Hi All - I usually have very good attenuation with my beers (regardless of the stated attenuation of the yeast strain I am using), which I normally think of as a very good thing. But I would like to brew a barleywine and end with a higher FG. I plan to use White Labs 002 (attentuation 63-70%). But I really want to have control over the FG and not just cross my fingers and hope the yeast don't go too far. Is there any way to manually stop the yeast once I've hit my desired gravity, without affecting flavor?
How do you stop fermentation?
- Thread starter kgoodwi2
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Erroneous
Well-Known Member
Generally speaking you don't want to interrupt your yeast, especially with something you want to keep aged. I know soda makers will chill their plastic bottles once they're rock hard to stop the fermentation, but they have to be kept refrigerated to keep the yeast in suspension. So if you hypothetically did that, then you'd have to keep all of your BW in the fridge for the months/years while it ages, and I'm not even sure it'd age properly.
Try messing with the temps you mash at. Also, what FG are we talking about getting for what styles?
Try messing with the temps you mash at. Also, what FG are we talking about getting for what styles?
tesilential
Well-Known Member
Well how high OG do you usually brew? A barleywine will be really big and create a high alcohol level during fermentation. This should cause the yeast to stop a little higher. Maybe you could slightly underpitch if you are really worried about high attenuation...
Well, you could crash chill it to shut down fermentation, but it'll wake back up once the beer comes to ambient temp. If you're kegging and plugging it into a fridge/keezer to condition, that would work for you (but obviously would take up some real estate).
If you want to keep your FG a bit higher than usual, I'd recommend adjusting your mash temperature rather than trying to fiddle with the yeast during fermentation. Add a few degrees during the mash and your non-fermentables will increase. Keep in mind that a barleywine will probably have a more varied grain bill than a typical batch, which will also result in reduced efficiency (generally). Depending on your previous batches, this may be a variable that you haven't worked with as much.
If you want to keep your FG a bit higher than usual, I'd recommend adjusting your mash temperature rather than trying to fiddle with the yeast during fermentation. Add a few degrees during the mash and your non-fermentables will increase. Keep in mind that a barleywine will probably have a more varied grain bill than a typical batch, which will also result in reduced efficiency (generally). Depending on your previous batches, this may be a variable that you haven't worked with as much.
