1968 london esb for a RIS???

I am brewing the Weasel Boy RIS this weekend that was in last month's Zymurgy mag. I have a nut brown that I used the ESB yeast with that will go into bottles Friday night, so I was thinking of using the yeast cake.

I know this is probably not the ideal yeast to use, but this is a more muted recipe for a RIS, so I am hopeful I can get away with this less attenuative yeast instead of having to buy more yeast and make a starter.

Thoughts? I dont have the recipe in front of me, but I know that it is an 8% beer.

big floyd,

Thanks for the advice. I do have temp control and will follow your temp schedule.

Thanks again.

Cigar City Brewing uses 1968 as their house strain, all the way up to 13% abv. Like BigFloyd said, it can be very finicky. I have a 1.060 stout going with it right now, with the sole purpose of using the cake in a 1.130 Imperial Stout (Zhukov/Hunahpu-ish clone). The only advice I was given was use lots of oxygen and a really big blow off tube. Best of luck!

allenH said:

Cigar City Brewing uses 1968 as their house strain, all the way up to 13% abv. Like BigFloyd said, it can be very finicky. I have a 1.060 stout going with it right now, with the sole purpose of using the cake in a 1.130 Imperial Stout (Zhukov/Hunahpu-ish clone). The only advice I was given was use lots of oxygen and a really big blow off tube. Best of luck!

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Glad you mentioned the blow-off tube. That's a must.

I'm not sure that I'd bother with the O2 (even though I have the gear) when tossing an ale onto an existing cake. It will take off quite vigorously on its own. Expect an eruption around the second day.

I can't get much Wyeast at my LHBS but the WL equivalent WLP002, is my house strain. With a good pitch rate, O2 and good temp control, I routinely get 77-79% AA with it.

As others have said, you want to be taking this yeast warmer as fermentation proceeds, not colder. I make a lot of Brit beers in the 4-5.5% abv range. My typical ferment schedule with this yeast is to pitch around 64f, then free rise to 66f. I hold it there until the 96 hr mark. By that time, i'd estimate I am 3/4 the way to FG and my ester profile is set. At that point I walk the temp up 2f per day (1f before I leave for work and 1f when I get done with dinner) until I am at 70f.

I leave it there until the beer drops clear (usually midway through the second week). That seems to attenuate well and scrub any diacetyl or acetaldehyde.

If my gravity is where I want it then (which it almost always is with this yeast) I begin to walk the temp back down 2-3f per day until I am in the low 60s to upper 50s.

The compact yeast cake is a snap to siphon around at that point and into the keg she goes.

i agree with others, % abv is no problem, just really watch out for diacetyl, raise temps as you go

Just an update:

-I pitched on Saturday and it is holding at 64. Actually, i pitched and then transferred wort and yeast cake back and forth several times to aerate and mix it all up. It seemed like the way to do it anyways.
-It took a full 24 hours to get going...I was starting to sweat it! This morning, I had to break up a clog in the blow off line....it is really throwing off some gas! I am going to bump the temp to 66 this afternoon and let it rise up (ferm wrap is unplugged).