Barleywine with WLP002???

[ethangray19]

What do yall think?

I have a WLP002 yeast cake on the bottom of an ipa i just made about a week ago and was thinking of making 2.5 gallons of 1.104 OG barleywine and racking it on to the yeast cake after i rack the ipa to a secondary. I did some research and most signs point to "no" as far as doing this because of attenuation properties of the WLP002(which is supposedly 62-70%) but I went from 1.067 to 1.015 on my ipa (AA of 77%). Any advice? Especially based on experience?


Thanks

 

[GuldTuborg]

That's the Fuller's strain, no? Several breweries use that for barleywines, and it does just fine. I'd use a measured amount of yeast, though, instead of just racking onto a cake. It'd be a shame to mar an otherwise fine barleywine by being lazy with the yeast pitch.

 

[SickTransitMundus]

It's generally not a good idea to repitch onto cakes from hoppy and/or strong beers. You'll get off-flavors at the least.

You could however wash the yeast and then measure the appropriate amount like GT says above.

 

[rockfish42]

It's got a fairly low maximum alcohol limit, ~9%. Fuller's Golden Pride, their barley wine is 8.5%.

 

[GuldTuborg]

It's got a fairly low maximum alcohol limit, ~9%. Fuller's Golden Pride, their barley wine is 8.5%.

Not to be rude, but this statement is far from the truth. A local brewery uses this yeast for their 11% barleywine with no problems. Pelican Brewery brews their Stormwatcher's Winterfest up to 13%, also with this strain. There are other breweries that use this yeast, too, but this is all I can think of off the top of my head. Both Wyeast and White Labs even recommend it for use in English barleywines. Just because Fuller's doesn't happen to push it further doesn't mean it doesn't have the cojones to go there.

 

[rockfish42]

I stand corrected then, I was basing my opinion off of the White Labs spec of medium tolerance and having done some probing into which strain to use for my own barleywine. I'd heard from some sources that it's difficult to get wlp002 that high, but that was from other homebrewers.

 

[ethangray19]

im going for it. im cheap, lazy and feel confident it will be awesome. i am brewing the old ruffian clone from byo. i know it is an american bw but we will see.

thanks for all that gave input

 

[BelgianKing]

I was at my LHBS the other day. I needed some stuff for an IPA and I wanted to make a barleywine too. The person told me to wait until I rack my IPA into the secondary and on that day brew my barleywine. When cooled, pour the wort over the yeast cake and give it a nice stir. They said since I was going stronger with the next batch it will be fine since the barleywine will be deeper in color and more hops than the IPA. They also told me that if you are going to reuse your cake without washing it, you should always go darker for the next batch (i.e. pale ale, brown ale, porter, stout etc.) She also stated not to use the cake more than 5 times as the yeast may develop off flavors. The only thing I could see problematic for this would be a large amount of trub on the bottom of the primary. In time that may affect the proper head space and cause some wierd/stuck fermentations. I have read mixed reviews on not washing the yeast but the person is very experienced and knowledgeable. She even won a few competitions. I trust her thoughts. She is well respected in our hombrewing community for my area.