Northern German Altbier

[trvlnpt34]

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.

[spiderwrangler]

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.

[animaldoc]

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.

[PorkSlapper]

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

[trvlnpt34]

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.