First AG and need some advice

[Kbharring]

I have had good luck with the sugar washes, but just did my first AG. I pitched yeast on Monday 2/10 Had an SG of 1.065 before pitch. Everything was going well, on Thursday 2/13 I noticed it wasn’t bubbling anymore. Took a reading and it was at 1.010 so not quite there yet. My ph reader had quit but the strips had me between 4&5 so I left until Saturday. Gravity didn't change and I took another ph and it was 3. Today I have some Lacto and things still haven’t changed. At this point would it be best to just run it, or should I try to get the ph up and see if I can get the gravity down to 1? Wasn’t sure if it’s even possible since the ph is down and there is so much alcohol already….

[GrumbleStill]

Good work going AG! Well done.

TBH it’s pretty hard to comment without any indication of your mash bill, mashing temps, enzyme additions, fermentation temp or on/off grain ferment, but my 1st suggestion would be to leave it till the weekend and have another look then.

Cheers

[Kbharring]

@grumblestill Thanks for the response

Sorry about the lack of info.

I tried The CROW
By shineoncrazydiamond in the tried and true.
I did corn meal that I ground myself with the toasted oats.
Boiled that and the added my malted grains…white wheat malt, red wheat malt, and rye malt at 150 degrees and pitched my yeast at about 78.
Mash temp has been holding at 83.
I think I may have ground my cornmeal a little too fine.
I did throw in some rice hulls yesterday to get it unstuck.
Just wasn’t sure about the Lacto and waiting for the weekend.
Thanks again.

[howie]

'not quite there yet' .
1.010 could be a finishing value, not everything goes to 0.090 like sugar washes.
'rice hulls to get it unstuck' AFAIK i only use them to aid sparging in a mash.
it's probably done.

[Kbharring]

Thank you Howie.
I’ll let y’all know how it turns out.

[Homebrewer11777]

Sounds like you may have added the malts at too high of a temperature. Either your corn/oats were not well mixed or your thermometer was out of calibration. If say the corn was actually at 160 when you added the malt you might have denatured enough of the enzymes from the malts to leave some unfermentable sugars in your wash. Adding some glucoamylase at right temperature next time would provide insurance that enough enzymes are available to get a full conversion. I use a product called Diazyme and add a couple teaspoons when the mash is below 130F.

Also have to confirm how you are measuring gravity. If refractometer do you understand how to correct for a measurement once fermentation has started? This is probably not your issue since you mentioned you have been doing sugarheads without problems but it is surprisingly common issue for new brewers on the beer side that show up at forums asking why their final gravity is so high and should they get some champagne yeast or something to move this along?

Last thought is rice hulls don't provide any enzymes or yeast...they act as supplemental husk for beer brewers use to loosen up the "stuck" mash when there is a lot of huskless grain in the mash (corn, wheat, rye...). This makes it easier for the beer brewers to lauter (separate the liquid part of the mash (the wort) from the solids before boiling with hops. Purely mechanical and nothing to do with fermentability or fermentation.

[Powder Monkey]

I’d just run it. Caveat I use steam and if you’re on elements maybe have more of a scorch risk. Pending the other factors mentioned for how you measured gravity I suspect it isn’t going to get any lower. You likely have unfermentables from the small grain additions and given you started at 1.065 that’s a decent yield. If you want insurance for the future look into Ferm solutions enzymes (if in US, or other brands) their gluco and amylase are cheap.

[Kbharring]

Sounds like you may have added the malts at too high of a temperature. Either your corn/oats were not well mixed or your thermometer was out of calibration. If say the corn was actually at 160 when you added the malt you might have denatured enough of the enzymes from the malts to leave some unfermentable sugars in your wash. Adding some glucoamylase at right temperature next time would provide insurance that enough enzymes are available to get a full conversion. I use a product called Diazyme and add a couple teaspoons when the mash is below 130F.

Also have to confirm how you are measuring gravity. If refractometer do you understand how to correct for a measurement once fermentation has started? This is probably not your issue since you mentioned you have been doing sugarheads without problems but it is surprisingly common issue for new brewers on the beer side that show up at forums asking why their final gravity is so high and should they get some champagne yeast or something to move this along?

Last thought is rice hulls don't provide any enzymes or yeast...they act as supplemental husk for beer brewers use to loosen up the "stuck" mash when there is a lot of huskless grain in the mash (corn, wheat, rye...). This makes it easier for the beer brewers to lauter (separate the liquid part of the mash (the wort) from the solids before boiling with hops. Purely mechanical and nothing to do with fermentability or fermentation.

I know the rice hulls don’t add anything, but my mash was definitely stuck so I was hoping that the hulls would help aerate and restart the yeast.
I had some enzymes but was hoping for good luck without them.
I will consider adding some next mash and I will definitely
recalibrate my thermometer and make sure it’s correct with the next mash.
Thanks for the advice.

[Kbharring]

Sounds like you may have added the malts at too high of a temperature. Either your corn/oats were not well mixed or your thermometer was out of calibration. If say the corn was actually at 160 when you added the malt you might have denatured enough of the enzymes from the malts to leave some unfermentable sugars in your wash. Adding some glucoamylase at right temperature next time would provide insurance that enough enzymes are available to get a full conversion. I use a product called Diazyme and add a couple teaspoons when the mash is below 130F.

Also have to confirm how you are measuring gravity. If refractometer do you understand how to correct for a measurement once fermentation has started? This is probably not your issue since you mentioned you have been doing sugarheads without problems but it is surprisingly common issue for new brewers on the beer side that show up at forums asking why their final gravity is so high and should they get some champagne yeast or something to move this along?

Last thought is rice hulls don't provide any enzymes or yeast...they act as supplemental husk for beer brewers use to loosen up the "stuck" mash when there is a lot of huskless grain in the mash (corn, wheat, rye...). This makes it easier for the beer brewers to lauter (separate the liquid part of the mash (the wort) from the solids before boiling with hops. Purely mechanical and nothing to do with fermentability or fermentation.

And I use a hydrometer to measure the gravity.

I know the rice hulls don’t add anything, but my mash was definitely stuck so I was hoping that the hulls would help aerate and restart the yeast.
I had some enzymes but was hoping for good luck without them.
I will consider adding some next mash and I will definitely
recalibrate my thermometer and make sure it’s correct with the next mash.
Thanks for the advice.

[howie]

I know the rice hulls don’t add anything, but my mash was definitely stuck so I was hoping that the hulls would help aerate and restart the yeast.
I had some enzymes but was hoping for good luck without them.
I will consider adding some next mash and I will definitely
recalibrate my thermometer and make sure it’s correct with the next mash.
Thanks for the advice.
[/quote]
just some thoughts on your descriptions.
a mash is usually the bit when you are applying heat to grains to extract the sugars from starch.
a stuck mash is is usually when you're having difficulty rinsing (sparging) the sugars out.
rice hulls are added to certain grain bills to aid the flow of water through the mash, to prevent it getting stuck.
you are talking about a stuck ferment, when the wash has stopped fermenting for various reasons.
also, aerated the yeast is not a good idea after fermentation has started, this would introduce oxygen to the wash (bad). a gentle stir is ok, but only if you have to.
only aerate a wash as you pitch the yeast normally, read up on aerobic and anaerobic fermentation.

[Kbharring]

Thanks for the info.
Learning a lot with this first AG.

[8Ball]

It’s done. It’s been done. You did good. Run it.