Need some ideas (nothing is too crazy)

[simplegreen]

Second time brewing a high gravity beer. 1.128 (total). Started with california ale on a 2 step (4 liter) starter. "original" original gravity was 1.075. Dropped really nicely and i racked over to buckets (10 gallon batch).

Then pitched 2 vials of WLP099 (Super high gravity ale). From a two step starter (4 liter). Saw noticeable fermentation and started with the feeding of dextrose. 1 pound a day between the two of them (so half pound each bucket). I was shooting for 17% and when i hit 16.9 i did a gravity check and a taste check decided it was done and crashed it out.

Well to my dismay, after a week on more hops i went to rack to kegs and found that it had a very noticeable sweetness left and chances were i didn't ferment out all the dextrose.

So... i put it back in the temp control and slowly raise the temp back up. Washed the yeast and added a 3rd vial, build another starter and repitched. I saw very little action. So then i added 4 packs of champagne yeast. Assumption being, i dont care if it "dries out" a bit as thats really what i want to do dry out that simple sugar which the yeast will prefer most.

saw some action but not much in the way of active which i wasn't really expecting anyway more just praying i would.

lastly, i re-aerated with pure o2 for 30 seconds each and pitched yet another 2 vial - 2 step starter.

i've seen maybe a .002 point variation of gravity after doing all that. Not having tasted it, im assuming it will still be sweet tasting.

So after that novel and stage set. My question.

I've done some research into amylase my understanding of that is to convert starches to fermentable sugars that are in solution and as a result, not the solution in this case as we dont have non fermented maltodextrose (grain sugar) in solution but simple sugar dextrose.

So short of additional fermentation (which doesnt seem to be working) is there any course here i can cut the sweetness? Hide it in hops maybe? i dunno throwing darts here.

 

[flars]

What was the SG before racking to two buckets?

 

[day_trippr]

And what's the gravity now? (Yeah, I could do the math. Eff that )

I'm surprised that between the wlp099 and the champagne yeast there are any simple sugars left...

Cheers!

 

[simplegreen]

What was the SG before racking to two buckets?

"final gravity" aka after the first round of yeast and laying down the base flavor profile (IPA) was 1.010 + 13 pounds of dextrose at .046 per pound per gallon brings it up to 1.128. Then back down to 1.005

 

[madscientist451]

You could brew another beer and use the "sweet" beer as a blending component or add Jack Daniels Barrel smoking chips to get a "barrel aged" character.
I've found that adding 2oz of the above chips to the gallon for 10 days works pretty good, but you might want to siphon off a gallon and do some taste tests.

 

[simplegreen]

So i wanted to follow up on this incase anyone finds it in the future. In the end, i opted for patience and a metric A$$ton of yeast. Succinct version is i made a two step starter from 4 viles of WLP099 (super high gravity) and 4 packs of champagne yeast and the above 30 second o2 infusion. (seems like over kill but we're pushing 20% ABV so its drastic at this point). That along with a wee time, some more dry hopping and carbing. It turned out pretty darn good.

I wont be attempting this for a while. That said you should see the size of the yeast cake i harvested. Needed a 1 gallon jug just to store it.