Beer Forum

I brewed up a batch of JZ's recipe for this 8 days ago. I used the Dusseldorf Alt yeast and it started strong within 12 hours, then I thought it was about finished on day 7 (yesterday). But the gravity was 1.028 and it appears to be really cloudy, almost muddy looking. I have it in my basement and it got a bit cooler than I anticipated, so it was 68-70 F for the first few days and then ended up around 62 for a few days. I've never had a problem with a stuck fermentation, and I'm not sure if that is what is going on or not, but I went ahead and shook it up a bit to see if that does anything. Today it does actually look like things are moving again and there's a thin layer of foam on the top. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Was my fermentation stuck or should I have expected a longer fermentation with 036? I've never tried that recipe or yeast before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Patience. Unless you need the beer to be done in 7 days, don't worry about it... let it go and let it do it's thing.

Yeah, the temperature drop likely caused the yeast to go to sleep. Shaking things up a bit as you did and maybe moving to some place a few degrees warmer will likely help it finish. And, like Spider said, be patient. Check the gravity again in a few days.

You've got a good poriton of the fermentation finished so raising the temp a few degrees likely won't cause any off flavors.

I've been researching how to build a good Dusseldorf Alt bier, Something similar to Fuchschen Alt. Anyone have any similar recipes or recipes for other great alt beer?
Cheers, Sakaibrew

This is my first try at an Alt, so I wouldn't know what to recommend as far as other recipes.

I decided to leave it in the same place instead of moving it to a higher temperature. It's been pretty consistently around 62 F. I checked it today and it still has a thin layer of foam on top and I can still see some fermentation going on, so I opted not to check the gravity again yet. Guess I'll keep playing the waiting game.