New Sort of Bottle Conditioning Problem

[Joker_on_Jack]

Yes, I have done a search on this and I haven't found anyone with the same issue. (got that out of the way)

I brewed my Russian Imperial in October, when I was buying my supplies they didn't have the yeast I wanted so I got talked into WY1098 (ABV tolerance of 10% on WYeast page). Not thinking anything of it, I hit 1.125 on brew day and pitched a 3L starter. After 2 month primary I ended up at 1.040 FG (11.5%), it tasted really good and didn't ferment any further over the next 1/2 month so I moved to 2 month secondary. Then I bottled with the calculated corn sugar addition not thinking anything about it.

Of course, when I opened on last weekend to see how things were going there was nothing in the way of carbonation and I could taste the corn sugar in the background. Now I know that I am 1.5%ish above the fermentation limit of the yeast, but can there be anything left in these buggers? I am really hesitant to pop the bottles open and add a high alcohol tolerance yeast because of the really high FG that I had and the fact that I added sugar on top of it (sounds like a recipe for bottle bombs or over carbonated RIS). Now I know that time can really help on these and it has only been 1.5 months since I bottled, plus my house has been pretty consistently in the 66F range so getting these into higher temps may help out. But, has anyone pushed yeast this far beyond its Alcohol tolerance limit or am I just dreaming that it will come back to life? And if it wont, what is my best course of action, trying to find a yeast with just the right Alcohol tolerance to get me some carbonation without overdoing it?

Sorry for the long winded question but I really don't want to mess up 5 Gal of RIS.

 

[ram5ey]

It might just need more time. High gravity beers can really take a while to carb up and even longer I'd assume at mid 60s. I find it hard to believe that you can tast the corn sugar in an 11.5% 1.040 fg RIS. That would be some serious super tasting.

 

[Joker_on_Jack]

It might just need more time. High gravity beers can really take a while to carb up and even longer I'd assume at mid 60s. I find it hard to believe that you can tast the corn sugar in an 11.5% 1.040 fg RIS. That would be some serious super tasting.

I don't know if I have super taste buds or I am just missing the carbonation and think it adds a lot but I really think corn sugar has a distinct taste. Either way it is still not carbonating.

 

[RM-MN]

Your beer needs more time and higher temperature if you expect to get carbonation from it. 66 degrees just isn't going to cut it. Try 72 to 75 for a couple weeks or more.

 

[Joker_on_Jack]

Your beer needs more time and higher temperature if you expect to get carbonation from it. 66 degrees just isn't going to cut it. Try 72 to 75 for a couple weeks or more.

Now where do I find that in Minnesota, I guess I'm waiting till spring

 

[RM-MN]

Bring them to me, my house is 72 degrees all winter. There may be a few bottles missing when spring comes though, heating isn't free.

 

[Joker_on_Jack]

I finally got this fixed up. I did in fact kill off my original yeast, no big surprise. I did keep the beer in the mid 70s for a three months and nothing happened. I ended up making a big starter of WLP090 and used a pipette to transfer yeast into each bottle. After one month they are showing a nice light amount of carbonation. The beer really balances out with carbonation and takes the edge off over sweetness. All is well just in time for fall.

 

[ncbrewer]

One concern that I have: Your original attenuation was 68% - then it apparently stopped due to alcohol content. Your new yeast might very well eat more of the residual sugars plus your priming sugar and result in bottle bombs. I'd be very careful with those bottles.

 

[Joker_on_Jack]

One concern that I have: Your original attenuation was 68% - then it apparently stopped due to alcohol content. Your new yeast might very well eat more of the residual sugars plus your priming sugar and result in bottle bombs. I'd be very careful with those bottles.

I did get 68% on this, but it was 3L starter of Whitbread on 1.125OG with a ton of specialty grains. That being said, I did pop one every week starting at 4 weeks and planned on crashing them when the carbonation seemed right. It never got there and I am still drinking one of them a week, oh darn.