Barleywine finished @ 1.030?

[clarksc4]

I have a barleywine that was brewed on 12/27/13. Mashed at 153 for 90 minutes, stirring every 30 minutes, dropped to 148 by end. Collected first runnings to get 4 gallons, 90 minute boil ended up with 2.5 gallons 1.104 wort. Aerated 20 minutes with pump, pitched two packets rehydrated US-05. Aerated for 15 minutes 4 hours after pitching. Fermented in 52deg ambient basement, ferm temp was around 61deg.
Gravity readings have been:
12/27/13- OG 1.104
1/1/14- 1.050 (moved upstairs to 65 ambient)
1/4/14- 1.034
1/6/15- 1.030
According to beersmith, my AA is 69%
I know I need to be patient, planning on giving it another week or two before transferring to 3gal BB for secondary. Just curious if anyone thinks this will hit my target FG of 1.023.
ABV would be 10.8% and AA would be 76%, which I think are within US-05 capabilities.

 

[Jayhem]

52 F ambient through fermentaton? There is no way that beer could retain 61F at that low of an ambient temp. I ferment US-05 at ambient 61F and the beer hits about 66F through active fermentation but the lower the ambient the less the temp rises during fermentation. I wonder if you put a lot of the yeast to sleep toward the end of active fermentation by low temp and then the rest just couldn't quite finish it off? I would swirl up the fermenter and bring it up to 70F for a few days and then check the gravity again. High temps only cause flavor problems at the krausen stage.

If you used mostly basemalt it should go a lot lower than that. I just did a Belgian Strong that was OG 1.090 using Belgian Abby II yeast and it is at 1.014 now (10% ABV) with a 155F mash temp and 10% adjunct grains.

 

[clarksc4]

I moved it upstairs after it got down to 1.050. Currently at 70deg same temp as ambient0
17# out the 23# total was 2 row

 

[helibrewer]

You could try another yeast packet:

1) Rehydrate the yeast properly(Water temp of about 106F and use some yeast nutrient)
2) Once it's active, temper it over a 30min period with small additions of your wort so it can adjust to temp and environment.
3) Add to your fermenter

 

[clarksc4]

It could be lower than 1.030 currently, last reading was on the 6th. I was just curious if it SHOULD get lower than 1.030. General consensus seems to be yes. I work late tonight, will check it tomorrow and see I further steps need to be taken. I'm planning on aging a few months before bottling, will repitch champagne yeast at bottling

 

[kombat]

planning on giving it another week or two before transferring to 3gal BB for secondary.

Why transfer it at all?

If you're worried about hitting your F.G., separating the beer from the yeast certainly isn't going to help at all. Besides, there's no need to secondary at all unless you're planning on aging this for several months before you bottle it.

 

[Seven]

+1 to warming and rousing and/or adding new yeast. I brewed a 1.118 imperial pumpkin recently and it was down to 1.020 within a week. It slowly dropped to 1.013 after about a month in the primary fermenter. Link here.

 

[Warthaug]

1.030 is high for a barleywine to finish off at. I'd expect something in then low-twenties or high-teens (e.g. 1.016 - 1.024) as a FG for a barleywine like you describe. I'd second helibrewer's recommendation of adding some fresh yeast. You could also try rousing the yeast in your fermenter (e.g. stir it gently with a saniztized spoon). Fresh yeast would be better, but a gentle stir may still to the job.

Bryan

 

[Homercidal]

There is no reason to rush this. I'd rouse the yeast by gently swirling it up without splashing the beer. Yes it will take time to settle down again, but another week is nothing to a barleywine.

That said, according to the BJCP guidelines, 1.030 is at the outside edge of attenuation, so it's not impossible that that is where it may have finished.

Your fermentation temp seems a bit low IMO, for a clean yeast like that, but if it's was working good and the actual wort temp was 61, it's probably fine and just needs a bit to finish up. A barleywine is a big beer and can take a little longer for the yeast to do all it needs to do.

Once the FG is stable and the beer has settled down some, then rack to secondary for whatever aging you deem necessary.

 

[clarksc4]

Thanks for the input everyone. My main question of whether it's done has been answered. I know that a premature transfer will remove the beer from the majority of the yeast, severely slowing the last bit of fermentation. I seldom secondary at all, usually just transfer to bottling bucket from primary. I'm going to secondary this because it's going to be aged for a few months AND it's only 2.5gallons in a 5 gallon bucket. That's a lot of headspace. General consensus seems to be 1.025 or lower is a pretty realistic expected FG

 

[clarksc4]

I'm going add some fresh yeast. The original yeast was Us-05, should I add another half packet of that (batch is 2.5gallons) or use champagne yeast to get the FG to low/mid 20s?

 

[Warthaug]

Champaign yeast is unlikely to do much - it is unable to ferment maltose (made of two glucoses) or maltriose (made of 3 glucoses), which are all that is likely left in your beer; champaign yeast evolved in the wine industry, where more of the sugars are sucrose and glucose. It simply isn't upto dealing with beers more complex carbohydrates.

You need to add your yeast in an active state; simply pitching more dry yeast (even if rehydrated) is unlikely to help much. The high-ethanol environment will force the already sleepy yeast back into dormancy. My advice would be:

1) Prepare ~1 cup of 1.080 wort (1.9oz of DME into 1 cup of water), and boil for ~10min to sanitize. While this is cooling, rehydrate your yeast in an equal volume (i.e. 1 cup) of dechlorinated water.

2) Once the yeast are rehydrated, and the cooled wort. Your yeast are now in 1.040 wort and should start fermenting.

3) 4-6 hour later, once there is visible signs of fermentation, pitch the yeast into the beer. Because these yeast are actively fermenting & adapted to complex sugars, they should do fine in your beer.

Bryan

 

[clarksc4]

How much yeast should I use? I have an 11g packet of us05, I'll save the 5g packet of champagne for bottling

 

[Warthaug]

I'm not sure how much you should use - I usually use liquid yeast so the kraussening process (which bis what you are doing - adding yeast at high kraussen) is a bit different.

I would think that 1/2 the packet should be sufficient, but that is purely guesswork on my part.

Bryan

 

[clarksc4]

So I added ~5g yeast to the 2c starter as you suggested and waited until it was fermenting to add it. It was at the same ambient temperature as the beer when I added it the evening on the 23rd. I checked the gravity on the 26th and there was no change, it was still at 1.030. Looks like it has reached terminal gravity. So, transfer to secondary for aging or give it a little longer?

 

[Warthaug]

1.030 still seems quite high, but if adding kraussening yeast didn't make it budge then you're likely at terminal gravity. You could try gently rousing the yeast one last time before transferring to a carboy, but at this point I'm unsure that would do anything.

Dub question for you - are you measuring gravity with a hydrometer or refractometer? If the latter, we likely just wasted a lot of your time. Refractometers don't directly read FG; you need to use a calculator like this one:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/

Bryan

 

[clarksc4]

Hydrometer. I've roused the yeast by swirling a few times before I added the krausening yeast so looks like 1.030 is it. I was shooting for 1.023 so it's higher than I wanted, but not drastically. It's 71% aa instead of 77%
I'll try mashing lower next time. Only reason I mashed "high" at 153 was so the second runnings beer wouldn't be super dry.
Thanks a bunch for your input, btw

 

[adrock430]

Is this english or american bw? I had a english bw with a similar og finish @ 1.030 w same mash temp, 100% MO. It's most likely done. That, and, if its english, will most likely be awesome in 18 mos. The sweetness gives way to nice soft flavors given enough time.

 

[clarksc4]

I'm not sure what I would classify it as, it's a recipe I made up. It's pretty hoppy right now, so it probably is closer to American. I'm plan on letting it sit for a few moths before sampling. See how it tastes before deciding to bottle.

 

[snowveil]

Can't believe it hasn't been asked, but, what's the malt bill?

 

[clarksc4]

Rye Barleywine:

OG=1.105 FG=1.025 IBU=48 SRM=18

Collect 4.5 gallons of first runnings, gravity should be 1.06 preboil. Boil for 90 minutes

Hop Schedule:

1 oz Brewer's Gold FWH
1 oz Brewer's Gold 90 min
1 oz Brewer's Gold 60 min
1 oz East Kent Goldings 30 min
.3 oz Columbus 15min
.6oz Mt Hood 15 min
I ended up using a bit more hops at start of boil than I intended, so the wort was pretty hoppy when I tasted it, it was like hop syrup it was so thick.
As above, yeast was US-05

 

[snowveil]

Rye Barleywine:

OG=1.105 FG=1.025 IBU=48 SRM=18

Collect 4.5 gallons of first runnings, gravity should be 1.06 preboil. Boil for 90 minutes

Hop Schedule:

1 oz Brewer's Gold FWH
1 oz Brewer's Gold 90 min
1 oz Brewer's Gold 60 min
1 oz East Kent Goldings 30 min
.3 oz Columbus 15min
.6oz Mt Hood 15 min
I ended up using a bit more hops at start of boil than I intended, so the wort was pretty hoppy when I tasted it, it was like hop syrup it was so thick.
As above, yeast was US-05

OK....but what's the malt bill? Was it just 2-row and rye?

 

[clarksc4]

OK....but what's the malt bill? Was it just 2-row and rye?

Whoops, copied it from another post. Malt bill must have been higher up
17# 2 row
4# rye
1# crystal 80
.5# flaked wheat
.25# chocolate malt
Collected enough first runnings for a 90 minute boil to end with 2.5 gallons of 1.105 wort

 

[GuldTuborg]

That's a lot to boil off in 90 minutes. Something funny about the efficiency, too. It's crazy low. I wonder if that doesn't have something to do with your finishing gravity.

Are you sure you didn't cut that recipe in half for a 2.5 gallon batch?

 

[clarksc4]

I only collected first runnings, about 4.25 gallons. The mash was not sparged for the barleywine. I sparged the mash for a second beer. I ended up with a 2.5 gallon beer @1.104 and a 5 gallon beer @1.052

 

[GuldTuborg]

I only collected first runnings, about 4.25 gallons. The mash was not sparged for the barleywine. I sparged the mash for a second beer. I ended up with a 2.5 gallon beer @1.104 and a 5 gallon beer @1.052

That's still around 32% efficiency for the barleywine. Something isn't adding up.

 

[clarksc4]

This was a partigyle mash. I collected a total of 10.75 gallons of wort. 4.25 gallons of 1.060 wort and 6.5 gallons of 1.040 wort.
Collected about 520 gravity points from the 22.75 pounds of grain. My efficiency was close to 70%, which is pretty typical for my setup

 

[GuldTuborg]

Right. Sorry. It's late and I just punched everything into beersmith, and clearly didn't get the details right. Excuse my derailment.

 

[clarksc4]

No problem. Partigyle doesn't seem to be too common. This is only the second one I've done in 7 years. I was happy with the first one and the IPA from this batch is pretty good. It's going to be tough waiting to see how the barleywine turns out