I know, this is not the typical problem...overattenutation. It might not necessarily be a problem in this case either, but I thought I would get some opinions on it.
I brewed a barleywine this past Saturday and pitched it on a Notty yeastcake. For the key numbers, the wort had an OG of 1.091 and was mashed at 154F for 90 minutes. It contained about 82% base malts with the remainder a collection of crystals, wheat and rye (no simple sugars). I pitched at about 69F and have cooled it slowly over the 4 days to about 62F.
The Notty yeastcake had been through 8 previous generations (reduced at each generation to keep from ending up with a 4 gallon cake) and was averaging about 85-90% attenuation.
As I was reading up on barleywines, I was getting the impression that the mash efficiency would be lower (which it was) and the attenuation would be lower. As I mentioned earlier, I started with 1.091 and measured SG tonight at 1.020, which is ~75% attenuation in about 4 days. I'd prefer that it not go much lower if it can be helped. From previous experience, I would expect my trusty Notty cake to still keep working for another week or so and I'm afraid it might dry out the beer too much.
Any thoughts or ideas? Let it play out and hope it doesn't dry out too much? Even if it does dry out more than expected, who cares, RDWHAHB? Rack to secondary now and hope it attenuates less than it would on that big cake? Something else? I want a rich flavor and mouthfeel for the barleywine and just would prefer that it didn't dry out too much.
I brewed a barleywine this past Saturday and pitched it on a Notty yeastcake. For the key numbers, the wort had an OG of 1.091 and was mashed at 154F for 90 minutes. It contained about 82% base malts with the remainder a collection of crystals, wheat and rye (no simple sugars). I pitched at about 69F and have cooled it slowly over the 4 days to about 62F.
The Notty yeastcake had been through 8 previous generations (reduced at each generation to keep from ending up with a 4 gallon cake) and was averaging about 85-90% attenuation.
As I was reading up on barleywines, I was getting the impression that the mash efficiency would be lower (which it was) and the attenuation would be lower. As I mentioned earlier, I started with 1.091 and measured SG tonight at 1.020, which is ~75% attenuation in about 4 days. I'd prefer that it not go much lower if it can be helped. From previous experience, I would expect my trusty Notty cake to still keep working for another week or so and I'm afraid it might dry out the beer too much.
Any thoughts or ideas? Let it play out and hope it doesn't dry out too much? Even if it does dry out more than expected, who cares, RDWHAHB? Rack to secondary now and hope it attenuates less than it would on that big cake? Something else? I want a rich flavor and mouthfeel for the barleywine and just would prefer that it didn't dry out too much.
As for the yeast cake, I know for a fact some microbreweries reuse yeast up to a dozen times or more. Maybe not the same way homebrewers do it, but still... why would I buy more packets if I have a good, strong colony just waiting to work their little butts off? Seems like perhaps a waste of $3-5 (x8). Besides, I'm not convinced that the amount of yeast is the problem....if it ferments fully, it ferments fully, right? The prevailing opinion would dictate that yeast from previous big batches may not work as well or attenuate as much as fresher yeast, and even if it does it may exhibit "off" flavors. I haven't found that to be the case based on my own empirical data. If this were the case, it would seem to imply that the beer would underattenuate if anything...
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