A fellow brewers extract fermentation woes.

A freind of mine who is on hbt messaged me about his fermenting caribou slobber extract kit. This is his first non mr. beer kit and his 2nd homebrew attempt.
Heres the info.
Brew Day 12-22-12
OG 1.058
1 pack of dry danstar windsor ale yeast (I assume not rehydrated)
Pitched at 62F and the fermentation temp has been between 62 and 74.
He checked his gravity yesterday 1-6-13 (15 days in) and it was 1.026.
I told him I'm worried that he under pitched assuming that he just sprinkled the dry yeast pack on the beer and half or at least some of those yeast died from osmotic shock. I told him it sounds like he's got a stuck fermentation and the beer may not go much lower than where its at. He messaged me just a little bit ago and said he's seeing bubbles in his airlock ever 2-3 minutes. I told him to try and keep the fermenter in the low 70's to get everything out of his original pitch as he can but I'm worried about the health of his yeast. I don't have experience in dealing with a possible stuck fermenation and wondered what you guys thought??

I told him that I would worry that the yeast he has in his beer may not be strong enough to bottle condition if he decides to bottle soon and the FG doesn't lower any more from 1.026 or even if it does.

I also told him that pitching another packet of dry yeast would ensure his beer get to its appropriate FG and will also ensure that his bottles will carb up properly.

Again I don't have experience with solving a stuck ferment or dry yeast experience for that matter so am I giving him decent advice here or what would you Beer Advocates reccomend for this new homebrewer??

 

I guess the temperature fluctuation is what is making this yeast kinda lazy?? 55% attenuation after 15 days is a very drawn out ferment, but then again I don't have experience with this yeast. I'll tell him about the shake method.

 

wouldn't a gentle rocking of his fermenter be more suitable to avoid oxygen pickup???

 

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