[Bjørn]

I have brewed a german lager for a competition. The idea was to make it as much a german lager as possible to the point of it almost being a parody of one. Hence going fore the extremes of the style. High OG, low FG, high hop bitterness and quite a bit of hop flavor and high carbonation. The water profile is a slightly bitter lager profile as calculated by beersmith and brew'n water.

The OG was 1.052 I pitched a 2 Liter starter for a 23 Liter batch, at 7°C and set the the temperature to 9°C (probe on the side of fermenter). Target FG was 1.010

Fermentation started within 12 hours.
After 2 days the SG was 1.045 and I increased the temperature to 10°C
After 7 days (total) the SG was 1.021 and I raised  the temperature to 12°C
After 9 days (total) the SG was 1.019 and I raised the temperature to 15°C
After 13 days (total) the SG is still 1.019

I am doing a forced fermentation test. But if turns out that the beer if finished what then?
It has no off-flavors I can detect But it is on the sweet side. Any suggestions on any possible fixes that will not destroy the flavor.

If the forced fermentation test show that there are still fermentable sugars.
Then do I:
* Shake the fermenter to get yeast back into suspension
* Pitch more yeas
* Wait and hope for the best
* Something completely different
 


 




 

[dmtaylor]

Hops contain enzymes.  Dry hop with some noble hops.  Then wait another week.  Voila.  It worked for my maibock.

[spurviance]

You could try raising the temp to 20C to see if it kick starts the yeast into action.... What temp did you mash at?  Do you oxygenate your wort prior to fermentation?

[Bjørn]

You could try raising the temp to 20C to see if it kick starts the yeast into action.... What temp did you mash at?  Do you oxygenate your wort prior to fermentation?

I mashed at 66°C (I douged in at 67. A bit more strike water than planed. I let the temp fall down to 65°C the last 15-20 minutes of the 60 min mash)

I do oxygenate my wort prior to fermentation. I don't have a flow meter, but a dial the flow of O2 back til I no longer see bubbles on the top, but still has a O2 flow. I let it go for about 1 min for a 23 Liter batch such as this. 

I decided to increase temp to 19°C and shook the fermenter to get the yeast back in suspension.

[Bjørn]

Hops contain enzymes.  Dry hop with some noble hops.  Then wait another week.  Voila.  It worked for my maibock.

I read that article too If the beer was just for my own enjoyment I wouldn't have any qualms doing that. But as I plan to enter it into a competition I'm reluctant. There is probably to much hops in it already for it to be a german lager. If I add more I'm afraid it would be way to much.

[spurviance]

[/quote]

I decided to increase temp to 19°C and shook the fermenter to get the yeast back in suspension.
[/quote]

Hope it works out!

[Bjørn]

As it turns out I misread the SG and it is now the FG and it is 1.020 

I did a forced fermentation test on a 0.4 L sample. I pitched an entire package of safale s-04 (11G) into the sample. And let it sit beside the fermentation bucket in the fermentation chamber at 19°C for 4 days.

There where absolutely no signs of fermentation in the sample during those 4 days. I did an hydrometer reading of the sample prior to pitching the additional yeast to the sample. It was 1.020.

I added 2 links to two pictures of the hydrometer readings (couldn't figure out how to upload them or get the image thing to work) . First picture/link is of the hydrometer reading of the main brew 4 days after the forced fermentation sample was taken. The second is of the forced fermentation test reading.

You may notice that the forced fermentation test reading is 1.024 the gravity has increased by 4. I believe that is the yeast that has not flocculated due to the lack of fermentable sugars in the sample. That is the only explanation I could find for this.

https://pasteboard.co/I4cLolk5.jpg


https://pasteboard.co/I4cKkWV.jpg


Unfortunately the fermentation is finished at FG = 1.020. I can't fantom why. It would imply that I have mashed at temperatures in excess of 70°C which in turn imply that I have 3 broken thermometers (one builtin digital, one external analog and an additional external digital)  Which in it self is a bit strange.

Anybody that has an idea of what could have caused this?

[Ronnal]

Interresting problem. Its been a while, so it may have solved "it self" in the mean time .

May I ask what kind of yeast you pitched? Did you see normal activity in the starter? What quantity did you pitch in the starter?  And finally could you reveal the rough numbers of your grain bill?

I agree it is a bit og a mystery, and your process as described is absolutely by the book so to speak.

[chumley]

I don't see any mention of a grain bill.  If this is an extract beer, or you used a high percentage of cara-pils, you might be done.