Under pitched?

[karlos_1984]

I've got a 13 ltr batch of a BIAB stout I put down on Sunday. The OG was 1069 and I didn't allow time for making a starter. I'd only bought a single packet of S04 yeast and then after crunching the numbers on a pitching calculator, realised the 11.5 g packet wasn't enough.

I ended up pitching the S04 with a packet of Coopers kit yeast as the calculations suggested I'd have enough yeast cells. (Pitched dry)

It's now 4 days in and the SG has been stopped at only 1030 for a couple days.

I'm raising my temp from 18 degrees up to 21 to try and get it to finish and I'll probably give the wort a good stir/shake up as well. 

Should I pitch more yeast?

[James Lao]

Hi Karlos,

I would defo raise the temp, I always do after day 3-4 anyway, to help things along

Not sure about the yeast, might want to make a little starter as I think the  alcohol in the brew now wouldn't be good for the yeasties..

As a starter it would have been making alcohol already so less chance of failure I suppose.

What was your mash temp BTW?

Cheers

James

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

Love S04 but never allow it to go below 20c as a rule. Not only will you get a tastier more english brew at 20c but it wont crap out on you either. Id say its nothing to do with your pitch rate but more to do with that temp. Its notorious for it.

[karlos_1984]

1 hour ago, James Lao said:

Hi Karlos,

I would defo raise the temp, I always do after day 3-4 anyway, to help things along

What was your mash temp BTW?

Cheers

James

Mash temp was about 68 degrees. I say about as this was a small batch done on the stove in my 19 ltr big W pot and I mashed in the oven. Oven was preheated on the lowest setting (gas oven, painful) and SWMBO oven thermometer thingo said 70 degrees. Oven was off for mash.

I ended up turning on the oven momentarily about half way thru as the thermometer read the temp had dropped. I tried keeping it just under the 70 mark, which was the lowest number on that thermometer. Mashed for 90 mins.

I'll bump the temp up to 20 degrees and give it a shake up.

[Hairy]

56 minutes ago, karlos_1984 said:

Mash temp was about 68 degrees. I say about as this was a small batch done on the stove in my 19 ltr big W pot and I mashed in the oven. Oven was preheated on the lowest setting (gas oven, painful) and SWMBO oven thermometer thingo said 70 degrees. Oven was off for mash.

I ended up turning on the oven momentarily about half way thru as the thermometer read the temp had dropped. I tried keeping it just under the 70 mark, which was the lowest number on that thermometer. Mashed for 90 mins.

I'll bump the temp up to 20 degrees and give it a shake up.

Mashing in the high 60s, and the inclusion of a lot of specialty malts in a stout, leads to a less fermentable wort. 

You should be able to get it lower than 1030 but I wouldn't be hoping for something too low. I think you would be doing really well if you get it down to 1020 but you may not even get there.

As others have said, warm it up. You had plenty of yeast for a 13L batch.

[Ocean's of Ale-]

Personally I  try to avoid using us04 it's a serial procrastinator. 

Iam a big fan of Windsor or Nottingham for all English ales/bitter/porters, they are rapid fermenter's, also there at your final gravity target at 3-4 days.

[karlos_1984]

I'm wondering if the 300g oats in the grist may have something to do with the SG and likely FG being a bit high. I would have expected it to get down to the 1020 -1025 range as the expected ABV was meant to be around 6.5%