I made a high gravity beer, a Gulden Draak clone, using all grain on the Grainfather G30v3, using untreated Illinois tapwater with a 156 degree F mash. I added 5 grams of yeast nutrient to the wort. The OG was 1.072. I pitched Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale yeast from a smack pack, without a starter. It did nothing for a day, then had a quick 24 hour fermentation, where the gravity dropped to 1.052. At that point I added a 1lb package of 1.032 ppg dark candi syrup, which should bring the effective OG up to 1.0792. That sugar seemed to ferment through rather quickly but then when I measured the gravity around day 3, it was at only 1.052 again. It kept bubbling very slowly through the air lock. I added some yeast energizer and gave it a little shake, that temporarily sped things up but not much. A week in I measured the gravity and it was still 1.052.
At that point I decided to call in the big guns and ordered two smack packs of Wyeast 3787 Trappist high gravity yeast packs, and a 1/4 lb of DME. I created a starter using the DME. I could not get my new magnetic stirrer working due to not having any flat enough fermentation vessels. So I noticed that the starter had fermented through overnight and the yeast was at the bottom. No worries, that small amount of alcohol should not kill two whole smack packs of alcohol tolerant yeast. I then racked the beer to another carboy to get it mostly off the lazy Wyeast 1388, and pitched the yeast. It slept for a little bit but later in the day was fermenting. About 24 hrs later it too slowed down, and I measured the gravity. Now it's at 1.050. Two huge packs of alcohol tolerant yeast and it only ferments 0.002 points?
At this point I am out of ideas, other than it possibly being the ambient temperature too low. It's fermenting in my basement which is chilly, perhaps 60F, or even in the 50s at night.
Am I going crazy here or shouldn't this thing ferment more quickly? It spent 11 days on the first yeast and is 30 hours into the second yeast. What would you do here to get this thing to finish fermenting?
Is it possible it's almost out of sugars but still reading a high gravity? Should I just pitch wine yeast or something even stronger?
I am hoping for 9-10% ABV which requires finishing at 1.010 - 1.000.
At that point I decided to call in the big guns and ordered two smack packs of Wyeast 3787 Trappist high gravity yeast packs, and a 1/4 lb of DME. I created a starter using the DME. I could not get my new magnetic stirrer working due to not having any flat enough fermentation vessels. So I noticed that the starter had fermented through overnight and the yeast was at the bottom. No worries, that small amount of alcohol should not kill two whole smack packs of alcohol tolerant yeast. I then racked the beer to another carboy to get it mostly off the lazy Wyeast 1388, and pitched the yeast. It slept for a little bit but later in the day was fermenting. About 24 hrs later it too slowed down, and I measured the gravity. Now it's at 1.050. Two huge packs of alcohol tolerant yeast and it only ferments 0.002 points?
At this point I am out of ideas, other than it possibly being the ambient temperature too low. It's fermenting in my basement which is chilly, perhaps 60F, or even in the 50s at night.
Am I going crazy here or shouldn't this thing ferment more quickly? It spent 11 days on the first yeast and is 30 hours into the second yeast. What would you do here to get this thing to finish fermenting?
Is it possible it's almost out of sugars but still reading a high gravity? Should I just pitch wine yeast or something even stronger?
I am hoping for 9-10% ABV which requires finishing at 1.010 - 1.000.