Re-pitched but no action

Martybhoy · Sep 24, 2016

Brewed an all-grain 'wee heavy' a few weeks ago. Hit all the targets, so I was pretty confident.

SG = 1.084
FG should have been 1.019-23, but it stuck at 1.032. Tried rousing the yeast and a wee temperature increase but to no avail.

Two days ago I racked to secondary and pitched in some very fresh WLP028 (same yeast as in initial fermentation). As I was only 10-12 points off FG, I pitched straight from pouch rather than use a starter.

However there has been no action whatsoever. No airlock activity or bubbles on the surface of the wort.

With only a little fermentation away from FG, should there have been noticeable activity? Or is it likely that the new yeast have flocculated already as the old yeast may have left markers indicating the wort ain't worth the hassle?

Slid · Sep 24, 2016

I cannot see how pitching a small amount of an identical yeast could possibly make any difference. Most likely the very high early autumn temperatures have made the yeast "lazy" and the best option is to leave in the secondary FV until the SG drops, as it will.

You could also try ensuring your hydrometer is properly calibrated, by using room temp (20C) water. Then making sure there are no bubbles of CO2 stuck to it when taking the readings. Basically, it is hard to see how 1032 beer has "stopped" fermenting.

JapanBrew · Sep 25, 2016

Your span is .05, that's a lot of alcohol. The yeast can't work at that level. At least the yeast you're pitching. high IPA use certain, high tolerance yeast. Others on the forum can tell you which. I can't recall off the top of my head. I don't make high ABV beers, like to enjoy my beers, not get trashed.

Soton · Sep 25, 2016

Martybhoy1980 said:
Brewed an all-grain 'wee heavy' a few weeks ago. Hit all the targets, so I was pretty confident.

SG = 1.084
FG should have been 1.019-23, but it stuck at 1.032. Tried rousing the yeast and a wee temperature increase but to no avail.

Two days ago I racked to secondary and pitched in some very fresh WLP028 (same yeast as in initial fermentation). As I was only 10-12 points off FG, I pitched straight from pouch rather than use a starter.

However there has been no action whatsoever. No airlock activity or bubbles on the surface of the wort.

With only a little fermentation away from FG, should there have been noticeable activity? Or is it likely that the new yeast have flocculated already as the old yeast may have left markers indicating the wort ain't worth the hassle?

Have you tasted it it? Is it sweet, if it's to your liking then don't fret about it to much.
I would just let it sit for a couple more weeks to see if the yeast is a little sluggish and is doing it thing but just slowly, give it some more time and see what happens
Out of interest what were your mashing temperatures, I sometimes add a mash step of 70c when I am brewing a hoppy beer to add a little sweetness to the finished beer to offset some of the bitterness of the hops and give the beer more body, sugars extracted at that temperature are only partially fermentable by the yeast so sweeten the beer but will also gives it a slightly higher FG, it maybe you have mashed at or around the 70c mark and extracted unfermenable sugars that will cause a higher FG reading but almost all fermentable sugars have been use up

Martybhoy · Sep 25, 2016

Thanks guys.

I check my hydrometer every other brew or so, so I think I'm ok on that score.

Japanbrew - I don't make beer to get trashed either. Just don't want session ale all the time.

My mash temp was 66.5. With a mashout at 75 (held at 15 mins).

I'll wait a couple of weeks and re-check the gravity. Hope it will have dropped 10pts or so.

Covrich · Sep 25, 2016

Two things I can think of are

1) Using liquid yeast at that gravity I hope you made a huge starter
2) you also need to aerate incredibly well, some even suggest you aerate heavily before pitching then a few hours after.

Did you miss either of these steps out?

Martybhoy · Sep 25, 2016

I made a big starter. 2 steps (which I had never done before). If I done this properly, I would have had 300+ billion cells.

Aeration - didn't miss this step out but perhaps a further aeration a few hours in wouldn't have gone a miss.

Re-pitched but no action

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