Did I over pitch or just make a super starter?

[ImperialStout]

Just made a 6 gallon 12% ABV Barleywine using Lallemand Nottingham dry yeast with a BBD of 9/2015, 90% viability and 180 billion cells. Beer Smith yeast starter tells me 421 billion cells are needed and recommended three packs of dry yeast or one package dry yeast in a 1700 ml starter. Also wanted to make a three gallon short beer so made a 2400 ml starter with two packages of yeast to insure I had enough yeast for both beers. Poured 1700 ml into the 6 gal Barleywine and 700 ml into the 3 gal short beer. Given what happened, I think only one package was needed.

What happened is the 6 gal brew started bubbling in about 4 hours. Checked before I went to bed and again in the morning. Had a thick layer of karusen (SP) and the venting tube was bubbling like a semi-automatic instead of a single shot. Checked it again at noon and had an overflow. Karusen filled the head space, the bottle of water the venting tube sits in, the bottom of the fermenting chamber and the floor. Cleaned up, put carboy back into fermenting chamber and all is well now. The short beer started bubbling quickly too but no overflow. Made the beers Sunday night, this is Tuesday morning.

So, did I over pitch or just make a super starter?

This is an AG beer. Have been brewing 4 years, 3 years AG. Crush my own malt and ferment / bottle condition in temp controlled small refrigerators. Re-hydrated yeast, made starter with DME and DAP in flask on stir plate for 17 hours. Also infused wort in carboy with 90 seconds of pure oxygen before adding yeast. Starter was same temp as wort.

 

[SDCraftBeer]

I think you did exactly as you were suppose to and the yeast just took off since it was in the perfect environment. A 12% beer is going to have a lot of sugar so your starter just went to town instantly...my opinion at least.

What was your OG?

 

[ImperialStout]

The SG was estimated at 1.081 but measured 1.074. The OG was estimated at 1.104 but actually measured 1.106. Think I may have boiled the wort a bit longer. Anyway am happy with it. It the FG hits 1.020 the beer will come in at 11.5 ABV. Not too shabby when the goal was 12%. So this time I win but have had my share of great, average and undrinkable beers. For me, the brewing process works best when you make an undrinkable beer. It teaches you what NOT to do next.

 

[poislb]

I've never really trusted beersmiths starter equations, reason being mr malty is always almost double the starter that beersmith is.. I've had good luck using malty and brewzor calculator.

Example: 1.065 beer 5.50 gallon , 1056 production date of July 14th

Oxygen source, stir plate..

Beersmith... .51 qt= 482 ml
Mr.malty... 1.06 qt= 1000ml = 1 L
Brewzor... 1,700ml

As ya can see there all different, unless ya have a scope ya really never know and my math to actually measure it well, is out the window...lol

 

[ImperialStout]

Thanks,

I will plug the barleywine brew data into yeast calculators, 5 that I know of, and see what the recommendations are. For me it is about seeking out advice, applying some of it and see how the beer turns out.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

How much headspace did you have after pouring 1.7L of starter wort in? What was the fermentation temp?

Both could have a lot to do with how quickly it took off and how much it needed to blow off.

 

[Gameface]

Fermentation temp was going to be my question as well. A hot pitch with tons of fermentables will certainly lead to a fast and aggressive fermentation. That's not necessarily a good thing.

 

[ImperialStout]

There is currently about 3.25 inches in the 6 gal carboy from the wort to the shoulder, 7 inches from the wort to the top of the neck. Didn't measure head space before the starter went in but batch came out at 5.5 gal so say about 6 gal wort and starter are in the carboy now. A 6 gal carboy should be able to handle 6 gal wort with enough head space for fermentation.

Fermentation temp is 68 F ( yeast range is 57 to 70 ). I ferment in a small fridge with a temp controller. Yeast and wort were the same temp when the yeast starter was poured in.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

There is currently about 3.25 inches in the 6 gal carboy from the wort to the shoulder, 7 inches from the wort to the top of the neck. Didn't measure head space before the starter went in but batch came out at 5.5 gal so say about 6 gal wort and starter are in the carboy now. A 6 gal carboy should be able to handle 6 gal wort with enough head space for fermentation.

Fermentation temp is 68 F ( yeast range is 57 to 70 ). I ferment in a small fridge with a temp controller. Yeast and wort were the same temp when the yeast starter was poured in.

Ok, that rules out temperature.

However, 6 gallons of wort in a 6 gallon fermenter cuts it very close. A high-gravity beer with a big starter in a tight vessel will blow off...