Lower than expected attenuation: barleywine

[rode_orm]

Brewed morebeer's extract barleywine kit: http://morebeer.com/products/barley-wine-extract-beer-kit.html

Ended up with an OG of 1.080.
Aerated for 1 minute from O2 canister.
Pitched 1.4 packs of rehydrated US-05 as per mrmalty.
Fermentation temps got away for me a bit for the first day... as high as 78F.

It's been 3 weeks and my gravity now reads 1.024. I'm assuming this fermentation has pooped out by now. This is the highest post fermentation gravity I've seen on the handful of brews I've done so far, leaving me with 70% attenuation. I usually get around 80% from US-05.

I've read the best way to re-spark a fermentation is to rack onto a cake from another brew. The only one I have available to me is a Belgian Abbey yeast cake. Would mixing strains like this to eek out another 0.006 or so be ill-advised? Other thoughts?

Recipe...
3 gallon boil

1lb Caramunich steeping grain
1lb Caravienne steeping grain

3 lbs LME for 60min
2 oz Magnum for 60min
2 oz Cascade for 5min
2 oz Cascade for 1min
9 lbs LME at flameout

Top off to 5 gallons

1.4 packs of 11.5g US-05

Thank you

 

[motorneuron]

You can definitely do it, although there are a few considerations that maybe mean you shouldn't.

(1) you might have a hard time dropping much further, since you used extract as a large percentage of your base malt (which is less fermentable as a rule) and the 2 lbs of steeping grain are crystal (which is also less fermentable as a rule). Which leads to:

(2) have you tasted it? Barley wines often have a fair degree of residual sweetness. If it tastes good, stop. Recall that you can tinker with it further--e.g. add more IBUs to balance the higher FG, by adding a hop tea at bottling.

(3) you can siphon onto another cake, but Belgian is a bit off from your style. Most flavor is produced early--indeed, when most everything is produced--so it probably won't have a huge influence. But it'd be better to use a large cake of something more on-style, which basically means any other yeast. You're in no rush to finish this beer, right? So it might be better to make an English or American session ale, get that cake, and then siphon onto that instead of this Belgian.

 

[rode_orm]

re #2: It does taste a bit sweet, but not so sweet that it tastes bad.

re #3: No rush to finish this beer other than one of my primaries being tied up for however much longer. I have a Columbus IPA planned for this week which also uses US-05. Perhaps I could pitch onto it in two weeks.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[avm221]

that seems like a week barley wine, i would think for a 3 gal batch there would be at least 5lbs of LME

 

[rode_orm]

5 gallon batch. There were 12lbs of LME. I added 3 for the boil and 9 at flameout. It is on the low end of barleywine for sure though I think. 1.080.

 

[daksin]

The FG isn't outrageous, but definitely DON't toss it onto a belgian cake. Just warm it up a bit and see what happens. You can afford to let this beer sit a while to finish up. It may be done. A 1.080 extract batch and a 1.080 all grain batch will attenuate differently. If you feel you absolutely have to wring some more attenuation out of it, try this: boil a bit of table sugar with some yeast nutrient and add that to the beer. I've had luck unsticking fermentations this way. My theory is that the yeast get back to work on the simple sugar and are a bit more ready to tackle the remaining sugars in your beer. Who knows, though.

 

[avm221]

Oh good I didnt see the LME st flam out that looks much better

Another option is to pitch Champaign yeast into the batch it will ferment to a higher abv and dry it out a little more.

 

[motorneuron]

I wouldn't recommend champagne yeast--it will generally only add additional points of attenuation in situations where the normal beer yeast has conked out due to the high-alcohol environment. Champagne yeast does have a high alcohol tolerance. But it actually can't ferment many of the more complex sugars--notably, maltose--that are in beer. It's unlikely that the reason you're stopped at 1.024 (if you are--a little time might dry it out another few points) is that the simple sugars are unfermented. Yeast tends to attack those first. So yeah, I wouldn't go for that.

More to the point, I think you're telling us that you're okay with the taste at 1.024. It may be best to stop, or just to tweak by adding some hop tea.

Finally, another option, which is what I did when I was in trouble with a 1.040 barley wine, was to brew a whole gallon of something much lower-strength (but with the same hops), let that ferment for 48 hours as a massive "starter"/diluter, and then add that to the existing beer. If you have room in your carboy, that is a sure way to dry it out--at a minimum, from dilution, but also from having new yeast activity. But for 1.024, I don't think you need to take such drastic means. Barley wine is often sweet. Just drink a little at a time!

 

[kingwood-kid]

If it's good, but just a little sweet, remember that CO2 will counteract that. You can also add some oak or a heavy dry-hop; the tannins will help produce a dryness. A hop tea isn't a perfect solution, as the IBUs will fade during the aging these beers often receive. Champagne yeast won't help you here, but it is an excellent option at bottling time, given its high-ABV tolerance.

 

[brooksy]

Am I the only one who wanted to see the result of it being racked onto some belgian yeast cake? I guess that's the mad doctor side of me wanting to see someone else try something unconventional.

 

[motorneuron]

Haha, I want to see it too. I actually don't think it will be a problem. In my estimation, it's mostly likely to either do nothing or just attenuate the beer a few more points without adding much flavor. But I also don't think it's really worth the risk, since there are plenty of other acceptable options--like bottling it now, or adding some hops.