[cempt1]

I tried my hand at a high gravity dark ipa 2 weeks ago.  Target OG was 1.092 and my actual was 1.100 (partial mash).  I pitched a 3 stage starter of 1056 and oxygenated the hell out of it with a O2 stone.  It fermented very steady for 2 weeks.  I racked to secondary and dry hopped yesterday and my gravity was 1.024. That would be a shade under 10 percent.  I know the alcohol tolerance of 1056 is 11 percent.  Is there anything I can do to dry it out a bit more?  My thinking is that my yeast is done due to alcohol to high.  I do have some US-05 on hand and wondered if pitching one of those may get it going again.  My target final gravity was 1.017.  Any advise or suggestions appreciated.

[Stevie]

That is 76% attenuation, which is pretty good. Pitching an actively fermenting starter might help, but that might be where it will finish. Also, pulling it off of the yeast into a secondary vessel might not have been the best idea. Are you sure it was done when you racked it?

[cempt1]

Air lock activity was essentially done.  I didn't have a good way to pull a sample to check the specific gravity. I'm using a turkey blaster type thing to pull samples and it wouldn't fit in my primary far enough (I had it in a 6.5 glass carboy).

[Stevie]

Yeah, it may not have been done. Gravity readings are your friend. Invest in a cheap-o three piece wine thief next order or trip to the LHBS. In my experience, adding a packet of dry yeast will do nothing at this point. A small active stater or a pitch of slurry might work. But again, it may be as low is it will go.

[HoosierBrew]

I agree it's probably done. But you could put the fermenter into a warm room (~75F) for a few days - the warm temp might spur the yeast to eat a couple more points.

[erockrph]

Yeah, I think it's done, too. I don't think it has anything to do with alcohol, but more of a fermentability issue. You mention that this was a partial mash. What was your mash temp, and did you use any simple sugar in the recipe? Extract isn't generally the most fermentable and needs some help to finish as dry as you'd like.

[Jeff M]

Yeah, I think it's done, too. I don't think it has anything to do with alcohol, but more of a fermentability issue. You mention that this was a partial mash. What was your mash temp, and did you use any simple sugar in the recipe? Extract isn't generally the most fermentable and needs some help to finish as dry as you'd like.

+1  Briess LME/DME is only 75% fermentable, so even if you pitched a giant active slurry it probably wouldnt rip threw it.  Next time if you want a drier beer try to 5-10% of a sugar that is 100% fermentable to dry your ipa out some.  Corn sugar or even table sugar are good examples

[HoosierBrew]

+1  Briess LME/DME is only 75% fermentable, so even if you pitched a giant active slurry it probably wouldnt rip threw it.  Next time if you want a drier beer try to 5-10% of a sugar that is 100% fermentable to dry your ipa out some.  Corn sugar or even table sugar are good examples

+1.  Even in an AG Black IPA that big, sugar (and low mash temp) is pretty much a must to get to a drinkable FG.

[Jeff M]

If its too sweet for you, you could try pitching a brett strain or some such to try and get it a lot lower before stabilizing with pmeta.

2cents

[svejk]

Another option if it seems to sweet is that you can age it for a while - maybe a year or more - and it could end up being a really nice barleywine.  A few years back I set aside an overly sweet IIPA in a keg and left it for a year and it turned out great - not an IIPA, but still great.

[cempt1]

I can't remember the mash temp but am pretty sure it was 152 degrees.  It did have almost 10 pounds of extract.  I was going to keg it but I think I will bottle it and let it sit for a while.  Thanks for all the suggestions.

[Jeff M]

I can't remember the mash temp but am pretty sure it was 152 degrees.  It did have almost 10 pounds of extract.  I was going to keg it but I think I will bottle it and let it sit for a while.  Thanks for all the suggestions.

If you bottle and it isnt acctually finished fermenting you could have bombs...

[S. cerevisiae]

You could also pitch a Saccharomyces diastaticus strain.  The species name tells it all. 

[Stevie]

You could also pitch a Saccharomyces diastaticus strain.  The species name tells it all. 

Converts starch to sugar on its own?

[hopfenundmalz]

1056 can go higher than 11%. At the NHC, one of the meads in the same honey different yeast was made using 1056. It got to 15%.

Plenty of nutrients, O2, and rouse if necessary.