Adding more yeast

Could I add a small amout of fresh yeast restart fermentation and bring a high final gravity down? Never heard of this being done guessing there is a reason why…
My caribou slobber finished at 1.024, stayed there for a full week before i transfered to secondary to age. This is my first beer, from what i gather 1.024 is way too high. im just wondering if i can salvage it so its not a waste.

you could add Brett. & make it a Sour Slobber. hahaha!!!

argg

This guy supposedly is good for stuck fermentations:

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain ... cfm?ID=199

Being your 1st beer, I’ll assume it’s an extract. For me, my extract beers always ended high, ~1.020.

1st, check your equipment. Later, the local brewers had a “hydrometer calibration night”. We had some Distilled water maintained at the appropriate temp per a scientific thermometer. My hydrometer needed a lot of nail polish added to bring it to read right. I was reading high by 4-6 points.

So find some DI water and check your hydrometer.

After that, what yeast did you use? Before transferring, I would have suggested raising the temp to help the yeast finish their party. Adding some new yeast “might” help. But I doubt it. Unless you go with a champagne yeast. That would be going to an extreme.

I going to bet that your hydrometer is off. You might be able to gently tap the paper into alignment.

I would add some US-05, if you have it (I always keep some on hand for times like this). Finishing high with extract does occur, but that seems really high. Did you make a starter? If not, consider doing so next time. What temp did you ferment at? (Possibly a bit too cold for the yeast strain?). Lastly at what temp did you steep your specialty grains? (too high and the sugars may have stayed very long chained, although very little, if any conversion occurs without base malt, anyway).

Give the US-05 a shot and warm the beer into the high 60’s and I bet you will gain a few points. :cheers:

You could add two lbs of sugar and let it ferment out and you’ll drop the FG by at least four points. But you’ll also thin the beer and boost the ABV by 2%, so it’ll be a different final product. Be sure to keep it cool, in the 60s, if you go this route - you’ll get another vigorous fermentation that can generate heat and you want to minimize the formation of higher alcohols or it’ll be “challenging” to drink.

[quote=“ynotbrusum”]I would add some US-05, if you have it (I always keep some on hand for times like this). Finishing high with extract does occur, but that seems really high. Did you make a starter? If not, consider doing so next time. What temp did you ferment at? (Possibly a bit too cold for the yeast strain?). Lastly at what temp did you steep your specialty grains? (too high and the sugars may have stayed very long chained, although very little, if any conversion occurs without base malt, anyway).

Give the US-05 a shot and warm the beer into the high 60’s and I bet you will gain a few points. :cheers: [/quote]

No starter, definitly looking into it for next time. Used the Danstar Dry ale suggested 64-70. I kept the temp steady at 66-68 full two weeks. The grains I left in until it reached 170 and pulled them.

This sound good. Would this still work being that its already in secondary, left most of yeast cake behind? Also ill be bottle carbonating would i still be able to add priming sugar after fermentation from the 2 pounds of sugar is over?

I wish this was the case.The reason i dont think its the hydrometer is becuase my OG was 1.052 exactly what the kit suggested, after adjusting .002 due to temp. It was extract

[quote=“beerme11”]Would this still work being that its already in secondary, left most of yeast cake behind? Also ill be bottle carbonating would i still be able to add priming sugar after fermentation from the 2 pounds of sugar is over?[/quote]Should be enough yeast in suspension to digest the sugar - it might even kick up another round of krausen. Once the sugar’s gone and the gravity is stable, you’ll be able to bottle as usual.

I would advise not to add sugar - just yeast. You are dealing with slightly under attenuated beer, for whatever reason, so give another sachet a try. Easy peasy and less downside to it. Just my 2 Lincolns. Best of luck!

[quote=“beerme11”]Could I add a small amout of fresh yeast restart fermentation and bring a high final gravity down? Never heard of this being done guessing there is a reason why…
My caribou slobber finished at 1.024, stayed there for a full week before i transfered to secondary to age. This is my first beer, from what i gather 1.024 is way too high. im just wondering if i can salvage it so its not a waste.[/quote]

If that’s going to work, you need a LOT of yeast, not a small amount. Something on the order of a qt. of pure slurry you’d get from a brewery. This being your first brew, I assume it’s extract. It’s not uncommon for extract batches to finish a bit high due to the fact that extract often contains some amount of unfermentable sugars. That was a problem when we were developing the extract version of my Rye IPA recipe. We solved it by replacing part of the extract with sugar. In your case, I’d just leave it alone for another week or 2 and see if to comes down any more. If not, it’s done and ready to bottle.

I still say add some Brett. 8)

Not on his first beer, man…

I still say do nothing but wait. IME, trying to “fix” a beer often only makes things worse.

[quote=“Denny”]

Not on his first beer, man…[/quote]hit the ground running! :lol:

+1 I’ve ended up with gushers because I wasn’t patient enough. seriously, try to rouse the yeast by gently rocking the vessel & check back in a week or little more.

Congratulations, you’ve made beer! Welcome to the hobby, and your most important lesson: relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew.

You usually don’t need a starter with dry yeast, so unless the yeast had reduced viability for some reason (old, got overheated, just bad luck) you probably pitched plenty of yeast.

Its real hard to restart a stuck fermentation by adding yeast. I’m with the just wait a bit longer crowd. Give it a few good swirls to rouse the yeast, and wait a few more weeks.

Don’t be surprised if it only drops another point or two, if at all.

After you give it more time, and the gravity has remained stable, go ahead and bottle. In the meantime, if all this waiting makes you impatient, now is a perfect time to get started on your second batch.

A word of caution: stuck fermentations can continue to ferment very slowly over time, eventually leading to bottle bombs. This isn’t a big deal, its just that this batch may not be the best choice to cellar for a year or so. Once you’re happy with the level of carbonation, get them all chilled and drink them up.

Oh yeah, a couple more things. You really shouldn’t transfer to secondary with a stuck fermentation, by removing it from the bulk of the yeast you’ve pretty much ensured it will stay stuck. Also, secondaries are rarely necessary at all unless you’re doing extended aging, we’re talking multiple months. No biggie, just for future reference. On the upside, your primary is now available for another batch of beer.

RDWHAHB.

Everybody seems to be going on the idea that it’s stuck. I say it’s not stuck, it’s done.

I don’t necessarily disagree with you, the level of attenuation he got is borderline so its hard to tell, and I’m not familiar with that recipe. I know in my extract days I hardly ever had a batch finish under 1.020. My comment on potential bottle bombs was just a precaution, and a general PSA for anyone else who happens across this thread.

Either way I think he should RDWHAHB. :slight_smile:

Leave it as is, bottle it, enjoy your “failings,” and learn what you’d like to try differently the next time. Plus now you HAVE to start another batch!