Stalled Fermentation? Or too much body from high temp mash?

Question

So I brewed a straight forward English style IPA with the following:

O.G. 1.060 F.G. 1.015 (estimated from Beersmith) Current F.G. 1.020

10g Gypsum 11 lbs Maris Otter 1.5 lbs Crystal 30 1 oz Columbus @ 60 min 1 oz East Kent Golding @ 30 min 1 oz Fuggles @ 10 min 2 oz Crystal Dryhop (I haven't added this yet)

1 Package of Burton Ale Yeast (The kind in the vial) 60 min Mash @ 153-154 (Beersmith Recommended 152) Batch Sparge 60 min Boil 5.5 Gal into primary

I didn't use a starter, I just pitched the yeast straight out of the vial. The fermentation didn't start for about 48 hours. Then I found the plug and blowoff tube had completely blown off and there was a large amount of beer sludge caked all over the fermenter and puddled all over the floor. I cleaned up and replaced the blowoff with an airlock. Once it stopped bubbling I measured the gravity over the course of the next few days and it settled on 1.020, a full 5 points high.

My Mash temperature started a touch high at around 155-156, then i threw in some cool water to drop it to 153. Did I just mash it too high and create a heavy body? Should I be concerned with a stalled fermentation? Or should I just go ahead and transfer to secondary for some dry hopping. Thanks!

Answer 1

I would give it another week, just to make sure the yeast is done, but I'm going to guess it won't drop down much lower, and will attribute that to:

• the slightly high mash temp;
• 10%+ Crystal malt;
• low initial yeast health from pitching just a vial instead of a starter.

Answer 2

I think it's already fermented.

This is ages and and from memory so I don't Remember the details of SG or anything like that. I once brewed a batch of 80 penny while living in Florida. Pitched the yeast, the next day I was looking for signs of kickoff, but it looked dead. Pitched in more yeast, another day...nothing, in fact you could still see it floating on top where I pitched it.

Turned out it was simply just warm enough for the wurt to ferment completely over a single night. It turned out pretty tasty too as I remember.