I have a couple questions about adding secondary yeast when brewing a high gravity beer.
Last weekend I brewed my first batch of high gravity beer. I chose an extract clone recipe for Belle Dock barley wine. The original gravity was 1.116 which is a little higher than the 1.110-1.111 that the recipe called for. I just racked it into secondary and took a gravity of reading of 1.040.
Everything is going well so far but I have a few questions for those who have brewed barley wines before.
The recipe calls to prime the beer in the 2nd stage with White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity Ale yeast three days before bottling. They dont give specific advice for adding the yeast so here are my questions.
Should I prep the yeast with a starter batch a day or two prior to pitching the yeast? If so, one or two liters worth?
When I brew my IPAs I typically create a 1 liter starter batch for the White Labs yeast I use. For this barley wine I doubled my efforts and created a 1 liter starter batch 2 days prior and then added another liter of starter wort one day prior. I used a stir plate and the stuff took off about 24 hours after pitching. It was so active I lost about 1 to 1 1/2 gallons of my 5 gallon batch through the blow off tube.
Second question: Should I aerate the beer/wort prior to pitching the secondary yeast slurry?
When brewing, I usually try to aerate wort by aggressively pouring it back and forth between a couple buckets prior to pitching the yeast. I am thinking this is not a good time to do this with the barley wine since it will have been fermenting for a couple weeks.
Looking for any advice.
Last weekend I brewed my first batch of high gravity beer. I chose an extract clone recipe for Belle Dock barley wine. The original gravity was 1.116 which is a little higher than the 1.110-1.111 that the recipe called for. I just racked it into secondary and took a gravity of reading of 1.040.
Everything is going well so far but I have a few questions for those who have brewed barley wines before.
The recipe calls to prime the beer in the 2nd stage with White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity Ale yeast three days before bottling. They dont give specific advice for adding the yeast so here are my questions.
Should I prep the yeast with a starter batch a day or two prior to pitching the yeast? If so, one or two liters worth?
When I brew my IPAs I typically create a 1 liter starter batch for the White Labs yeast I use. For this barley wine I doubled my efforts and created a 1 liter starter batch 2 days prior and then added another liter of starter wort one day prior. I used a stir plate and the stuff took off about 24 hours after pitching. It was so active I lost about 1 to 1 1/2 gallons of my 5 gallon batch through the blow off tube.
Second question: Should I aerate the beer/wort prior to pitching the secondary yeast slurry?
When brewing, I usually try to aerate wort by aggressively pouring it back and forth between a couple buckets prior to pitching the yeast. I am thinking this is not a good time to do this with the barley wine since it will have been fermenting for a couple weeks.
Looking for any advice.