OVHA Chat

I brewed a Northern Brown Ale Wednesday 11/21. OG = 1.055, pitched my yeast at 65°, then left for a few days in the basement. Came home and the temp was 61° and the air lock was bubbling slowly, every 30-40 secs. I warmed to 68° over the night Saturday and gave a good shake a few times but no activity in the airlock Sunday afternoon. Took a reading and the current gravity stands at 1.020. What do you think? Give it more time or pitch some more yeast? I was expecting it to finish around 1.010 - 1.012.

Advice?

Did you taste the hydro sample? What did you think? Was it wort(y) sweet?
1.020 isn't bad for a Northern Brown. A bit over according to guidelines, but so was your starting gravity. Many things could play into the finishing gravity of 1.020 than fermentation temp lower than wanted. Mash temp higher, high usage of speciality grain, low oxygenation of wort at yeast pitch, etc.
I believe you may be done fermenting. Take another hydro test tomorrow. If the same you're done. I wouldn't try repitching yeast. Just bottle and enjoy.

john mills wrote: I believe you may be done fermenting. Take another hydro test tomorrow. If the same you're done. I wouldn't try repitching yeast. Just bottle and enjoy.

Ditto. That's what I do when things don't come out as planned.
Sometimes I will wait 2 to 3 days before taking another sample.

You might have not gotten the initial population growth needed to close the deal, due to the colder temps. I would move to an environment in the lower to mid 70s and repitch with a stir plate starter from an aggressive attenuating yeast. This will then introduce a fresh, very active group to the mix and you won't have a high flavor / aroma addition this late if you could choose something like the California, which is very clean and attenuates well. My guess if you have made this recipe before and it finished better, it was just the cold and this will help. If it's a new recipe with a lot of unfermentables, it might just be done.

I'd bring it upstairs, let it warm up, and then drop in a package of S-05. I have an extra if you want it.