Racking a European Bock onto a Heffe yeast cake?

[cwheel]

I brewed a BB European Bock almost 3 months ago.

http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1021 European Bock.pdf

I followed the lagering process, and my OG was right on at 1.068, but the final gravity stalled at about 1.03. I brought it back up to room temp to see if that helped, and it didn't do much. I pitched a re-hydrated package of Nottingham ale yeast to see if that would cut down some of the sugar, and it helped a small amount, but the SG is still around 1.024. It's WAY too sweet.

I just brewed an Abita Purple Haze clone from AHS, and that Heffeweizen yeast from White Labs is amazing. I don't think my Bock is drinkable OR bottleable right now, and am considering racking the Bock to that Heffe yeast cake even though I know that it will completely change the character of the beer. But at this point, I don't think I have many other options.

I might bottle half and rack half, and then do a taste test between the two, but I know that it currently sits WAY to sweet and I'll probably hurt somebody by bottling it.

Has anyone ever racked a non-Heffe beer onto a Heffe yeast cake and had some success?

 

[Hammy71]

It is definitely the wrong type of yeast, but if your stuck and 1.024 and you feel it's undrinkable....what have you got to loose? Sounds like your close to dumping the Bock, so......

 

[brewit2it]

It's already seen adequate yeast load twice so it seems unlikely more yeast is going to do much for it

I wouldn't worry too much about the high FG reading personally but if it really tastes too sweet how about a heavy dose of dry hopping or even hop extract and then some age. It might not give you the style you were trying to brew but it might give you a nice dark ale.

 

[cwheel]

You guys are both right - at the moment I do feel like dumping the beer (although obviously I won't). So nothing to lose...might dump half of it on the yeast cake and then maybe dry hop the other half and transfer it to a 3 gallon carboy and just hide it for 6 months.

I've heard that this happens with extracts sometimes, but I'm interested in the chemistry behind why my beer is still so sweet, yet two batches of different style yeasts haven't really been able to do much!

Might it make sense to stir up the batch again and add some yeast nutrient? Maybe some extra sugar to help jump start something??

 

[cwheel]

I wanted to ask one more question: I've been reading a lot of the old threads about beer that was too sweet. I like the idea of boiling 1/2 gallon of water with some hops. Not only will it add some bitterness, but also lower the gravity.

Can someone check my math?

If I have 5 gallons of 1.024 beer, and I add 1/2 gallon of essentially 1.0 water, I come up with 1.021. I think that might be better than nothing.

Has anyone ever added hopped water to a sweet beer, and had good results? I don't want to wash out a substantial amount of the flavor. I guess I could add a 1/4 gallon at a time, and taste it each addition. Maybe that's the thing to do...