Can you always just pitch more yeast?

So I am brewing a very high gravity beer. Starting off with a starter and standard yeast strain and then few days in doing starter again and adding a super high gravity yeast. If by chance the yeast stop working before I hit my desired final gravity (and I still have sugars to add) could I just add another vial of yeast?

Yes and no...getting a stalled ferment, especially stalled on a high gravity brew where you are likely trying to start up fermentation when there is already a good percentage of alcohol present is unpredictable and doesn't favor success. There are techniques to accomplish the task that may work; but, the best bet is to have an entire plan of attack on how you will ferment the bad boy out from the get go instead of hoping for the best and relying on a crutch to save you. It looks like you have some thought into it already. My best advice is to use a large starter, yeast nutrient, and plenty of O2, keep the temp in check at first but allow it to slowly rise to help finish it out, and if you are using sugar add it after fermentation has begun as it lowers the osmotic pressure the yeast have to start in and gives them something really easy to chew into after they have gotten used to their toxic environment.

thanks for the advice..

Agreed. Starting with a yeast for flavor then adding a highly tolerant yeast to finish things out sounds like a good plan of attack. Adding more of the same high gravity yeast probably isn't going to help much. (also +1 to adding the sugar later into the fermentation)

I never recommend adding more yeast- treat your yeast properly the first time so they can finish out the job. If you HAVE to repitch, though, you should do it when your starter is at high krausen. You're dumping your yeast into a highly acidic, high toxin (alcohol) environment. It's very different from adding yeast to unfermented wort which is a higher pH and no alcohol, with lots of nutrients.

daksin said:

I never recommend adding more yeast- treat your yeast properly the first time so they can finish out the job. If you HAVE to repitch, though, you should do it when your starter is at high krausen. You're dumping your yeast into a highly acidic, high toxin (alcohol) environment. It's very different from adding yeast to unfermented wort which is a higher pH and no alcohol, with lots of nutrients.

Click to expand...

I agree. Almost any beer yeast will do 10-12% ABV.

Going for 22% on this bad boy. Have researched for months. final recipe calls for 8 oz of dextrose added 2X daily for 2 weeks. Hops added each night for 3 weeks.
Hoping the yeast hangs in there long enough to at least get over 20%.

Soulshine said:

Going for 22% on this bad boy. Have researched for months. final recipe calls for 8 oz of dextrose added 2X daily for 2 weeks. Hops added each night for 3 weeks.
Hoping the yeast hangs in there long enough to at least get over 20%.

Click to expand...

You will definitely need the WLP099 in that environment...heck, most wine yeast won't tolerate that high of an alcohol percentage.

So I did hit my final gravity and beer came in at 21% but its really sweet. Think I went a day or two too much adding the dextrose. Probably should have called that off. Disappointed in how sweet it is but happy with everything else. I just didn't anticipate hitting that 21% so quickly. Hoping carbonation and aging hides the corn sugar taste somewhat. Thanks again for the advice. I did use the two yeast as suggested:

1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [Did a starter 3 days prior]
1 Pkgs Super High Gravity Ale (White Labs #WLP099) [Did a a starter and pitched 5 days into fermentation]

That's awesome! At 21% ABV I wonder is some of that sweetness is the result of autolysis. This is one you will want to rack to a secondary sooner rather than later.

Also, I've been doing some experiments with yeast in high ABV environments, and you may be able to squeeze out a few more gravity points by repitching high gravity yeast from a starter that has reached it's krousen peak.

What is the final gravity?

Recalculated starting gravity was 1.20.
Final Gravity was 1.050.
I'm thinking of pitching some champagne yeast to try and dry it out a bit and maybe eat up even just a little of that residual sugar

deleted

Wow that is a huge beer. Sounds like you gave wlp099 a nice start. What temp is it at right now? Ill bet if you bring it up to a round 70 or 72 degrees, you could get the yeast that is already in it to finnish the job..... maybe do some rousing or a shot of oxygen?

Tried raising the temp for a few weeks and nothing changed. It has since cooled down a bit. I am going to bring it back up to around 70 and pitch some champagne yeast and see if I get any results from that. Will let you know. Worst case it is a bit sweeter than I wanted but the carbonation and age should help that a little. Feel good about it for a first attempt at a monster ale like this.