Help with yeast additions for Imperial IPA

[NickT1]

Brewing up a imperial ipa the weekend with an og of 1.080 I've only got to packs of dry yeast left s-04 and and a Danstar Windsor yeast. S-04 is a high attenuating yeast and the Windsor is very average so here are my options. A) pitch both yeasts at the same time.
B)pitch the s-04 at the start, wait till the gravity drops to about 1.050 then pitch the Windsor with a sugar addition. Any other suggestions will be welcome.

 

[944play]

Don't let Windsor touch your beer! 2 packs of S-04, rehydrated, is more than enough for a 1.080 wort (assuming a 5-gallon batch).

 

[NickT1]

Only have one pack of s-04 that's the problem, will it be enough ?

 

[HomebrewMTB]

S-04 will make a maltier profile like an English IPA and skip with Windsor. I'd like the drier clean taste of the Safale US-05 for an IIPA. You should definitely use two packs for that big of a beer and pitch them at the same time. Get some more yeast before you brew. Order it if you have to. Don't waste your time and all those good ingredients on bad or too few yeast.

 

[NickT1]

Thanks for the advise will hold out till I get some s-05 yeast. No use wasting some good ingredients.

 

[jjanderton]

Hi Nick

Me also suggesting you, to go with only safale s-04 because its provide the proper quantity and quality of the alcohol into your brewing. So, better to go with s-04 not the windsor..instead you also try the Safbrew T-58 for Belgian style ales. If you don't have proper amount of yeast then just be safe and pick up at least some Windsor yeast...


Regards John :

 

[unionrdr]

Just make a starter for it. Yup,you heard me. Dry yeasts aren't messed up in any way by being placed in a starter. I can't argue this enough! The yeast doesn't care if it's dry or in liquid. I've even been told by people with phd's that it's ok to do with dry yeasts too.
I do it all the time,& they work very well indeed with no ill effects. So that old thing about ruining dry yeasts in starters is a myth. Go ahead & put it in a starter for 24 hours or so. It'll be fine.

 

[NickT1]

Fairly new to homebrew so have always used dry yeast and have not had any need for a starter to date. Think i'm gonna look into it. Have a fair idea on how to make a starter but think i'll read up on it and possibly give it a go. Thanks union. My biggest brewing education has been John Palmers book and this forum.

 

[unionrdr]

I make a small starter,for instance with the little 7g ale yeast packet cooper's gives with the OS cans. Pitching them dry didn't work very well for me. Re-hydrating works a little better.
But my small starter works the best. I can consistently bring a 1.050 wort down to 1.010 with no problems in 14-17 days. I think it'll work quite well on a 1.060 too. anything below that,it def needs a blow off the 1st couple of days. Very vigorous initial fermentation.
I take 1 1/2C of water & boil in a small saucepan. Add 1/4C DME & stir to incorporate. I then place it in a 2C(.5L) Pyrex measuring cup with a quick check thermometer covered with plastic wrap. Cool it down to 70-ishF. Then stir in dry yeast sachet & recover. I do this before starting the boil in my 5G ss BK. 3.5-6 hours later,it's ready to roar. I'd say some 6 hours for the 1.060. Fresher dry yeast doesn't seem to need more time than that at that gravity.