Red Star Champagne Yeast Barleywine

I just took a peek at the carboy and i am seeing signs of co2 coming up to the top in the form of tiny bubbles. The yeast starter looks and smells to be taking well to the amylase treated wort. Lets just hope it finishes the job in the carboy for this primary ferm while im in new york until mid july.

grssmnperez said:

So pretty much all i can do is put in a yeast that is for high abv like super HG yeast or distiller and some beano tablets to convert the inedible sugars?

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Beano contains alpha galactosidase and invertase enzymes, amylase enzyme should be quicker and more consistent than beano. If you pitch that ale yeast and it still doesnt finish I would rack a gallon or two off then add the enzyme and blend when it finishes out.

It looks like it may have restarted.

"Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
12.00 lbs 64.86 % Munton's Light LME 60 mins 1.037
2.00 lbs 10.81 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L 60 mins 1.034
1.50 lbs 8.11 % Maize, Flaked 60 mins 1.037
1.00 lbs 5.41 % Briess Rye Malt 60 mins 1.035
1.00 lbs 5.41 % Briess Barley, Flaked 60 mins 1.035
1.00 lbs 5.41 % Cara-Pils/Dextrine 60 mins 1.033"

There is no malt to convert all the specialty malts. I will be surprised if this finishes as you hope

This is after pitching a big starter of wlp 099 SHG

Second ferment anyone?

woohoo - congrats! do let us know what the FG is in a week or two.

you're going to have to wait this guy out for a while: at 12%, chances are it'll taste very "hot" when fresh. i'd give it several weeks in primary, several more weeks (up to several months) in secondary, and then it'll benefit from additional months in bottles/keg to mellow out. i would suggest letting it bulk age in secondary as long as you can spare the carboy, and add the wood chips during the last two weeks of that period. big barleywines like this one often don't peak for 6 or 12 months (or more).

sweetcell said:

woohoo - congrats! do let us know what the FG is in a week or two.

you're going to have to wait this guy out for a while: at 12%, chances are it'll taste very "hot" when fresh. i'd give it several weeks in primary, several more weeks (up to several months) in secondary, and then it'll benefit from additional months in bottles/keg to mellow out. i would suggest letting it bulk age in secondary as long as you can spare the carboy, and add the wood chips during the last two weeks of that period. big barleywines like this one often don't peak for 6 or 12 months (or more).

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I was thinking about christmas time or so. I just cant believe i got it going again, i thought it was over and id be stuck with a super sweet monster that would take two years or more to even be palatable.

xmas time should be about right. save a few bottles if you can, and try some on the one year anniversary of the batch. take notes!

if a beer comes out really sweet, aging won't change that much. hops fade, a few off-flavors fade... but sugars (sweetness) stay put for the most part.

That is true. Im pretty sure the sweetness is gonna go with the second ferment. The og was 1.120 and the last recorded i posted a pic of i believe its 1.050 any abv predictions? Im thinking around 13%

yeah, that second fermentation should chew things down to the point that it isn't a sugar bomb.

to get to 13%, you'd need to hit 1.024 for an apparent attenuation of 80%. considering the amount of crystal in your recipe, plus the fact that it's all extract, i find it unlikely that you'll hit those number - not impossible, but unlikely. 75% might be a more realistic "stretch goal" for attenuation: 1.030 & 12.1% ABV. considering what this brew has been through, 70% (1.036, 11.26%) should be viewed a victory IMO.

sweetcell said:

yeah, that second fermentation should chew things down to the point that it isn't a sugar bomb.

to get to 13%, you'd need to hit 1.024 for an apparent attenuation of 80%. considering the amount of crystal in your recipe, plus the fact that it's all extract, i find it unlikely that you'll hit those number - not impossible, but unlikely. 75% might be a more realistic "stretch goal" for attenuation: 1.030 & 12.1% ABV. considering what this brew has been through, 70% (1.036, 11.26%) should be viewed a victory IMO.

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Ill take that all day long. Like you said, considering what this brew has been through. It was brought back from the brink i think. I am concerned about carbonation because i plan on bottling it in late august possibly september. Will there be enough yeast leftover to eat the priming sugar. I assume it will take a long time to carb up.

That's where you can bring your Redstar back in to the equation just rehydrate a small amount, and mix it with your priming sugar a little while before you rack your beer in the bottling bucket. I definitely wouldn't leave it to fate that this will bottle condition with the latent yeast.

Is it necessary or possible to portion those little packets of dry yeast? Is it safe to open one then store it for later use of the rest? I am assuming that the amount of yeast doesn't affect carbonation nearly as much as the amount of priming sugar, provided that there is at least enough yeast to eat up the sugars that you added. I once put an entire packet of the red star into the bottling bucket as well as the priming sugar and it turned out well, I am assuming that I just used an unnecessarily large population of priming yeast? Would you say try to use half or a third of a packet, or even less??

A quarter packet should do ya

Its still going!



This is as of last night.

Here is my FG reading. It started at 1.120.

That 099 is fun stuff. I used it to finish up an IPA that was OG 1.120, and I got this

HOLY CRAP!!!

that looks like 1.005 to me... if i'm right, that's 95.8% attenuation for 15.8% ABV!!!

yeah, christmas is the earliest i'd want to touch this one. age as long as you can... then enjoy! and congrats!

Good God that is a low FG for a beer that big! How did it taste? I'm wondering if a Barleywine that big and boozy will be any good with that low a gravity.

It drank hot but it had sweetness