Re: "imperial" porter idea

It all depends.........sound familiar? The main areas of concern with low attenuation are yeast culture, fermenting temperature, and quantity of non-fermentables. Some cultures finish sweet and others attenuate a little dryer. This is one variable to consider. Could it be that the culture is, say, a 1968 or a Irish style? This could be a normal and typical TG for this culture although a little higher than I prefer. Temperature and flocculation are two areas that can contribute to high TG. If the temperature is much below 66° some cultures flocculate and drop out of suspension. Fermentation may continue slowly and adding a few degrees and a couple of good swirls may re-engage fermentation. I have had very interesting and similar results using some of the temperamental cultures. Non fermentable sugars cause heavy body and high TG. What temperature was the grain mashed? Were there large quantities of dextrines added or generated? I would suggest adding some heat, rousing up the yeast, and re-measuring in one week. If too sweet, boil some hops and water for an hour and add the liquid portion to balance against the excessive sweetness. Best of luck. Rick O A friend ran into a few problems on a porter (1.080 SG). He pitched 2 tubes of yeast (one Wyeast and one White Labs) and it started fermentation well but stalled out at 1.033. I had him add a little yeast energizer - it restarted and dropped to 1.028 and still is fermenting very slowly. 70% attenuation should get him down to 1.024 and that still seems sweet. 2 questions: 1) should he be patient and wait, or try more energizer or more yeast or ????? 2) if the yeast have stalled out, what should he do when he bottles? At the current pace the bottle might eventually charge. Adding priming sugar might just make a sweeter flat beer. I read in a winning MHBA recipe adding a little 2024 pilsen yeast at bottling - is this one possibility, or dangerous with that much available sugar?