Before I chuck the whole lot out, I thought I’d probe the brewing brains of my Hopper bretheren…
I brewed an Oktoberfest nearly two months ago in the hopes to bring it to the September meeting for the Club Only Comp. Brew day went great, had excellent efficiency for my system (~75%), did a decoction, the whole shebang. OG was 1.057 – the top end of the style guidelines.
I made decent size starter a few days before, but came to find out that the Wyeast package was nearly 9 months old. Unfortunately, I didn’t take the time to build up the starter and, as a result, fermentation stalled out at 1.020 after 14 days in the primary at ~52º.
Just to be sure, I waited another week and pitched SafLager from a slurry I had on hand. It went down to 1.018. Still a bit too high.