I am in the process of inventing a high gravity barleywine recipe and was wondering about yeast. From the recipe i found they used 3 packs of safale s-04 just rehydrate and tossed in the bucket. Does this sound right? It is just skipping the starter stage by adding the 3 packs, right? will this be enough for a 1.105 OG brew or will I have to add more later to help get the gravity down? Should I make a starter anyways to make the yeast stronger for this high gravity exposure? thanks for any help. Hoppy Holidays!!
Does high gravity equal High yeast starter?
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There's plenty of high grav ale strains (most ale yeasts can handle 9-10% abv), if you want an ale, use an ale strain. For dry yeast, a few packs will do, for liquid, make a big starter. Mrmalty.com will give you the proper pitch rates for your beer.
Clementine
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Dry yeast they don't generally need a starter as the chances of environmental killing the yeast is low as the dried form is much more stable and they are also cheap so instead of doing a starter to increase numbers they just pitch more packets.
If you are using liquid yeast (instead of pitching multiple vials/packets) you are still advised to do a starter as you have no idea of the environmental conditions (liquid is much more susceptible to heat/cold) that the yeast would be exposed to before you got your hands on it.
Clem
Clem
If you are using liquid yeast (instead of pitching multiple vials/packets) you are still advised to do a starter as you have no idea of the environmental conditions (liquid is much more susceptible to heat/cold) that the yeast would be exposed to before you got your hands on it.
Clem
Clem
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I don't know what's the latest consensus on this topic, but I'd probably rehydrate the yeast in a cup or two of sterilized water before tossing it in. You can get away with pitching a packet directly in a 1.050-60 beer, but this is a big beer we're talking about. The osmotic pressure due to the very high gradient in solute concentration (ie due to the very high sugar content of 1.105 wort) might stress the yeast quite a bit. Maybe someone else will come in and tell me I'm full of it, but I like to err on the side of caution when attempting such a huge beer.
From reading the Yeast book by Jamil as well as other sources it is important to rehydrate dry yeast with plain water. The manufacturer directions on the package should state this as well. As beerhappy stated the osmotic pressure can really stress the yeast so you do not want to pitch directly into the wort with dry yeast. It is not necessary to make a starter with dry yeast as it tends to be cheap enough to just purchase 2 or 3 packs ( as opposed to liquid ).
Happy Brewing,
Brandon
It is not necessary to use champagne yeast instead of ale yeast due to the high alcohol content of a barleywine. I have made a couple of barleywines that had OG 1.115 and FG 1.022 by using Safale US-05. If you do not have an oxygenation setup you can swirl the wort initially then swirl it again within 12-18 hours of pitching the yeast. This will help provide plenty of oxygen to the yeast for growth and proper fermentation.
Happy Brewing,
Brandon
It is not necessary to use champagne yeast instead of ale yeast due to the high alcohol content of a barleywine. I have made a couple of barleywines that had OG 1.115 and FG 1.022 by using Safale US-05. If you do not have an oxygenation setup you can swirl the wort initially then swirl it again within 12-18 hours of pitching the yeast. This will help provide plenty of oxygen to the yeast for growth and proper fermentation.
+1 Jamil's yeast book is amazing, still getting through it but the section about hydrating dry yeast made a lot of sense
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