Champagne yeast for high Gravity RIS

[bentoni]

I am brewing an OG 1.110 RIS. I pitched California ale yeast initially, but will obviously need to re pitch after that yeast goes inactive...I have 2 packets of red star dry champagne yeast I was going to pitch in. The question is, do I have to rack the beer off of the first yeast cake before I pitch the champagne yeast or can I toss it in with the wlp 001? Will it produce off flavors if I don't?

Secondary question, has anyone done this? And how long does it take for the red star champagne yeast to chew through the rest of the sugar?


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[KIAKillerXJ]

1056? S-05? As long as you pitched the correct cell count, I don't see why you'd necessarily need to add a second strain. Either of those could theoretically get the proper attenuation for that beer-- depending on factors like mash temp and pitch rate

 

[bruteforce]

I'm doing that right now with a 1.13 RIS. Once it hit around 11% my 1056 started giving up, so i racked it into a new fermenter and added some rehydrated champagne yeast. I'll let it sit for a few weeks and check the gravity and see whats happening, but I've done this for a 16% quad before and it worked great.

 

[bentoni]

The guy at the brew store said I could just pour the dry red star yeast into the wort...is that the case or do I need to hydrate it somehow.


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[bentoni]

I'm doing that right now with a 1.13 RIS. Once it hit around 11% my 1056 started giving up, so i racked it into a new fermenter and added some rehydrated champagne yeast. I'll let it sit for a few weeks and check the gravity and see whats happening, but I've done this for a 16% quad before and it worked great.

Did you see activity/krausen like you did in the first pitch? I pitched the dry yeast directly in and haven't seen any movement...could be that a lot of the sugars have been eaten up already...would the yeast do anything adverse to the beer if this is the case? Also, I have had a tough time keeping my fermenter box up above 62...it got cold here. I went and got a heating blanket to put in there today to raise the temp. Hopefully that works...Would it being around 60 degrees cause it to not go active?

 

[bruteforce]

I saw a little activity in the airlock for a few days but not a whole lot. No krausen to speak of, but it did drop the gravity from around 1.030ish to 1.016 after 2 weeks. Fermenting between 66 and 68 degrees

 

[davejanssen]

I know it's too late for this time around, but i think rehydrating would be better. I expect you'll get a lot of yeast die off from pitching directly into such a harsh environment, which will mean fewer cells to do the work you want and potential for off flavors from the dead yeast.

 

[bentoni]

So do you think it's best to move it off to secondary now?


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[bentoni]

Or get more dry yeast and reconstitute that and throw it in?


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[mblanks2]

1056? S-05? As long as you pitched the correct cell count, i don't see why you'd necessarily need to add a second strain. Either of those could theoretically get the proper attenuation for that beer-- depending on factors like mash temp and pitch rate

+1