First attempt at big beer (OG 1.135), want some guidance.

[bigdawg86]

I purchased the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Clone extract recipe kit and am looking for guidance before I cook this thing up. My biggest concern is obtaining good attenuation and not stalling out. So I hope the yeast and fermentation section is the right place to start this thread.

I have a stir plate with 2L flask, so I know I will have to do a stepped starter. I also have a O2 wand which I will need to use before pitch, and 12 hours after pitch. I will be fermenting in a chest freezer for temp control. I will use Fermcap to prevent yeast blowoff.

Recommended yeasts from the website are...
1.) Wyeast 1056
2.) White Labs WLP001
3.) Imperial A7 Flagship
4.) Omega OYL-004
5.) US-05 Dry Yeast

...and for my questions

1.) How many starter step ups should I use? (4oz light DME per liter H20)

2.) What yeast is recommended (even if not on the above list). I live in California and its currently 100° out so I can't mail order yeast currently. My local brew shop has decent selection though. I want the brew to hit or exceed the expected FG of 1.030.

3.) How much time should I diffuse the 02? I see that 60 seconds is the usual, but don't know if it should be more for a big beer.

4.) Any words of wisdom for my first huge beer?

 

[AMessenger]

Sounds like you are well prepared with the ability to make a starter and O2 injection.

I would think stepping up the starter a couple times at 1.25 L each would give a sufficient cell count (might try a pitch calculator to dial that in). Brewing a small beer first and then pitching onto the cake is also a nice option.

I think either WLP001 or Wyeast 1056 should be able to get you close. Not sure about the others.

The fermentability of the extract seems like the wild card that makes predicting attenuation a bit tricker. Does the recipe include any simple sugar to boost the OG?

One other thing you could do to help things along is ramp up the temperature. Maybe start in the low 60s and let it ramp up to 70 F over a week.

My biggest advice would be to give it time and not stress too much about where it finishes.

 

[bigdawg86]

Brewing a small beer first and then pitching onto the cake is also a nice option.


The fermentability of the extract seems like the wild card that makes predicting attenuation a bit tricker. Does the recipe include any simple sugar to boost the OG?

I am currently brewing an IPA on WLP001 that has OG 1.071, but have heard that pitching onto a cake that was on higher than 1.060 was not advisable... so maybe someone can chime in on that.

Nope. It has 10 LBS DME and 4lbs of steeping grains. Unless exchanging 1-2 lbs of DME for dextrose were something that would be advised.

• 5 lb Light DME
• 5 lb Light DME (Flame-Out)
• 3.3 lb Munich LME
• 1.5 lb Roasted Barley
• 1 lb Chocolate Malt
• 8 oz Caramel 60L
• 4 oz Black Malt
• 8 oz Caramel 60L
• 4 oz Black Malt.

 

[Dcpcooks]

If it were me I'd skip the starter and get 3 packs of dry Nottingham. That's the yeast I use for my barrel aged imperial stouts. It's a beast of a yeast. It'll chew threw all of the sugars. Make sure you have a blow off tube and head space in you fermentor.

 

[AMessenger]

Have you brewed this one yet? What did you decide?

 

[bigdawg86]

Have you brewed this one yet? What did you decide?

I haven't brewed it yet... I have two fermentations going right now and don't have any room in my keezer (currently doubling as ferm chamber). I may go with WLP001 and step up the starter at least 2 times. My LBS is currently out of Nottingham which was suggested a few posts up.

Still open for suggestions!

 

[bigdawg86]

Have you brewed this one yet? What did you decide?

Not sure if still interested, but I did brew it. I chose WLP007 and stepped one pure pitch pack up to 10L. Had 3/4 gallons of beer loss due to blowoff... Unfortunately the yeast is extremely flocculant and it finished at 1.042 FG. I decided to dry it out more and pitched The Yeast Bay Dry Ale 10 days ago. At the 1 week s/p repitch I was down to 1.037 and its still giving a airlock bubble once ever few minutes. I also brought the fermentor in the house to bring it to 74-76 degrees which may help in the final days of fermentation. Also when it's in the house I tend to forget about it, which is good.

 

[Comfort_Zone]

Chico should be just fine. I used WLP001 to get to around 14% without too much trouble. Nottingham would probably work quite well too.

Bigdawg86 mentioned TYB Dry Belgian, which is a monster, but maybe not the best yeast for that beer.

 

[bigdawg86]

Bigdawg86 mentioned TYB Dry Belgian, which is a monster, but maybe not the best yeast for that beer.

My goal is to get the yeast to take the beer from 1.042 to 1.030 as the recipe calls for... so I don't think it's a terrible choice (albeit expensive) for a finishing yeast. Time will tell!

Although I won't be able to harvest this yeast since it will be mixed with WLP007, I am thinking of brewing one of the "prize winning" recipes listed on the website for this particular strain.

 

[Comfort_Zone]

My goal is to get the yeast to take the beer from 1.042 to 1.030 as the recipe calls for... so I don't think it's a terrible choice (albeit expensive) for a finishing yeast. Time will tell!

Although I won't be able to harvest this yeast since it will be mixed with WLP007, I am thinking of brewing one of the "prize winning" recipes listed on the website for this particular strain.

Hitting a FG of 1.030 with Dry Belgian may not be feasible. My RIS is at 19.2% abv and it's at 1.014. It produces a tasty beer though.

 

[bigdawg86]

Hitting a FG of 1.030 with Dry Belgian may not be feasible. My RIS is at 19.2% abv and it's at 1.014. It produces a tasty beer though.

How the hell did you get to 19.2% ??? Interval sugar additions? Champagne yeast? Dump a bottle of everclear in? lol

 

[Comfort_Zone]

How the hell did you get to 19.2% ??? Interval sugar additions? Champagne yeast? Dump a bottle of everclear in? lol

Sugar additions, also Dry Belgian is a monster yeast.

 

[bigdawg86]

Sugar additions, also Dry Belgian is a monster yeast.

If I wanted to get buck wild would it be too late to add 1lb of dextrose in the mix?

 

[AMessenger]

Not sure if still interested, but I did brew it. I chose WLP007 and stepped one pure pitch pack up to 10L. Had 3/4 gallons of beer loss due to blowoff... Unfortunately the yeast is extremely flocculant and it finished at 1.042 FG. I decided to dry it out more and pitched The Yeast Bay Dry Ale 10 days ago. At the 1 week s/p repitch I was down to 1.037 and its still giving a airlock bubble once ever few minutes. I also brought the fermentor in the house to bring it to 74-76 degrees which may help in the final days of fermentation. Also when it's in the house I tend to forget about it, which is good.

10L starter - wow! How did you manage that? Is that a 2L starter fed 5 times?

Thank you for the update. Very neat! I'm inspired to try a batch of this myself.

 

[Comfort_Zone]

If I wanted to get buck wild would it be too late to add 1lb of dextrose in the mix?

As long as it's active you should be good.

 

[bigdawg86]

10L starter - wow! How did you manage that? Is that a 2L starter fed 5 times?

Thank you for the update. Very neat! I'm inspired to try a batch of this myself.

Initial starter was 2L since that's all I have... then I found a 1.5 gallon jug that was stuffed in a cabinet that I had forgot about exactly like the one in the picture. I sanitized that and then made 4L starters. 2L - 4L - 4L on a stirplate.

 

[AMessenger]

Was this a 5 gal batch? 10L (2.6 gal) of starter was a bit of an overkill maybe.

 

[bigdawg86]

Was this a 5 gal batch? 10L (2.6 gal) of starter was a bit of an overkill maybe.

Probably... but the yeast was a few weeks past it's best by date and I have read so much about stalling of big beers I wanted to ensure enough yeast to let her rip!