Re-Yeast my Russian Imperial Stout?

[atreid]

Hi everyone,

I've got some kind of pseudo-philosophical question.

I have a Russian Imperial Stout in the fermenter. Been in the primary for one month, I've been upping the temp toward the end up to 23 degrees Celsius along with 3-4 rousing from time to time. It's done. It' not going to get further down.

OG was 1.104 and FG is now 1.030. It tastes amazing but I would have prefered to have it down to 1.024... For this 30 liters beer, I used 2 vials of WLP007 along with one dry pack of US-05. Made separate starters for different strands, but only for about 24 hours. Pretty sure it's not underpitched. In other words, WLP007 for the English taste and US-05 for attenuation.

Only thing is: I have reason to believe my mash temp wasn't so stable, but toward the higher temp side resulting in possible low attenuation. I know it's not that reliable, but I entered the data in BeerSmith with a US-05 input and to go from 1.104 to 1.030 it would mean my mash temp was at 70.8C... pretty high indeed.

My question is: Do you think I should make a little starter with a WLP099 I have?

It's a very high attenuating strand. If I choose to believe BeerSmith telling me my mash temp was 70.8C and I replace the US-05 with WLP099 in the receipe while keeping the high temp, I end up at 1.024 which is exactly what was my target (remember I thought I was mashing at 67-68C explaining why I was shooting for 1.024 with US-05). I figure if I make a very little starter with WLP099 and pitch it while it's in high krausen, it's going to be active enough to not be all killed when pitching into a 10% wort.

My main concern would be that it would go even further and dry the beer too much and even below 1.020. I don't want that.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks! :fro:

 

[sikkingj]

Dude it's 0.04 points RAHHB - drink and enjoy as is. Takes notes and tweak the process next time. No reason to burn the resources or add additional risk with a third yeast strain and pitch.

Just brainstorming, you could blend your stout with another brew to get your desire profile - or end up with 10 gallons of fine stout to drink.

 

[k_mcarthur]

You could be off a few points just from CO2 bubbles clinging to the hydrometer, I wouldn't sweat it. I'm impressed it got down 70 points in four weeks!

 

[Calder]

Why would you expect WLP099 do any better than S-05? Yes, it is a slightly better attenuating yeast, but if you mashed high, I'm not sure you are going to get any more out of it.

You call it an Imperial Stout. I bet you have a lot of unfermentables in there too.

If you do decide to add a new yeast. What you need to do is make a decent starter (it is not going to reproduce once it is in the main batch). Then add some of the beer to the starter (to get it used to the alcohol), and then once it is working on that, add the whole lot to the main batch. This has moved a Barley Wine for me that went from 1.100 and stalled out at 1.017; I eventually got it down to my target of 1.010 - my problem was that I had reached the alcohol limit of my yeast.

 

[GuldTuborg]

Barring seeing a recipe, you're as likely to make it worse as you are better by going crazy with more yeast. If it tastes good, let it be. If it's far too sweet to drink, maybe give it a try. Go by taste, not numbers.

 

[atreid]

You could be off a few points just from CO2 bubbles clinging to the hydrometer, I wouldn't sweat it. I'm impressed it got down 70 points in four weeks!

Actually it went down there in about 2 weeks! It's been stuck there for 2 weeks....! ;-) Not much signs of fusel alcohol so I guess the yeasts were just very healthy. Pitched barely at the end of high krausen and used pure O2. My fridge died on me right when I started but managed the good old swamp cooler with a lot of care...

I plan on using Jack Daniel's barrel chips I bought over the net.... just not sure how much yet...