With a handful of empty fermenters and an opening in the usual brew schedule, I'd been wondering what I should brew. Finding a gallon jug of local, pasteurized, no-preservative cider on the last grocery run, I figured it's time to give graf a try.
Base beer will be a wee heavy. Very malty, easy on the hops. Having been gifted Alworth's Brewing With The Masters for Christmas, I'm brewing the included Traquair House Ale recipe. With just 2% roasted barley, it's practically a 1.070 29IBU MO/EKG SMaSH.
The recipe calls for WY1078 or WL028 with a 148°F mash, but I want to use one of the slurries already in my fridge. I'm not worried about esters, the recipe has it fermenting cool, 60°.
WY1028 is my current thinking. Mashing at 154° to keep the FG up where it's supposed be.
I've also got WY1968 and WY1084.
I like the idea of 1968 for the graf, but I'm nervous bottle conditioning such a big beer with that strain's reputation for restarting in the bottle.
Maybe the 1084? I've only used that in Irish stouts; a dry that came out really good and an extra stout that is still conditioning. To tell you the truth with the very enjoyable dry stout, I'm not sure what came from the yeast and what came from the heavy load of flaked barley. It was my first time using both.
So, what say ye?
1028, 1084, or 1968 subbing for 1078 in 1) a 1.070 wee heavy and 2) a 1.065 50/50 graf.
Base beer will be a wee heavy. Very malty, easy on the hops. Having been gifted Alworth's Brewing With The Masters for Christmas, I'm brewing the included Traquair House Ale recipe. With just 2% roasted barley, it's practically a 1.070 29IBU MO/EKG SMaSH.
The recipe calls for WY1078 or WL028 with a 148°F mash, but I want to use one of the slurries already in my fridge. I'm not worried about esters, the recipe has it fermenting cool, 60°.
WY1028 is my current thinking. Mashing at 154° to keep the FG up where it's supposed be.
I've also got WY1968 and WY1084.
I like the idea of 1968 for the graf, but I'm nervous bottle conditioning such a big beer with that strain's reputation for restarting in the bottle.
Maybe the 1084? I've only used that in Irish stouts; a dry that came out really good and an extra stout that is still conditioning. To tell you the truth with the very enjoyable dry stout, I'm not sure what came from the yeast and what came from the heavy load of flaked barley. It was my first time using both.
So, what say ye?
1028, 1084, or 1968 subbing for 1078 in 1) a 1.070 wee heavy and 2) a 1.065 50/50 graf.