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

[Chris]

I have the GF, now that they worked out some of the kinks it will definitely be worth it, if your staying with small batches.

if it is to cloying for your tastes either find someone with a sweet tooth to give it to, or get rid of it :)

[Crusader-Rob]

You could always make it into a sour beer.....

[John H]

Before you chuck it you could try adding extra sugar. I used to have issues with inadvertent higher mash temperatures in my BIAB days. No matter how much rousing and extra yeast pitches I did it would stay as is as it was not a yeast issue.

I made it drinkable by adding sugar to get to the alcohol level to where I planned it to be. The rough and ready way is to use your hydrometer sugar scale and subtract the sugar from your current gravity to your planned gravity and multiply by your volume to work out the amount of sugar to add.  You might find it drinkable or still wish to chuck it - just another option to consider.

The alternative approach would be to brew a very dry version and blend it together to get something you like.

[David R]

Bit of an update; pitched the MJ Belgian yeast last Friday, it took a couple of days to get going (I didn't read the packet to notice it needs to be at 26C+ until after I'd pitched it at about 22c!) the beer has been bubbling like mad for a couple of days and is hopefully on its way to being some sort of half-arsed Belgian-ish blonde type thing. The other beer I had brewed at the same time (Stone Levetation clone) had also got off to a slow start and seemed to have stopped at a similar level, but took off again after pitching another pack of the same yeast (Danstar Nottingham), so I think my problem was a combination of too high a mash temp and too cool at the start of fermentation. Lesson Learnt!

[Richard Maclaurin]

I have just done a brew yesterday of Crusader-Rob's"Mountain Warrior".  I hit my mash temp (after affair amount of shagging around), and dry pitched the US-05.  Twenty four hours later and there is sweet f-a action  The fermenter is in my beer fridge with heating /cooling using an STC-1000 controller (as recommended by fellow brewers on this site) so accurate and stable temps.  Can anyone help or does this yeast play games like this?

[Peter Smith]

common us05 can take 36-48 hrs to start dry, goes in 2-6 hrs if a repitch,  it will start be patient.

[Crusader-Rob]

It can take up to 72 hours for Fermentation \on some yeasts, check for positive pressure in the airlock, and of course the krausen is the main thing.
I've noticed recently with US-05 that its taking a little longerthan normal, and not behaving as I would expect. Thats just recently.

good luck with the beer. hope you enjoy it, and just a tip raise to 21 after 4 days, to help it finish out.

This is actually back on my list to brew, as theres a new hop at Baylands called Azacca I'm keen to try out.

[David R]

My most recent brew is an IPA, I slightly undershot the OG and volume, but still pitched two packs of rehydrated US05 so there was plenty of yeast (possibly too much). It got off to a flying start but slowed rapidly after about 48 hours, I've bumped it up from 18C to 20C, but will raise it to 21C to help keep it going.

[Richard Maclaurin]

Hi again Rob,

I am really enjoying my Mountain Warrior, so thanks for the recipe.  Small problem is that it is drinking well and I'm getting through it quickly … nothing else for it but to do another brew.  Would you recommend going with the same one again or adding some slightly different hops (or something) as you suggested above?

Also, despite cold crashing etc it is still cloudier than I would like … any ideas welcome.

[Crusader-Rob]

do you keg? or add water adjustments? ph is important to clarity, alernatively theres always gelatin to clear it up. Feel free to try different hop combos. It would also work well as a single hop beer i think.

[Richard Maclaurin]

OK, so I have a reasonable Krausen so there is some action, but it's not exactly roaring along.  The airlock hardly moves at all … very unlike the other few brews I have done.  I'm still  at 18degC.  Should I ramp it up to 20degC and get some more action.? Thoughts, anyone?

[David R]

Wouldn't hurt to, IMO.