Opinions on Oxygeneating a Barleywine post-pitch

[Hex23]

I pitched 3 packets of Notty (mfg date 1/2013) into a 1.100 barleywine about 24 hours ago. After reading a few things about not needing to oxygenate with dry yeast I decided to forgo pure O2. But I'm also reading some things that lead me to believe that it would be good to oxygenate post pitching on beer that big. Is that correct?

 

[flars]

I pitched 3 packets of Notty (mfg date 1/2013) into a 1.100 barleywine about 24 hours ago. After reading a few things about not needing to oxygenate with dry yeast I decided to forgo pure O2. But I'm also reading some things that lead me to believe that it would be good to oxygenate post pitching on beer that big. Is that correct?

Unless your wort is really cold, fermenation has begun. Oxygenating now would not be a good idea. 'They' say you don't need to oxygenate with dry yeast, but why not. It is simple cheap insurance.

 

[Hex23]

Thanks for the response. Well, I went ahead and aerated at about 26 hours before I saw your response - 1 minute of pure O2. After more reading, I see that it's best practice to keep that second dose of oxygen for high gravity beers in the lag phase and between 12-24 hours. But I also read about adding O2 during active fermentation. Of course you'd need to be careful because if you did it too near the end of fermentation you'd be left with dissolved O2.

I'm keeping this pretty cool initially (62F) since I want to be careful about getting off flavors from the Notty over 68F. I was getting CO2 production by about the 12th hour and there was a definite rocky krausen on the beer when I lifted the lid. But honestly, I can't find anything that says definitively that what I did will lead to staling. I assume the yeast will still scavenge available oxygen since they are active (surely yeast phases aren't that compartmental). I also read that adding oxygen to actively fermenting beer can increase acetaldehyde production, but if that's the case, then maybe time will take care of that.

 

[Hex23]

I checked this at day 11 and it had attenuated down to 1.020. That seems pretty good for such a large beer. It's about 78%AA, which may be on the low-end for Nottingham on average, but this is a high gravity beer.

It tasted surprisingly decent this early. There is definitely a moderate amount of greenness and grapey ester character, but I assume the former will clean up nicely with another 2-4 weeks in primary. It wasn't noticeably harsh or solventy, but the alcohol presence is obviously noticeable at 10.5%

 

[fixitoscar]

o2 at that rate 24hrs in would not do any harm on such a big beer. The yeast quickly gobbled all that o2 up and used it.
What I don't understand is why someone would say not to aerate when using dry yeast. Yeast still are better off with aeration than without, no matter how they are packaged.

 

[Hex23]

I'm not positive but I think I read most of that on Lallemand's website. IIRC the advice wasn't that it shouldn't be done but that it's not necessary. I guess the theory is that the dry yeast are suspended in a state where they have enough sterols that they don't need the oxygen for the growth phase - provided a proper pitching rate. I think I also read about post pitch oxygenation for high gravity beers at Lallemand as well as other places. My hesitation was that I could not tell whether the dry yeast and high gravity variables interacted.

 

[Cyclman]

+1 I would think that at 24 hrs. the yeast were still replicating, so the O2 would be quickly grabbed up by the yeast needing it to grow their cell walls. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Hex23]

Let us know how it turns out.

This beer turned out really nice, even at just around 3 months. It's got plenty of English ale esters, but that's not too surprising given the gravity and yeast. I'm guessing it will age well and get even better. I let it sit in primary for a little over two months, then bottled. I added some CBC-1 at bottling time, and I have to say I'm really impressed with how quickly that yeast carbed up the beer. I gave them the standard 3 weeks at 70F and they were perfectly carbed.

I was a little afraid at first because I drank nearly a whole bottle of the leftovers at bottling time and the next day had a very light headache. I thought it must have been fusel due to the oxygenation. So I cautiously drank another bottle at 3 weeks. I've had not problems since that first bottle - it must have been coincidence.