Tested hydrometer in pure water, bang on zero.

No idea on the date of the US-05, but I bought both packets from Brewers Coop, who do turn it over pretty quickly I believe (can't remember the exact figure but Brian told me how many packs a month they go thru once and I just about fell over!).

I always rehydrate the yeast, but saw a discussion* on the Grainfather Users facebook page that had me questioning my methods. I've been chilling the water to ~20C so it is pretty close to the same temp as the worth when pitched, then sprinkling the dry yeast on, leaving it for 15-25 minutes, stirring it in, then leaving for another 20-30+ before pitching.

Is it even worth persevering with? This was supposed to be a quick easy drinking summer brew and at this rate it's not going to be ready to drink during summer, and it's holding up the other brews as I only have two carboys!

Here's a copy-paste of the suggested method from the GF page;

1. Warm the dry yeast to room temperature
2. In a sanitized container add 40C water to 10 times the amount of yeast (100ml for 10g sachet)
3. Sprinkle the yeast on top and leave for 10 mins
4. Once it has rehydrated stir and leave for another 5 mins.
5. Carefully lower the temp of the mixture to within 8C of the pitching temp (you can now use some wort, or more sterile water)
6. Pitch asap. My mead book says that after 30mins the rehydrated yeast will start to deteriorate (not sure why)

[Kevin Sharp]

Did you oxygenate the wort?

To restart a stuck fermentation it's best to pitch the yeast into a starter, and add to the ferment at full krausen.

[David R]

I gave the fermenter a bit of a shake, but not as vigorously as I usually would when first pitching. Would a lack of oxygen be enough to wipe out the entire pack of US05 before it even moves the gravity one point?

[Barry]

Manufacturers instructions say to rehydrate at 27° +- 3°. That's probably fairly important. Every yeast strain will have a different manufacturer recommended rehydration temp, best to stick to that.
Good that you get it to ambient temperature first, temperature shock will also affect yeast health.

My bad experiences have been acclimatising and rehydrating to the letter of the law and it hasn't made a difference to lag time and general fermentation health.

Oxygenation at this stage will spoil your beer, you can only do that when you first pitch yeast.

If you do try to rouse, do it as best you can without splashing, you don't want to oxidise your beer. The idea is to get the yeast back into suspension and eating sugars again. I would give rousing a go if I were you.

[Peter Smith]

I would either rack onto a full yeast cake of another brew or saison it.  MJ farm house will eat it

keg it if you can as is but be wary of bottling

[David R]

Not set up for kegging (uet) unfortunately or that's what I'd do. I might see what yeasts the local Whangarei shop has in stock tomorrow. I guess I should rack it off the old yeast before pitching the new stuff?

[Peter Smith]

Only really if you want to collect it (i would not in this case) , the issue is introducing enough new yeast given the alcohol content will be highish for yeast multiplication....   no oxygen left...

lots of beer taste sweat at bottling, keep tasting more samples.....  I would personally mj farmhouse it then throw in another amarillo hit be nice twist... the issue is at bottling you will introduce oxygen and in all prob restart fermentation, perhaps go real easy on sugar 1 carb drop or about 50grams sugar if bulk

us05 is lazy bastard first gen WAY better on repitch, massive lag and low atten if no oxygen