Stuck Ferment?

[FrozenWaves]

Hey,

Put an all gladfield pale ale down on the 22nd @ 1.051 (16.5L in the fermenter). Pitched a rehydrated MJ-M44 pack probably slightly too warm @25deg but threw it straight into the temp controlled fridge @18 deg.

Seemed to be ticking along nicely the next day but has been sitting at 1.020 now for three days with no action at all. I ramped up to 20 deg two days ago but still no change.

Its not a lost cause coming in just over 4% currently but would be nice to get the attenuation better than 60%. I would have thought one pack of yeast for 16.5L would have been enough for a 1.051?

Think its a stuck ferment or shocked the yeast pitching in too hot?

Gave the fermenter a swirl tonight in the hope of rousing the sleepy yeasties!

Cheers guys!

[FrozenWaves]

Forgot to mention this was a BIAB mash started at 67 deg and dropped to 65deg after 80mins when I started to chill it in a massive bucket of ice water over about 1h.

[Crusader-Rob]

whats your recipe?

[Crusader-Rob]

and How long has it been in?

[FrozenWaves]

16.5L made it into the fermenter on the 22nd Jan so 7 days so far...

Gladfields American Ale	4	kg
Gladfields Gladiator Malt	0.18	kg
Gladfields Light Crystal Malt	0.18	kg
Gladfields Sour Grapes	0.1	kg
Nugget @ 60	5	g
NZ Cascade @10	25	g
Motueka @ 10	20	g
Nelson Sav @ 10	10	g
- NZ Cascade @ 0	30	g
- Riwaka @ 0	33	g
- Nelson Sav @ 0	10	g
- NZ Cascade @ dry	18	g
- Riwaka @ dry	30	g
- Nelson Sav @ dry	12	g

Any ideas?

Pre boil = 22.7L

Post boil = 21L

[Crusader-Rob]

Pre boil = 22.7L

Post boil = 21L

This above doesn't make sense?

Other than that recipe look solid, did you rehydrate?

IU findthat M44 takes off like a rocket these days, but gets really sluggish at the back end. check it at 10 days, and ramp your temp to 21 deg now, for a rest at a higher temp to ensure complete fermentation.

[FrozenWaves]

Thanks Rob, The pre boil volume is a bit wrong as I collected probably another L out of the grain after draining and dumped it back in with 15min of boil to go...

Yeah the yeast was re hydrated and did kick off really quickly. Will give it another couple days at 21deg and see how she goes! Cheers

[Grant R Baker]

When M44 first came out I gave it a few whirls... seemd to finish early so I havent used it since, preferring US05 or liquid yeasts.

There are a couple of yeasts you can add to kick it back into life, CBC-1 was one, the other Karl at Brewtopia mentioned (name escapes me)... or a small starter using US-05, the start is to generate more yeast cells to give the yeast a chance.

But I would probably just leave it another few days and see how she goes. 25C was a bit high on the pitch temp side but not lethal.

[Sam DT]

From the MJ Flyer:

Fermentation Observations Quick to start, this strain will linger through primary and secondary fermentation, achieving final gravity after 2 weeks. Krausen will be dense and creamy, occasionally voluminous. Patience in conditioning will reward brewers with a nicely dry, yeast-neutral beer.

I bottled what didn't make it into the keg from a batch which I fermented for only 9 days - didn't check attenuation as I was in a rush - let's just say it's quite over-carbonated / I'm extremely lucky not to have had any bottle bombs - that was with a double pack pitch rehydrated. What I did manage to scrape off the kitchen wall tasted great tho - as did the kegged beer (if not a touch sweet).

[FrozenWaves]

So its been sitting at 21deg for the last few days and its still sitting at 1.020 unchanged.

Would adding another pack of yeast help get it down to FG 0f 1.012 or should I just leave it and call it an exercise in learning?

Next time I will put the wort into the fermenting fridge to get it down to target pitch temp before adding yeast rather than being impatient...

[Crusader-Rob]

IMe more yeast doesn't generally work, and I've had issues from there.

Are you bottle conditioning or kegging? If your bottle conditioning just keep an eye on them, and as soon as they've carbed, chill them to reduce chances of bombs.

If you do decide to add yeast, It need to be running prior to being pitched, so a starter is required.

this could work, but really healthy yeast is needed.

the third option is to boil up some sugar and chuck it in to see if the extra sugar can get it running, give it a swirl around when u do to mix it in, and give it a swirl a few hours after to see what happens.

[FrozenWaves]

Thanks Rob, I am bottle conditioning. With the extra sugar option, what sort of quantities would you boil up?

[Crusader-Rob]

maybe 100-150g in a 1-2 cups of water, boil up for 10-15 mins to sanitise and go from there, if u go this route, some yeast would also be possible to get running in the sugar if you went that way.