Need some fermentation advice please

TrubHopper

Greetings fellow brewers,
I brewed up my first batch of beer in about 10 years this last weekend.  I bought Jamil's Evil Twin extract kit from Northern Brewer. My original gravity was 1.071, a bit higher than the 1.064 that the recipe calls out. I pitched a smack pack of Wyeast 1056 on 3/25. I have the carboy in a frige with a Johnson controller set to 68*. I had good active fermentation going on 3/26 and then yesterday there was no bubbling going on. I took a sample and it measured 1.023. I am pretty sure that it needs to attenuate more. The smack pack says it is good for 5 gallons up to 1.060 (should have read that part before pitching). Did I underpitch? So I don't know what to do here. Should I pitch another smack pack? should I leave it alone? wait and take more readings? or what?
Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

spiderwrangler

You probably did underpitch, but probably not a big deal at this point.  You could bump up the temp a couple of degrees and rouse the yeast (by rocking/swirling it) and let it go another week, see where you get to.Spiderwrangler
PFC, Arachnid Deployment Division
In the cellar:
In the fermentor: Belgian Cider
In the works: Wooden Cider

spiderwrangler

You also only pitched 4 days ago, so give it another weekish regardless.Spiderwrangler
PFC, Arachnid Deployment Division
In the cellar:
In the fermentor: Belgian Cider
In the works: Wooden Cider

LukeD23

I agree...you probably underpitched. But, If I were to guess it is more an issue with lack of Oxygen or other nutrients. How did you aeriate your wort? Shake it? add O2 or filtered air?
Try buying some Servomyces from White labs or the Wyeast yeast nutrient, it does wonders for getting your yeast jacked!
One more thing. If you haven't checked your water, you could be low in Calcium. Maybe try adding 1 tsp of gypsum to your mash next batch. You want a minimum of 50ppm of Calcium.
Cheers!Pouring - Infidel Porter, Pallino Wit
Fermenting - Till a rustic Saison
On Deck - Abbey Dubbel, Belgian Golden Strong maybe with brett

TrubHopper

I did aerate the wort before pitching  and I live in San Diego CA so the water is AOK. I think I will try rousing the yeast and raise the temp a few degrees and get a reading in a few days. Thanks for all the advice,  I really appreciate it.

BDawg

+1 on warming it up and rousing it up.
At this point, no worries on warm temps. In fact, the yeast will work harder cleaning up after themselves.-B'Dawg
BJCP GM3 Judge & Mead
"Lunch Meat.  It's an acquired taste....."  -- Mylo

Afterlab

Chances are you will still have some fermentation over the next few days but one of the biggest culprits in under-attenuation is not fully aerating your wort before pitching yeast.
During the later stages of any fermentation where your gravity has made a sizeable leap in a short span of time such as your case of 1.071 to 1.023, the easier fermentation work has just been completed at this point which is what you witnessed with the vigorous airlock activity in the first few days. Now the harder work for the yeast has begun where they have to break down more complex sugars. This process is slower and there is less CO2 being released which is why the airlock show intermittent activity. So just because your airlock isn't bubbling like crazy doesn't necessarily mean the yeast aren't working to further ferment.

grodcrashlann

If you only pitched 4 days ago don't do anyting, just let the yeast do their thang.  The OG and pitching rate is an issue but nothing to worry about.  I say do nothing just yet and take another reading in 7 days time.  
You may even want to bump up the temp then just to make sure things are done.
I generally let my primary go for at least 2 weeks (with ales before I take the readings if there is activity in the fermenter.
I also wear no pants during the Sunday Sho and roll commando on weekends. Just sayin'
love
g"in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king"....a person not quite as plastered as the rest  (not a quote by RSM grod of the BN Army)Yeast starter is always the way to go. If you listen to Palmer and Jamil, you know this...just because the Wyeast pack says it is good for 5 gal up to 1.060, thats optimal conditions. Never know what your yeast pack went thru or what the condition of that yeast was at time of pitching. Hope it continues to attenuate, post an update please.Jason.

tap:Alesmith IPA
carboy:Sour Blonde, Rye Saison w/Brett
bottld: Tripel A,Tripel B,Sour Blonde,Hef, Saison w/Brett
OnDeck:Brown Ale
Longtermferm:
"They think I do not know a buttload of crap about the Gospel, but I do!,"Nacho

Kbar

100 Billion cells in one smack pack. According to Mr. Malty, you needed 257 Billion cells or 3 smack packs to achieve that or use a 3.5 liter starter and one smack pack.
you did underpitch. May get some fusel alcohols and esters from this one. Stressed the yeast. Any chance you fermented at a lower temp - just want to make sure your controller is working.
I am running some batches with 5 smack packs (insert WTF here), just to see if the esters I have been getting from one smack pack go away. They did, as to be expected, at quite the added cost.  

sp5jcmiphsk.gif

Time to upgrade the brewery with a stir plate and starter equipment...........Conical Fermenter - Amber Lager
Keg#1 Dunkel
Keg#2 Helles
Keg#3 Flanders Red
Keg#4 Star San
Keg#5 Star San
Keg#6 Star San

TrubHopper

Thanks for all the responses. I know I should have used a starter. Luckily it turned out alright. Drank it all up and it was not too bad. Didn't detect any fusels. The only thin that is confusing to me is that when I first drew a pint off the keg there was no hop aroma as there should have been. I did the hop additions as per the recipe so where the hell did all my hop aroma go?? I wound up dry hoppping it to get some of the aroma that dissapeared and it was drinkable. But WTF?? I have never had that happen before.

scotchpine

O2 pick up at packaging can rob your hop aroma. Maybe it was some other issue but how did you do your cold transfers and how many of them?A woman drove me to drink, and I never had the courtesy to thank her-W.C. Fields

TrubHopper

1 transfer from carboy to the corny.I forgot to  load it with co2 first, maybe that was the culprit...?

scotchpine

1 transfer from carboy to the corny.I forgot to  load it with co2 first, maybe that was the culprit...?
Could be, as long as you water profile is right.  After reading on the BN forum about it, on my very first keg fill with my new system, I pushed with CO2 from my carboy to a purged and sealed keg through the out port by bleeding off pressure. I know that the IPA in that keg had much more hop aroma than any I had ever made and bottled from a bucket. I've always stuck with this method and am really happy with the results. It's important that you only use 2 or 3 PSI to push this way for safey reasons.A woman drove me to drink, and I never had the courtesy to thank her-W.C. Fields

duckmanco

Also, given that it's an amber ale, and an extract kit, 1.023 isn't that far off from what you probably should expect from that kit, if I had to guess.  Without some simple sugar in the bill, extract plus steeping grains can make it tough, not impossible, but tough to get the FG down to where you want it.