How long do I wait??

[Ron]

Hi Folks,
I am currently fermenting a Robust Porter...My issue is that the fermentaion seems to have finished. ie no more bubbling but the gravity just won't drop, it has levelled out at 1.036.
Here are the specifics OG 1.074 it was brewed on the 10/10 so has been in the fermenter for just over 3 weeks. After about 2 days of steady bubbling it more or less slowed down and stopped.
Something else that might be an issue is that during my sparge the false bottom in the Tun let some grain particles through into the boil pot. So consequently there was a fair bit of chunky grain bits tranferred into the fermenter.
Could this be causing the gravity to be higher than it should and what if anything can I do to complete this fermentation?
This has happenned with another brew I have done aswell.
I know there will be someone here who can shed some light on this.
Cheers.

[MrC]

Nothing springs to mind for me but I'd be questioning the yeast. My gut feeling is that you need to pitch more yeast and give it a little shake.

What yeast did you use?
Who much did you pitch and what was the batch size?
Was it dried yeast & did you hydrate it?
What was the fermentation temp?

[Mike Neilson]

Regarding your false bottom; yeah its a huge problem with them, you cannot sufficiently clear the grains from the bottom, I have no solution for that apart from having a conical bottom on the esky or keg in where you actualy draw the grains out from the false bottom space. Or go to a braided hose like I have done, and yeah I persisted with the false bottom until I got sick of the issue and couldnt solve it.

[Ron]

I am heading towards the braided hose manifold too. I have discarded that false bottom and put in a braided hose connected it to a new outlet valve. I havn't tried it yet, so after I have hopefully saved this brew I'll have more success with the new system.
Thanks

[Ron]

Sorry didn't mention that did I.
I put about 22ltrs into the fermenter with approximately 600ml of recycled yeast slurry from a previous brew.
If I was to pitch more yeast should I put more of the same or should I get some dried new stuff?

[Mike Neilson]

Heres another tip, for bigger beers, 1.070+ dont reuse yeast unless it from a 1.040 beer with less than 25ibus and the beer that was fermented with it had no shit in it when it went into the fermenter. If you do pitch the yeast make sure its the real creamy stuff and it is the approriate pitch rate.

[Reviled]

I definately wouldnt use a yeast after a 1070 beer, but I do regularly from 1055 or so and less...

Id be checking your thermometer first of all, maybe its on the fritz and you mashed higher than what it was telling you, I was having issues with this for a while, all of my beers were finishing high and the thermometer was one of the last things I checked - apparantly they lose up to 30% accuracy without full power :o(

Also - What strain of yeast did you use?

[Ron]

thanks
The yeast was recycled from a stout fermented with Safale US-05.
My thermometer is an old style dairy thermometer,(ie not digital) and I''l check it before my next brew.
Thanks

[Tony]

Hi Ron, reusing a yeast slurry from a dried yeast is probably not a good idea. I would get another starter going, then pitch it.

I don't think having a few chunky bits is going to kill the beer, I pour my wort into the fermenter through a sieve, try that next time. It helps aerate the wort too.

Mr. C, asks some valid questions. When you answer those, we might have better answers. Keep the fermentation temp up about 20 deg. If it drops below about 17, it might go to sleep. You may have to warm it up and give the fermenter a swirl around to get it going again?

[Reviled]

" reusing a yeast slurry from a dried yeast is probably not a good idea"

Why not? Theres nothing wrong with it as long as its used fairly quickly, ie, straight after the beer is off it or at the worst the next morning...

I do it all the time, in fact this afternoon ill be pitching a double IPA onto a generation 4 US-05 yeast cake, im not expecting the beer to suffer because of this!

Also - glass thermometers can get tiny bubbles in them if you put them down on a drastically different temp surface than what you were measuring which will affect the accuracy...

[Tony]

Because the very nature of the dried yeast means it ages quicker and is not as good a quality. If the yeast is good, it won't be a problem.

[Ron]

Hi thanks for all this info it's all helpful.
This morning I have moved the beer into my carboy to keep a closer eye on it and am hoping that the movement might stimulate some more action. As far as the temp I have been fermenting at its on a heat pad with a thermostat set at 18deg c and the cupboard it's in hovers around the 16-20deg mark.
I have also prepared a yeast starter to add if this dosn't work.

[Ron]

Thanks for all the info. I hydrated and pitched some more dried yeast and it has started to bubble again. Very slowly but it is bubbling.
Cheers