Barleywine: US-05 or WY1056/WLP001

I'm planning an American barleywine sometime soon, OG around 1.115. Anyone have recommendations one way or another as far as yeast? I am planning on a big pitch of cal ale yeast, and it seems to me that picking up 2-3 packs of dry yeast would be easier than building up a 7-liter starter.

I have been using the dry version for a few lower gravity beers lately with good success, any thoughts on whether there will be any discernable difference for a matters for a high gravity beer?

If you really wanted to use the liquid yeast just make a 5 gal batch of amber ale or something and pitch most of the yeast cake.

sagnew440 said:

If you really wanted to use the liquid yeast just make a 5 gal batch of amber ale or something and pitch most of the yeast cake.

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+1

I pitched a 1.120 barleywine on the yeast cake from a 1.070 IPA I made using 1056. It took off within a couple hours with krausen flowing out of the blowoff tube. 12 days later it was down to 1.030 & the sample tasted great...almost like a monster IIPA. I'll be transferring to my secondary in a couple weeks for a 6-8 month aging.

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subscribed. interested in the high gravity yeast options discussion.

sagnew440 said:

If you really wanted to use the liquid yeast just make a 5 gal batch of amber ale or something and pitch most of the yeast cake.

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Agree somewhat with this, however to get the best flavor possible you need to use Mr Malty to calculate apx how much of that yeast cake you need. I just finished pitching S-05 yeast from a pale ale on to a 1.114 barleywine, and according to Mr Malty on even the most conservative setting I only needed 300ML of yeast slurry - that is not a big volume at all. I pitched double the recommended amt just in case my slurry contained higher than normal hop/trub particles in comparison to yeast.

Ferment took off in a number of hours, got it down to 1.022 at 64 F in 5 days.

Overpitching with a yeast like 1056 is not a HUGE big deal though, but your flavor should generally be better if you pitch the correct amount of yeast. Going staight onto a cake is overpitching like 10-20X what you actually need.

To answer your oiginal question, S-05 worked for me but 1056 or equiv would be just as good.

To follow up on this, I ended up pitching 3 packs of re-hydrated S-05 and it took the BW down from 1.118 to 1.025 in just under 2 weeks. Fermentation included a temp ramp from 62 up to 73 over the two weeks, with a sugar addition on day 6 when gravity was approx 1.040.

Totally happy with that attenuation, now just have to wait a while (it is 12% ABV) for the beer to mellow to see how it tastes. Still a bit yeasty and hot, but not fusely from what I can tell.

Glad to hear it attenuated well for you!

Im also brewing a barleywine in about 3-4hrs i have a starter going is it recomended that i decant the liquid from the starter before pitching the slurry? Also would a 1/2in tube out of your standard airlock work as an alright blowoff tube?

Well, it depends on the size of your starter. If it's pretty big (which it should be for a barleywine), I would decant.