Tywing
New Member
I feel like a newb asking about this but I'd rather say something silly than waste months due to arrogant ignorance. I'm planning on brewing an imperial stout, oaked and aged. I've been brewing for a year but short of a few adventures in mead I've never legitimately aged anything. I grabbed a vial of white labs' super high grav because it felt right, but when the guy from my LHBS told me I'd want to double pitch for my project they didn't have a second vial of super high grav so I got a vial of San Diego Super Yeast to dump in... and that's when I realized I have no clue what I'm doing. I've never double pitched and I've never aged anything. He told me I was going to have to feed the super high grav (he also suggested I add fruit to mellow out the oak, and because my recipe already calls for honey and I don't want it to get "hot" with the oak I see myself supplementing with additional honey.) I pretty much make a starter for every beer I make (I don't brew a whole heck of a lot of low gravity, I even made a starter last time I brewed a hefeweizen and it still came out pretty well) My big question is, is there any merit to adding the yeasts at different times, and how should I start them? I don't particularly want to exceed five gallons on account of tight carboy allocation in my house. If anybody cares to share on this subject (or advise on anything else I've said for that matter) I super appreciate it. Planning on getting at least one starter in an Ehrlenmeyer tonight and I've got 2.5 oz. Hungarian oak cubes sitting in a few ounces of Maker's Mark. Again, I appreciate any advice and/or words of encouragement.
