To bottle or not too bottle? 🤔

[Welsh Badger]

Hi all,
This site has given me great advice as a new home brewer.
3rd time of trying to brew a stout and I've hit trouble again......

7.5 litres in fermenter of a smoky stout
SG was 1.092 and fermentation seems to have stalled after 1.5 weeks and current gravity is 1.052. Too high as was aiming for 1.020. Plenty of fermentables still in there as still sweet at taste test when measured gravity. At least this game I know where I went wrong as I think I have underpitched. I used a White Labs California Ale Yeast full packet. I thought 1 x pack would do as only doing 7.5 litres, but as it was 1.092 SG I should have either done a yeast starter or 2 x packs.

To try and kick-start fermentation again I upped temp from a constant 20 to 22 and stirred up the trub. No change 6 days later.

So I have a spare 1/2 pack of Nottingham yeast (dry) and have made a yeast starter tonight with 20g of DME.

Question:
1) Add yeast starter and give it another week but risk spoiling beer?
2) Bottle now....

 

[Clint]

That's a big beer! What's your recipe?

 

[Subtle Duck]

Pitch the notty, I've brewed 1.090+ og beers with it. It's a beast!

 

[Welsh Badger]

Aiming for big, bold, and smoky.

13l mash water at 68 Celsius

Grain bill:
Pale Malt 2.6kg
Rauchmalt 140g
Choc malt 305g
Crystal malt 183g
Cherry wood smoked malt 206g

Flaked oats 560g
Roasted barley 360g
Flaked barley 200g

Hops:
Magnum (8g) and EK Golding (12g). 30 min and 80 min.

90 min moderate boil
Protafloc tab 1/2 added 10 mins before flame out.

Cali Ale 1 x pack pitched
Prob didn't aerate enough.

On heat mat with temp controller on steady 20 Celsius.

Plan:
3 weeks in primary.
2.5 litres transferred to glass carboy to sit on cherry wood chips for 1 month before bottling. Just for an experiment.

The rest (5 litres) likely bottle conditioned with potentially cold pressed coffee added to bottling bucket to give coffee hit. Not sure about that bit....

Thoughts?

 

[Welsh Badger]

Maybe abut wimpy on Rauchmalt too.....but never brewed with it so aware how strong it is in Aecht beer

 

[Welsh Badger]

Update:
Tried to restart with a dose of Nottingham yeast starter. Checked it 5 days later, no change.

I give up, thinking of bottling up

So OG 1.092
FG 1.050
ABV 5.5%
Attenuation 44%

Low attenuation due to underpitching you think?

 

[Subtle Duck]

Have you calibrated your thermometer? Mine runs a couple of degrees out, could be you had your mash at a much higher temp than you thought?

 

[Welsh Badger]

Also, save to bottle or likely going to get very fizzy stout???

 

[Welsh Badger]

Have you calibrated your thermometer? Mine runs a couple of degrees out, could be you had your mash at a much higher temp than you thought?

Ah ok. I use a metal food grade thermometer. Not sure if I can calibrate!

 

[Subtle Duck]

This is what I use, I calibrate it by sticking it in boiling water and then can judge how far it is out. I then deduct or add the difference when I am judging Temps during the mash.

 

[Subtle Duck]

I'm sure it the same for what you use

 

[Welsh Badger]

Good idea, thanks

 

[Welsh Badger]

Update.

Chilled all bottles down. All unfortunately so far gushers but taste fine. Can't imagine there will be an infection and priming sugar was per calculator amounts.

Spent 1 week at FG without movement. FG was high at 1.052. Could the leftover fermentables have somehow kickstarted back into fermentation when transferred to small 330ml bottles? Stored in 21 Celsius water bath for 1 week too hot??

I have small amount left in a small carboy sitting on cherrywood chips ready to be bottled. Really don't want to lose whole 7.5 litre batch

 

[dad_of_jon]

oops i've never bottled at 1.052 my high score was 1028 for an imperial stout - is it very sweet? - it could be bacteria are getting to it and picking up where yeast have given up.

 

[Welsh Badger]

Not that sweet no. I have 2.5l left in carboy. May add a very small amount of sugar and see how it goes

 

[Welsh Badger]

UPDATE: Was as successful as Boris Johnsons make up and hair team. A very frothy drain pour.

 

[cushyno]

Beer luck next time. Keep at it.

 

[Cwrw666]

Nobody is saying it, but as a self declared new brewer - that is a totally ridiculous recipe and I'm not surprised it didn't work out. Sorry.

 

[Welsh Badger]

Don't be sorry being honest. I know it didn't work out.....im cleaning it off the walls :)

Can you point out what was wrong with the recipe?

 

[Welsh Badger]

And to be clear, it didnt taste awful. They were all gushers and alot of unfermented sugars still in there (high FG). No krausen in FV and i think i underpitched.