Higher then desired FG. Call it a day or repitch?

Do NOT rack it. You need to keep all the yeast in there. Heat 'er up to the 70s, swirl the fermenter, and be patient. I would be surprised if the final gravity didn't get all the way down to around 1.020, as Notty is a high attenuator. Most of all, you just need to be patient.

 

It's Day 7 ... the gravity is still falling ... and the problem is it's not done fermenting after seven days.

Solution: RDWHAHB.

 

If you opened it to get a sample, I wouldn't agitate it too much. Increase temp by a degree or two a day and let it be. Take another measurement in another week.

 

Jesse, for your consideration I recently homebrewed a Robust Porter which was intended to be a clone of Hill Farmstead Everett. The specs: OG = 1.084, FG = 1.033, 6.7% ABV.

That beer is very tasty and does not taste sweet at all.

I used Windsor yeast for my Robust Porter.

My suggestion is that you let your fermentation ride as is and package once fermentation is complete; do not fret if your final gravity does not reach 1.022-1.024.

Cheers!

 

I think he was suggesting letting it sit until it's done, not another week (or any other predetermined amount of time).

 

Jesse, FWIW I have homebrewed a number of times in the past with Nottingham for making my IPAs. Just like you that yeast has completed primary fermentation in one week. This is not intended as guidance on your batch of Robust Porter but simply to provide some additional data points.

I hope that your Robust Porter turns out great!

Cheers!

Jack

 

This. It's not unusual for beers, especially big beers, to continue to drop by a gravity point or so per day after that initial week of more vigorous fermentation. Relax, don't worry... etc

 

Jesse, I do not know your grain bill for your Robust Porter but for my Robust Porter crystal/roasted malts were about 30% of my grist. With that amount of non-base malt I was fully expecting a high final gravity in my beer (plus I used Windsor yeast).

Cheers!

 

You have two options:

1) Rousing the yeast.
2) Repitching more yeast.

Repitching yeast is the best bet with stalled big beers - I recently brewed a 7.5% Accidental Weizen (I called it that because I impatiently pitched my original Saison yeast at around 33c and it quickly fermented a huge amount of banana and clove Phenols and now it tastes like a Weizen instead of the Belgian Strong Pale I was aiming for, lesson learned) - anyway both options work but rousing the yeast has a chance of oxidising the brew, which produces (mostly) unwanted buttery Diacetyl characters (again lesson learned).

Before repitching yeast rehydrate and test it first, then once you've confirmed it's good pitch it and give it another 3 days before checking the gravity - it should come down around 1.020 to 1.010 (depending on how sweet you want it) and then it is ready to rack.

 

Oxygen is needed for the microbial (e.g. yeast) pathway that produces diacetyl, but oxidized wort doesn't typically cause diacetyl. I assume this is because oxidized wort compounds would not readily give up their oxygen to the diacetyl pathway.

 

That's interesting because I did rouse the yeast twice for that batch and ended up with heaps of diacetyl, I thought that it was due to my rousing, what else causes diacetyl in brews?

 

The thing to realize is that there is diacetyl produced in every fermentation. And normally it's reduced by the yeast afterward. The more important question might be "Why is it sometimes not reduced adequately?" And it pretty much boils down to the yeast quitting before they are done, either because there are not enough healthy yeast or because some factor like (low) temperature causes them to flocculate out. This latter cause is the reason for diacetyl rests, i.e. raising temperatures at/near the end of fermentation to encourage yeast to stay active and to accelerate the reduction process.

Some yeast strains are more prone than others to diacetyl production/non reduction, and those strains especially benefit from a diacetyl rest.

 

If your beer is full of the precursor to diacetyl (acetolactic acid), introduction of oxygen (even just into the headspace of a bottle or fermenter) will oxidize this to diacetyl.

During my first time using a beer gun this happened to me, and cost me a Pro-Am comp. I wasn't purging long enough on the first couple bottles, so my earlier bottles ended up being diacetyl bombs, whereas my later ones with adequate purging did not oxidize and were ok. Unfortunately, the judges got one of my poorly purged bottles in the BOS round

 

I agree. But that's introducing free oxygen to beer causing diacetyl, rather than an oxidized wort causing it.

 

Missed that in reading his post. Please excuse my slowness, been rewriting a manuscript all day and am cross-eyed and dumber than usual.