Aerate secondary?

Short version: would you aerate in secondary, if you were still expecting some "real" fermentaton (8-10 points of gravity) to take place?

Long version: I brewed this barleywine a few weeks back...pitched on a yeast cake from a previous batch, and SG went from 1.108 to 1.030 in 48 hours. Left it in primary for two weeks (still 1.030), racked to secondary with some additional yeast (saved from original cake). Two weeks later, still 1.030.

So I'm at 72% attenuation, and 1.030 isn't out of this world for a FG. Problem is, the beer still tastes a little too sweet for me. So I ran a little test...pulled 1 pint of beer out of secondary, hit it with 15 seconds from the O2 stone, and made a starter of WLP099 High Grav. The little starter seems to be fermenting. I plan to check the gravity of it, and if it's down in the low 20's or so, I was thinking about pitching into the secondary. IF I do this (and I'm still not sure I will), should I add O2? Or is the risk of too much oxygen (and oxidation) too high?

The time to hit it with O2 was the first few days in primary. A better approach might be to pull out some of the beer, hit it with O2, let it get a krausen, and pitch it back with the rest of the beer, sort of like a starter for the secondary.

I've never done that, of course, but from what I've read, if you're intent on doing something, this is probably a little safer than trying to reaerate an entire batch.

The problem with pitching some of the cake out of the primary is that it's already plum tuckered out. If it wasn't, it would have kept fermenting in the primary. You don't want to add O2 to the secondary. I'd make another starter to build more healthy yeast (make sure you aerate your starter well). Also make sure it's a yeast that likes higher alcohol levels.

Bobby's advice is actually better. Make a starter for secondary, yes... but use a fresh and alcohol tolerant yeast.

IMO I think it tastes sweet because of the recipe. 2 lbs. of a lot of grains that will add sweetness to the flavor. Like you said before, you're at 72% and 1030 isn't all that unreasonable. The recipe you listed has 1028 for a FG. I think you might be done. Put it down for a year and it'll probably be delicious

Well, it does have a lot of honey in there, which you would think would allow it to ferment out lower than 1030 (even with all that malt and the 2# of Crystal). I'd take Bobby's advice, get something that will handle a high alcohol level (NOT a champagne yeast, though, there are some good high-alc ale yeasts), make a starter, and see what happens. You're going to want to age this a while anyway.

I agree with clayof2day. It's done. Put it to bed and forget about for a long time! I'm just now starting to enjoy my 1.110 barleywine after 14 months in the bottle. Fermented down to 1.029 in about 4 days and never dropped another point. It's only been about the last four months that it no longer tasted like rocket fuel! I can't believe how much it has smoothed out over the last 4 months.