cleaning up stale beer with fresh yeast

[ohad]

Hi,

I made a barley wine that sat in a carboy for 5 years (I was out of the country and not brewing for a while). I believe the airlock dried up for a few months at some point...

I bottled it, but it's heavily oxidized yet it has a lot of positive elements too.

I was listening to the BeerSmith podcast with Dr. Charlie Bamforth about flavor stability and he had a short remark about how fresh yeast will consume stale compounds and refresh a beer

Do you think maybe pouring off all those bottles over a yeast cake or a starter could make it drinkable? or is it a mild effect?

thanks

 

[day_trippr]

While the speaker clearly is favorable to the idea, it isn't obvious to what degree the "yeast love stale character" translates into results.

Plus, I would expect the ABV of a typical barley wine is going to challenge all but a few strains of yeast to survive long enough to metabolize anything. Might give WLP099 a shot in that regard if you do any experimentation.

Which is what I'd do: pull a quart, swirl some WLP099 in it, let it sit with an S-lock for a couple days, then start sipping samples...

Cheers! (and good luck)

 

[kh54s10]

If it wasn't totally oxidized in the first place, pouring off all those bottles over a yeast cake more than likely will finish it off. In a bad way. If anything I would try yeast in the bottle if you can rig up an airlock for it. The alcohol level will limit your choices of yeast. Standard ones will die too soon to do anything.