Imperial Pale Ale FAIL - Possible Barley Wine?

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SeamusMac

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Hey guys,

The fermentation on my Imperial Pale Ale (from Extreme Brewing) stalled and despite agitation, warming the beer, re-pitching new Notty Ale yeast and siphoning it onto a Notty yeast cake that has proven itself as fully-attenuating yeast, I haven't been able to drop it below 1.044 from it's original 1.072 :(

I think this might be the perfect opportunity to pitch some Lalvin EC-1118 and turn this IPA into a Barley Wine! Has anyone tried this before? The EC-1118 shouldn't have any problem bringing it down to a FG 1.000 or lower and I'd be happy with an ABV of 9.4% or so.

If this beer lacks something required by a real barley wine I'd like to know before committing it.
 
You'd actually be closer to an IIPA than you would a BW at a lower gravity. It would be too dry to be a barleywine, they're supposed to be sweeter/maltier after aging. I wouldn't want one with a FG below 1.020. A good double IPA is dry in comparison with lots of hop character. Without seeing your recipe I'd say that your "barleywine" would be lacking malt character. If it is truly a stuck fermentation after trying all of the tricks and giving it some time a champange yeast would probably get it where you wanted it in the first place.
 
Thanks for the insight cuirearview, I'll drop by the LHBS tonight and see if I can't get myself some champagne yeast. I'll make sure to post a list of my ingredients and the hop schedule tonight when I'm at home and I can look over my notes.
 
1# of 60L Crystal in pre-boil tea
8# of Pale LME during boil
0.5# of Brown Sugar on day 2 of fermentation

1.5 oz. of Centennial @ 60 mins
1 oz. of Cascade @ 10 mins
0.5 oz. of Cascade @ end of boil

I'm going to dry-hop with 1 oz. of Cascade for 10 days once fermentation is completed.

Is there a possibility that the brown sugar could have contained preservatives? I bought in in bulk and there was no mention of it on the sign but it's the only thing I can think of.

I added some yeast energizer, as per the suggestion of the guy at the LHBS. It hasn't started any visible fermentation so I'm going to leave it until tomorrow night and take a hydrometer reading. If it's still at 1.040 then in goes the EC-1118!
 
The EC-1118 shouldn't have any problem bringing it down to a FG 1.000 or lower and I'd be happy with an ABV of 9.4% or so.

No, it might lower the gravity a bit, but it won't ferment complex malts.
 
No, it might lower the gravity a bit, but it won't ferment complex malts.

Thats what the guy at the LHBS said today when I was in getting ingredients for my next brew. It was the same guys who suggested using yeast energizer to re-start my stuck fermentation. Surprisingly enough, I came home from work today to find a very slowly fermenting IIPA! I guess the increased temperature (21*C), a quick stir and the suggested dosage of yeast energizer must have done the trick. Either that or the increase in temperature is causing the liquid and the gases inside the carboy to expand... I'll know by later tonight when the temperature drops down to nightly room temp (18*C).

I think that just to satisfy my curiosity I'll transfer a little bit of the finished product into another vessel and add a bit of EC-1118 to it when I decided to start another batch of Apfelwein.
 
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