WLP-500 fermentation time

AGbrewer

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2018
Messages
473
Reaction score
358
Points
63
So I brewed the following beer and it is almost 2 weeks and the SG has been stuck at 1.041 for about 5 days now. beginning to think that it is stuck. I did a starter, but the yeast i used was apparently dead and I didn't realize it until mid way through the brew day. So I was fortunate get curbside pickup for another vial and pitched on 4/24/20. But obviously, it was only a vial. The OG was 1.083 and I added 1 pound of honey after 3 full days of fermentation which would have upped the SG to about 1.090 now. Started at 69 degrees F and currently sitting at 78.5 degrees F.

My hope is that there are several people with experience using WLP-500 specifically, but I'll certainly be happy to hear any thoughts or suggestions.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/957617/belgian-golden-strong-banana-1

QUESTIONS:

  1. Should I pitch a starter of WLP-500 now? If so, how big?
  2. Should I wait another week to see how it rolls?
  3. Should I pitch another yeast to finish off the last bit of sugars?
  4. RDWHAHB?
 
No experience using that yeast but that big hit of honey might a discouraged the Yeast to eat the more complex sugars after winning out on them simple sugars from the honey.

That a big beer to begin with a hefty yeast count and plenty of nutrients added to starter to get them yeast firing would of been great as well if you've got it plenty airation. I don't see no harm shaking 12hrs post pitch on a big beer.

Lastly I'd bee warming it up towards the end and swirling fermentor to stop yeast flocking out.
My 2c
Good luck.

Hey you know what I did once with a stuck barley wine brewed a lite batch of beer and pitched that cake into stuck batch food for thought...
 
Just checking to make sure you're using a hydrometer that reads 1.000 in plain water, and not a refractometer?
 
No experience using that yeast but that big hit of honey might a discouraged the Yeast to eat the more complex sugars after winning out on them simple sugars from the honey.

That a big beer to begin with a hefty yeast count and plenty of nutrients added to starter to get them yeast firing would of been great as well if you've got it plenty airation. I don't see no harm shaking 12hrs post pitch on a big beer.

Lastly I'd bee warming it up towards the end and swirling fermentor to stop yeast flocking out.
My 2c
Good luck.

Hey you know what I did once with a stuck barley wine brewed a lite batch of beer and pitched that cake into stuck batch food for thought...

yeah, that's why i didn't add the honey until a full 3 days into fermentation and at high krausen. Perhaps I'll wait a couple days more next time.

The temp is already at 78.5, so I don't know how much more i could heat it up.

Might try getting big starter 1 gallon going and pitching half of that into the beer.
 
Just checking to make sure you're using a hydrometer that reads 1.000 in plain water, and not a refractometer?

I did use the refractometer, but brewer's friend does a calculation to adjust for that in the brew session. So it should be good.

Having said that, I'm going to bust out the old hydrometer, check it with plain water and then check it with the beer to see if my refractometer has an issue.
 
I used my refractometer on a cloudy sample for a BGSA (OG: 1.084)...after a month I thought it was stuck at about 1.034. I warmed and agitated and waited 2 weeks to check again and got 1.034. I used my hydrometer same day as the second test (just in case I was using the refracto wrong) and got 1.013. I think the beer was cloudy because the yeast was not floc'ing as it should have (I over pitched because of the high OG) and I was testing before I finned and cold crashed. Even using the calc. adjustment the refractometer didn't work. The hyrdometer was spot on both before bottling and after conditioning for another month. Now I only use the refractometer with crystal clear samples other wise its hydrometer time.
 
So I just checked the SG with my trusty hydrometer and it read 1.010 while the refractometer is still showing 10.15 Brix. Double checked my brew session and it is not adjusting properly in the brew session. However, I can use Brewer's Friend Calculator outside of a brew session and it shows 1.012 which is pretty close to the 1.010 SG I got with my hydrometer. Strange thing is, I thought that the brew session used to correct for that, but i guess i was wrong.

Guess I'll have to use the calculator outside the brew session. Oh well.
 
If the fermentation is truly stuck, you might try a champagne yeast. These are very alcohol tolerant and very neutral.
 
If the fermentation is truly stuck, you might try a champagne yeast. These are very alcohol tolerant and very neutral.


It's not stuck, the SG on the Hydrometer shows 1.010 which is below what I anticipated. It is somewhere around 87% attenuation. The beer is definitely done. Especially since the refractometer has been steady for over 3 days and the temp was at almost 79 degrees for the last 4 days.

My problem was that Brewers Friend software doesn't adjust for refractometers in the Brew Session under the Brew Log. It will do it on the Calculator, but for some reason it doesn't work in the actual brew session.

Having said all that, I do intend to use Champagne Yeast on my Next Bourbon Barrel Aged RIS! You mentioned it in another post and I've decided to take your advice. I think it will work out nicely as I've been hitting around 14% to 16% on my last few batches.

Previously I used CBC which is a Cask and Bottle Conditioning Yeast. I think that they make it specifically for bottling. But I'm curious about the champagne yeast. I'll likely pitch it in one of my tripel beers to make sure that it hit FG below 1.010 so that it is nice and dry. probably around the same time i dump the table sugar after about 3-5 days.
 
Having said all that, I do intend to use Champagne Yeast on my Next Bourbon Barrel Aged RIS! You mentioned it in another post and I've decided to take your advice. I think it will work out nicely as I've been hitting around 14% to 16% on my last few batches.

The champagne yeast should reliably go to 15%.

Later this summer, I’ll make a Belgian Quad. First fermentation with the Abbey ale yeast, finished with Champagne.
 
The champagne yeast should reliably go to 15%.

Later this summer, I’ll make a Belgian Quad. First fermentation with the Abbey ale yeast, finished with Champagne.

How far down will it take it?
 
There are a few variables, but I would expect to take a 1.100 OG down to about 1.010 FG. This would be about 12% ABV. I expect that the Abbey yeast I use to start to falter around 10%.

Nice, I've got to try that yeast! Does it eat only simple sugars or does it do the Maltoise as well?
 

Back
Top