What else can go wrong/advice please.

[davemorton]

Have not brewed this year, but with lock-down, and time on my hands, thought I would knock a 5 gallon brew up.
First thing, yeast was out of date. Pitched it anyway, but after a day it didnt seem as if there was any life in it, so ordered another one. Once the new one had turned up (2 days) the first yeast was working, but put the second yeast in anyway to help it out. (Mangrove Jack's Craft Series Yeast - New World Strong Ale M42 ).
After 2 weeks, checked it, and my final gravity was only down to 1.020. Gave it a gentle rousing and turned up the heat a little, and left it for a couple of days....Still 1.020.
So sod it, went to cold chill it before bottling it 2 days ago, just went to get it out and it is almost frozen solid, just a small amount of liquid around a big block of ice.
So, will I need to thaw then add another yeast to it before bottling do you think?
If so, a different yeast, or same again?
(And no, I dont have a start gravity, another mistake)
TIA

 

[Covrich]

I would thaw it out and take a gravity and a taste

I would be inclined to take it off the trub add some yeast stir it in and bottle it perhaps

 

[QED]

I remember watching this lately, can't remember what he did...

 

[Graz]

He he, we all have those brews where everything that can go wrong does.

Your gravity of 1.020 doesn't sound great and would suggest a stuck fermentation. If you could get it going again somehow then it may turn into something drinkable but in its current form will be pretty sweet and nasty. I've never had much luck restarting stuck fermentations but you never know, however....

Onto the second point, getting it going again when it's frozen is a bit tricky. You could try bringing it back up to temperature, giving it a stir, adding some nutrient and possibly some sugar to get it all going but it may not. For a stuck ferment you really need to build a starter with fresh yeast the gradually introduce some of you stuck wort before pitching it all in and praying.

If there is some life in the yeast for a secondary ferment then freezing won't really hurt it though so you could just thaw it out and bottle. I'd not add any priming sugar though in fear of bottle bombs.