Stalled Fermentation with Safbrew Abbaye

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing
1

I’m experimenting with an Irish Red recipe (extract):

9 pounds of Maris Otter Extract
1 pound of Dark DME

Safbrew Abbaye Yeast

Plus 1 1/2 pounds of steeping grains and a couple of kinds of hops.

My gravity reading at the beginning of fermentation 1.042
after 2 weeks it was t 1.019. I realize that my starting gravity may be off because of stratification.
My fermenter has been between 68 and 72.

I am concerned that fermentation has stalled. Should I just be patient and let it stay in the fermenter until the gravity readings stabilize?

Thanks

Steve

2

edited: Don’t know why I read MO as being grain rather than LME.

3

Keep the beer in the primary at a stable temperature for a while longer. Are you using a hydrometer or refractometer for SG readings? The refractometer will give false readings after the start of fermentation.

4

I’m using a hydrometer. I’ll keep it stable and take another reading at the 3 week mark.

5

I put your numbers in this OG/FG calculator,

http://www.brewersfriend.com/extract-ogfg/

but I think your yeast will attenuate more than 77%. Perhaps users of the yeast will reply with the attenuation they are getting. At 77% attenuation, an estimated FG of 1.017 is calculated. FG can have many variables. I will often get lower FGs’ than this calculator estimates. More time is best.

6

I have never used the Safbrew Abbaye yeast but I can tell you that most of the Belgian Trappist yeasts have a tendency to peter out after the first week or so and then they continue to ferment very slowly. Things you can do to help things along:

  1. Like flars said, keep the beer in primary – do not rack to secondary.

  2. Warm it up a few degrees.

  3. Swirl the fermenter periodically to mix the settled yeast back into suspension.

  4. Add yeast energizer – this is a chemical from homebrewing shops that can restart a stuck fermentation.

  5. Just give it more time! It often takes 4 to 6 weeks to completely ferment a Belgian beer.

Your patience will be rewarded!