Stuck Fermentation Solution

[MyQul]

It can be incredibly hard to get a fermentation unstuck once the normal routes have been taken (puting the FV in a warm place, rousing the yeast etc) but I think I have come up with, not exactly a solution to get it going again, but a way to balance out the the higher than desired FG.

Because I no chill, this required me to find a way to get the hop flavour addition in a way other than the regular boil - I found that hop teas (as well as micro boils) work well. When reading up on hop teas I also discovered they can also be used to add a bittering charge too if the hops are boiled for 60 mins rather than just seeped.

This got me thinking (always a dangerous thing); a stuck brew has two undersirable traits 1) a higher FG and therefore lower ABV% than desired and 2) a beer that is too sweet. Whilst I'm not sure if there's anything you can do about no.1, if however you were to boil some hops for 60 mins as a bittering charge and add this hop tea at bottling time you would be able to balance out the sweetness of the higher FG.

The only thing I' not entirely sure of is, afaik, hops utilise their alpha acids to a greater degree in water than they do in wort. All the calculators calculate for hop utilisation in wort so I'm unsure how much more bitterness you would get from hops boiled in water.

Now all I need is a guinea pig to test out my little theory :twisted:

 

[rodabod]

I did notice when I had a stuck fermentation that it sprung to life again after bottling and priming with sugar (and hence overcarbonating). Makes me wonder if a very small sugar boost could help things to get going if you were desperate.

 

[clibit]

I've done this MyQul, though it was to increase the bitterness of a beer rather than to counter a high FG. I just boiled hops in water and I only boiled them for about 15 mins, not 60. It worked quite well, though the hop tea did add some murkiness to the finished beer.

 

[McMullan]

I've done this MyQul, though it was to increase the bitterness of a beer rather than to counter a high FG. I just boiled hops in water and I only boiled them for about 15 mins, not 60. It worked quite well, though the hop tea did add some murkiness to the finished beer.

Another use for my pressure cooker?

 

[MyQul]

I've done this MyQul, though it was to increase the bitterness of a beer rather than to counter a high FG. I just boiled hops in water and I only boiled them for about 15 mins, not 60. It worked quite well, though the hop tea did add some murkiness to the finished beer.

I did my 10 min flavour additions as a hop tea on my last mild. Couldn't tell if it added any murkness though. It looked quite clear till I put it in the fridge (chill haze due to no-chilling)