Can I mix two fermenting beers?

So I brewwed two batches on Monday - an IIPA (OG 1.092) with Safale S-33 and a small beer (OG 1.038) off that with a nottingham ale yeast. The IIPA started well and has since stopped but I expect its going to be in the 1.025ish range as thats what I've heard with that yeast. The small is still bubbling away great and should, according to the packet get down to about 1.008.

As I'd like to get the IIPA down a bit drier, when I rack into secondary (this weekend sometime), can you see any issues with me adding 12oz or so of the Small to the IIPA to transfer some yeast and get it drier?

thanks, Andy

OK, had a read of some other threads - question answered - wash the yeast cake and add that to secondary - sound reasonable?

bob_nohope said:

So I brewwed two batches on Monday - an IIPA (OG 1.092) with Safale S-33 and a small beer (OG 1.038) off that with a nottingham ale yeast. The IIPA started well and has since stopped but I expect its going to be in the 1.025ish range as thats what I've heard with that yeast. The small is still bubbling away great and should, according to the packet get down to about 1.008.

As I'd like to get the IIPA down a bit drier, when I rack into secondary (this weekend sometime), can you see any issues with me adding 12oz or so of the Small to the IIPA to transfer some yeast and get it drier?

thanks, Andy

Click to expand...

Yes, washing the Notty makes the most sense.

I have mulitiple times successful racked off a yeast cake while it is in the primary and added the yeast to a starter or directly to some new wort. Sanitize your racking crane and just pump out about 200 to 400 ml of yeast slurry on the bottom of your small beer fermenter directly to your IIPA fermenter or a mason jar. You dont have owash your yeast or add a bunch of one beer to the other.

You can mix any brewing beers you want....there are NO rules in home brewed beers..but that sort of defeats the objective of each individual beer and its respective type and taste etc....if you are panicking and wondering if the OG 1.092 beer will not achieve 1.025 or below then i would wait before rushing into anything.........Safale S-33 should easily achieve 10-11 % Abv....and your beer at OG 1.092 should easily reach 1.025 ... at this alcohol level and FG it would be a nice well rounded full bodied beer...anything less in the SG department would lead to a dry unbalanced beer imo...

I wouldn't do anything yet after less than a week is not long enough for such a big beer to fully ferment out before adding another weaker beer to it....adding Nottingham yeast from a low fermenting SG beer to a high fermenting SG beer already using a high-ish Abv tolerant yeast wont achieve anything to be honest...both those yeast are capable of 10% ABV beers...

When you say your IIPA has stopped...what criteria are using to establish your observation?...bubbles in the airlock?...hydrometer readings?...are you sure its not just slowed right down?..its less than a week and for a high OG beer to fully ferment out in 5 days is not what one usually expects....is it stuck?....or just slow?....either way i doubt its fully fermented out...have you taken an SG reading before posting this question?...if so what is it?..if not ..please take one and report back what it is so we can see if its stopped or stuck!....thanks!