Probable High FG - any advice

[musojohn]

Any advice would be welcome
I have a Cream Stout type recipe on the go.. about 7kg of malt + 500G lactose. OG 1.072 i brewed last thursday.
I made a bit of a cock up and left my IC on too long and forgot to take into account that it was pis*ing freezing and dropped the wort to 16C !
Didnt have time to sort it, so used an air pump for 30 mins then pitched (non-rehydrated) 2 packs of dry yeast straight in: SO4 + Danstar @ 16:30hrs.
This took several hours in the - controlled - brew fridge to get the wort to desired 19C. The following morning there was a healthy 1.5" of Krausen and steady to slow bubbling (i never seem to get anything violent on that front).
Upped temp on Sat at 1700 to 20C.
Looked last night at 1700 the Krausen had dropped out to the bottom and very little activity. Reading 1.032. (I normally take the dropping out to indicate that the yeast has largely taken its bat and ball home!)
1st time i've brewed a high one, or pitched straight in with 2 packs, or used these combination of yeasts... you get the idea. Possible overpitch and it's all finsihed out early, but it wasnt that violent.

-Keep upping temp with a rouse or 2 ?
-Add some USo5 rehydrated ? Add wine yeast ? (+more sugar ?)
-Leave it at 20 for a week or more ?
Or just drink an 'old fashioned' high OG high FG style stout.... it was supposed to be sweet after all ...

[darkonnis]

-Keep upping temp with a rouse or 2 ?
-Add some USo5 rehydrated ? Add wine yeast ? (+more sugar ?)
-Leave it at 20 for a week or more ?
Or just drink an 'old fashioned' high OG high FG style stout.... it was supposed to be sweet after all ...

If its leveled out high then you have a few options. You can turn the heat up a bit, until I got temp control I was at the mercy of the airing cupboard, 22c - 24c was where it usually sat using SO-4 and I've had no issues.
I wouldn't recommend adding yet more yeast. You could give it a gentle rouse in a day or two when you are absolutely certain that its thrown in the towel.
You could put 500ml in a 1L bottle and mix some sugar into it and keep it warm (or a flask if you have one) if it springs to life with activity then it is possible something has gone wrong somewhere! (havent tried this, but I've had a look into feeding yeast over a few days, so it could work but I wouldn't risk my entire batch until I was sure)

[jonnymorris]

I'd go with option 3, leave it another week. If it's definitely stuck then give it a stir but it sounds like its still early days.

[Eric]

Lactose won't ferment and could be responsible for up to 7 points of your FG. From what you say, I believe your SO4 has done what it does. Adding sugar will make it more alcoholic if that's a priority and as you suggest, some other yeast might take it further down. It could be a really good drink as it is but also might be a little more sweet than you wanted. Your call I think.

[Steve B]

As Eric says - won't your FG reading be thrown off by the lactose?

[musojohn]

Cheers for the advice.

As Eric says - won't your FG reading be thrown off by the lactose?

As in, you think it actually won't read correctly or it'll just be higher. My Brewpal app is shagged at the minute, so cant' check what my figures were.
I thought it would finish a few points higher , perhaps even 1.005 higher but is still wanted it down 1.015-9 range .

if was tasting good even with the sweetness so i'll probably up a few degrees gradually and see how i get on.

[musojohn]

...but have just checked and there really is zero bubbling...