loctones
Well-Known Member
I'm still new to brewing and need some advice. I'm on my 6th beer. It's a Russian Imperial Stout. I followed Jamil's RIS recipe, converted a bit for my system, and changes to partial mash to fit the grain in my MLT. Here are the grains I used (5.5 gal batch):
8 lb Pale Malt
5.75 lb Pilsner LME
1.2 lb roasted barley
0.8 lb Light Chocolate Malt
0.8 lb Special B
0.4 lb Caramunich III
0.5 lb Chocolate malt
I mashed this at 154 for 60 min, and ended up with a starting gravit of 1.096, just a point over what I was shooting for. I pitched this on top of the cake from a porter brewed with WPL002. This is the third beer I've brewed from this vial of yeast.
I got a good fermentation. It's been 2 weeks now, and my gravity has stayed at 1.035 for 4 days. I did the math, and I'm at 62% aparrent attenuation. According to White Labs, this strain of yeast has 63-70% attenuation. I looked at the second beer I brewed with this vial, and that ended up being 64% attenuation. The second beer was a lower ABV, so I think that I may be at my yeast's limit on my current beer. I realize now that I probably used the wrong yeast for this beer.
I'd like some advice on how I should proceed on getting the gravity of the beer down further. WPL002 has high flocculation, so I've tried swirling the carboy once a day for the last four days, and I haven't seen a drop in gravity. I don't know if the swirling will help or not. I plan on letting the beer age for a year after I bottle it, so I don't want to oxygenate the beer, and have it taste bad after aging for a while.
The other thing I've read about doing is adding yeast, either through making another starter, or making another beer and racking this beer onto the cake of the first beer.
Any suggestions on how I should proceed here? I apologize for the long-winded question. I'm having a baby in 2 weeks, and this is the beer for Baby's first birthday party--I want it to be good!
8 lb Pale Malt
5.75 lb Pilsner LME
1.2 lb roasted barley
0.8 lb Light Chocolate Malt
0.8 lb Special B
0.4 lb Caramunich III
0.5 lb Chocolate malt
I mashed this at 154 for 60 min, and ended up with a starting gravit of 1.096, just a point over what I was shooting for. I pitched this on top of the cake from a porter brewed with WPL002. This is the third beer I've brewed from this vial of yeast.
I got a good fermentation. It's been 2 weeks now, and my gravity has stayed at 1.035 for 4 days. I did the math, and I'm at 62% aparrent attenuation. According to White Labs, this strain of yeast has 63-70% attenuation. I looked at the second beer I brewed with this vial, and that ended up being 64% attenuation. The second beer was a lower ABV, so I think that I may be at my yeast's limit on my current beer. I realize now that I probably used the wrong yeast for this beer.
I'd like some advice on how I should proceed on getting the gravity of the beer down further. WPL002 has high flocculation, so I've tried swirling the carboy once a day for the last four days, and I haven't seen a drop in gravity. I don't know if the swirling will help or not. I plan on letting the beer age for a year after I bottle it, so I don't want to oxygenate the beer, and have it taste bad after aging for a while.
The other thing I've read about doing is adding yeast, either through making another starter, or making another beer and racking this beer onto the cake of the first beer.
Any suggestions on how I should proceed here? I apologize for the long-winded question. I'm having a baby in 2 weeks, and this is the beer for Baby's first birthday party--I want it to be good!