Forgot The Yeast Nutrient

[rodwha]

I made a barleywine 3 weeks ago. I just realized I forgot to add the yeast nutrient. Checked my FG and am at 1.042 with a target of 1.021, though my OG was 3 points low. I made a 2qt starter with 8 oz of US-05 I keep.

Is there any reason not to make a small (1 qt) starter and add the nutrient to it?

At this point it couldn’t carbonate, right?

 

[day_trippr]

While there may be incremental benefit using some forms of "nutrient", generally the grist provides most of the critical needs to grow the pitch to a suitable mass to handle what's thrown at it. I doubt adding nutrient at this point is going to drop 20 points off the FG.

Btw, what was the actual OG?

Cheers!

 

[rodwha]

While there may be incremental benefit using some forms of "nutrient", generally the grist provides most of the critical needs to grow the pitch to a suitable mass to handle what's thrown at it. I doubt adding nutrient at this point is going to drop 20 points off the FG.

Btw, what was the actual OG?

Cheers!

The fellow who responded from Fermentis told me with nutrient it should handle 12% and some more, otherwise it has a tolerance of 9-9.5%.

If this doesn’t work would it be better to buy a yeast that can handle it? Otherwise I’m thinking I can’t bottle this and therefor wasted this barleywine.

The OG was supposed to be 1.113 but was 1.109.

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

Are you sure the fermentation is completely done? The FG can continue to drop even if there is no sign of fermentation. Measure the gravity over the course of the next few weeks at least 3 days apart each time. That will tell you what is really going on.

If you are really concerned, gently rock, or stir, the fermenter to get the yeast back in to suspension. You could also add some yeast energizer at the same time.

If consecutive gravity readings are the same after another week, and the FG is still too high, only then would I consider adding new yeast. But only if you are more than 20 points high.

 

[RPh_Guy]

You added 8 ounces of yeast!? Slurry?

What batch size?

 

[rodwha]

You added 8 ounces of yeast!? Slurry?

What batch size?

Hmmmm... I’m not sure if we’re on the same page or not. Let me explain.

My jars of saved yeast have maybe an eight of an inch of yeast. They hold less than a pint and are wide as they are tall. It’s what I collect from the extra pint starters when I make them (1.5 qts using 6 oz of DME).

I made two 1.5 qt starters and used 2 qts in that beer.

I went ahead and made another 1.5 qt starter using 3.3 grams of nutrient (1.5 times the suggested amount for 5 gals) and will add this either late tomorrow or Saturday morning. I’m thinking I might gently stir up the trub when I do this as well.

This is a 5 gal batch.

 

[RPh_Guy]

My mistake. At first I thought you meant 8oz of dry yeast. Then I realized you had to mean slurry.
But you actually meant about half an ounce of slurry (that went into the starter)?
Whatever, I guess that's probably fine. Kind of a low pitch rate though unless you used a stir plate.

It's not easy pushing a yeast so far beyond it's normal alcohol tolerance.

 

[rodwha]

My mistake. At first I thought you meant 8oz of dry yeast. Then I realized you had to mean slurry.
But you actually meant about half an ounce of slurry (that with into the starter)?
Whatever, I guess that's probably fine. Kind of a low pitch rate though unless you used a stir plate.

It's not easy pushing a yeast so far beyond it's normal alcohol tolerance.

No stir plate. I use a whisk to aerate the wort and ferment it for most of that time at 65* in my chamber.

 

[rodwha]

It was suggested to me by Denny on another forum that my beer could just have unfermentable wort. I didn’t have yeast to test this and bought Lallemand CBC-1 cask yeast that stated it could handle 12%. I let it go for a few days and checked it and it hasn’t changed.

So I’m wondering where that leaves me. I’m guessing the yeast can eat priming sugar. I don’t keg.

With such a high FG I’m glad I dosed it with a lot of Chinook!

 

[RPh_Guy]

So, you're in the 9-10% range, which is the normal tolerance of the beer yeast you used.
The wine yeast can't eat the malt sugar.

Apparent attenuation is only 59%, so it's probably not a fermentability issue unless something went well with the mash.

You could bottle now and the CBC would carbonate it (assuming you rehydrated it properly). Alternately you could add a beer yeast with higher alcohol tolerance.