Russian imperial stout above alcohol tolerance

[Dancy]

Use CBC-1 for bottling/keg conditioning. Don’t use champagne yeast as it WILL take off and create bottle bombs! Use CBC-1 in your bottling bucket

+1 on CBC-1. I use for it Belgian ales along with almost 7oz of corn sugar for carbonation (5G batch) in Belgian Bottles (thick glass). I follow the Lallemand website directions and hydrate in (distilled) water at the recommended temp for several minutes before gently stirring it and the corn sugar into the bottling bucket. The carbonation levels turn out great.

 

[bwible]

I've gotten to 16% ABV with US-05 before, I'm sure it would've done the job eventually. You won't need bottling yeast at the current gravity though depending on the time in the fermenter. Also be careful with adding yeast at bottling. Use the same yeast or special conditioning yeast or other yeast not capable of consuming complex sugars, just in case something is left. Most wine/champagne yeast can't ferment complex sugars, but K1-V1116 reportedly is.

The only time I’ve ever had a yeast go higher than tolerance was when I had an infection and it was actually brett or whatever eating the extra sugars and raising the alcohol. I’ve found these yeast companies are pretty solid with their products.

 

[G_robertus]

The only time I’ve ever had a yeast go higher than tolerance was when I had an infection and it was actually brett or whatever eating the extra sugars and raising the alcohol. I’ve found these yeast companies are pretty solid with their products.

Definitely not infected, just a very strong barleywine. It didn't carbonate properly either afterwards, I think I just absolutely maxed it out. I've read other reports going to 15% or somewhere thereabout. I wouldn't recommend it either, I just wanted to assure OP that it would probably handle it. I vaguely remember the official documents saying 12% as max in the past btw.

 

[Nick Z]

Definitely not infected, just a very strong barleywine. It didn't carbonate properly either afterwards, I think I just absolutely maxed it out. I've read other reports going to 15% or somewhere thereabout. I wouldn't recommend it either, I just wanted to assure OP that it would probably handle it. I vaguely remember the official documents saying 12% as max in the past btw.

As long as it doesn't get stuck too high, I'll live with it.

I opened the bucket and gave the wort a stir and threw in some yeast nutrient today. Hopefully that helps out the yeast.

 

[gaviga]

+1 on CBC-1. I use for it Belgian ales along with almost 7oz of corn sugar for carbonation (5G batch) in Belgian Bottles (thick glass). I follow the Lallemand website directions and hydrate in (distilled) water at the recommended temp for several minutes before gently stirring it and the corn sugar into the bottling bucket. The carbonation levels turn out great.

I was told directly by a Lallemond rep that you don't need to hydrate their yeasts. He said that just introduces the opportunity for something to go wrong. That's why I went to direct pitching from the packet. I have not had a problem with my yeast taking off.

 

[RM-MN]

I've read that direct pitching dry yeast into wort can kill up to 50% of the yeast. I've also read that yeast will double their numbers in about 90 minutes. That means that direct pitching can delay the fermentation by about 90 minutes. Is that a critical amount of time?

 

[Miraculix]

I've read that direct pitching dry yeast into wort can kill up to 50% of the yeast. I've also read that yeast will double their numbers in about 90 minutes. That means that direct pitching can delay the fermentation by about 90 minutes. Is that a critical amount of time?

This 50% dead thing has been debunked already.

 

[VikeMan]

I've read that direct pitching dry yeast into wort can kill up to 50% of the yeast. I've also read that yeast will double their numbers in about 90 minutes. That means that direct pitching can delay the fermentation by about 90 minutes. Is that a critical amount of time?

The (effective) pitch rate is about more than just how fast fermentation takes off. It also directly impacts how much growth happens. The yeast will "want" to propagate to about the same critical mass either way. If a lower number of cells gets to that critical mass successfully, i.e. they had enough nutrients, sterols, etc., there will have been more growth as compared with the higher pitch rate. Typically, this will mean more ester production, which may be good or bad, depending on the brewer's goals.

If that lower intital effective pitch rate isn't able to reach that critical mass (limited resources, cell wall material constraint), the yeast may struggle to reach full attenuation, fail to clean up diacetyl, etc.

I was told directly by a Lallemond rep that you don't need to hydrate their yeasts. He said that just introduces the opportunity for something to go wrong. That's why I went to direct pitching from the packet. I have not had a problem with my yeast taking off.

@Dancy was talking about bottle conditioning, not primary fermentation. Did the Lallemand rep you talked to specifically mention bottle conditioning? Finished beer is a different environment than unfermented wort.

 

[odie]

just pitched US-05 into 1.130 wort...will be adding 2# maple syrup later...

will see what happens. But I'm expecting to let it ferment out for a long time.

 

[RM-MN]

This 50% dead thing has been debunked already.

Notice I used the words, "up to"? If it only kills 1% my statement still stands. If it kills more than 50%, then my statement is wrong.

 

[Nick Z]

I was told directly by a Lallemond rep that you don't need to hydrate their yeasts. He said that just introduces the opportunity for something to go wrong. That's why I went to direct pitching from the packet. I have not had a problem with my yeast taking off.

I've been doing direct pitching for a while and haven't noticed any issues. That being said I am usually doing a 2X to 3X over pitch.

When I've rehydrated with GoFerm the airlock sometimes starts bubbling earlier.

For this one I did a direct pitch of an entire packet of US-05 for a one gallon batch. Everything I read said to do a significant over pitch for a big beer.

 

[gaviga]

I've been doing direct pitching for a while and haven't noticed any issues. That being said I am usually doing a 2X to 3X over pitch.

When I've rehydrated with GoFerm the airlock sometimes starts bubbling earlier.

For this one I did a direct pitch of an entire packet of US-05 for a one gallon batch. Everything I read said to do a significant over pitch for a big beer.

I did a side-by-side and actually got better results with the direct pitch. Others in my local HBC had the same results.

 

[Nick Z]

It's slowed down quite a bit. Sooner than I am comfortable with. I moved it from a location that is in the 60s F to an area in the low 70s F.

I've roused it and given it nutrients again. But I'm getting increasingly worried about contamination and I think I'm going to stop opening the fermenter.

If it does poop out too soon I will probably try to use Nottingham on it.

 

[hotbeer]

I don't see that you've ever posted what the actual SG is at any time during the 7 days since the OP.

Do you know what the is within the last few days? If you aren't checking the SG, then just stop worrying about it. When it cleans up and light shined through it no longer gets diffused or you can even see stuff on the other side, then it's very likely done all it's going to do and you can bottle it.

Beer in the fermenter doesn't continually bubble vigorously and for many days if any after the krausen. And you may never see a bubble unless you look closely with a magnifier. Airlocks may not bubble at all.

But I'm getting increasingly worried about contamination

Good possibility if you keep worrying and dink around with it so much.

 

[Nick Z]

I just racked it a gallon glass jug and took a gravity reading. Its 1.050. That's only 7.9% ABV

That seems too high. I see no bubbles or any other signs of fermentation continuing. I'm guessing it's stuck.

I'm considering inoculating it with Nottingham to try and drive it lower.

Thoughts, please?

 

[G_robertus]

Your recipe has quite a lot of unfermentables or poorly fermentables. What temperature did you mash at? How did you measure gravity (hydrometer vs refractometer)? Have you used nutrients? Did you aerate the wort? It's been going for just over two weeks, so it might take some more time given the OG. Give it at least a week or two more before jumping to conclusions.
In my experience pitching extra yeast often does not help with attenuation when you're this far into fermentation. If it does it will likely be very slow. If you want a nuclear option you could use Brettanomyces, but there's no telling where you will end up then and that would take very long as well.

 

[RM-MN]

I just racked it a gallon glass jug and took a gravity reading. Its 1.050. That's only 7.9% ABV

That seems too high. I see no bubbles or any other signs of fermentation continuing. I'm guessing it's stuck.

I'm considering inoculating it with Nottingham to try and drive it lower.

Thoughts, please?

Yeast only produce CO2 for the first few days. Your beer is well past that now. Take a look at this article: The Life Cycle of Yeast

 

[Nick Z]

Your recipe has quite a lot of unfermentables or poorly fermentables. What temperature did you mash at? How did you measure gravity (hydrometer vs refractometer)? Have you used nutrients? Did you aerate the wort? It's been going for just over two weeks, so it might take some more time given the OG. Give it at least a week or two more before jumping to conclusions.
In my experience pitching extra yeast often does not help with attenuation when you're this far into fermentation. If it does it will likely be very slow. If you want a nuclear option you could use Brettanomyces, but there's no telling where you will end up then and that would take very long as well.

If memory serves the mash temp was 154F.

I did use nutrients (Wyeast Beer) and aerated the wort. Several times. That's why I'm surprised it seems to have stalled out.

I did throw in some Nottingham. It looks like it's gathering its strength. A bit of foam is building on the surface of the beer.

If it does get started, it's going to take a while.

 

[G_robertus]

If memory serves the mash temp was 154F.

I did use nutrients (Wyeast Beer) and aerated the wort. Several times. That's why I'm surprised it seems to have stalled out.

I did throw in some Nottingham. It looks like it's gathering its strength. A bit of foam is building on the surface of the beer.

If it does get started, it's going to take a while.

And how do you mash? Continuous heating? Since it's a small batch, using a stove or an oven? It could be that you overshot your temperature. It's a tad high for what your recipe states, but it still seems like a case of under-attenuation. I'm interested to see if this helps drop the gravity a bit more.

 

[Nick Z]

And how do you mash? Continuous heating? Since it's a small batch, using a stove or an oven? It could be that you overshot your temperature. It's a tad high for what your recipe states, but it still seems like a case of under-attenuation. I'm interested to see if this helps drop the gravity a bit more.

I mash in a cooler. And no, I can't hold a consistent mash temperature for more than ten minutes because it is such a small mass. Normally my beers over attenuate. Sometimes by quite a bit.

But in this case my cooler couldn't hold all the grains and liquid. So I mashed on the stove with a pot and a candy thermometer. I tried (and mostly failed) to hold the mash temp.

I believe the expected FG of this beer is something around 1.030. 1.050 is much too high. But if that's the best I can do then that is the best I can do.

I still just have some brown foam at the top of the beer. I would have expected the Nottingham yeast to get going by now if it is going to. I'll just wait and see what happens. I did stick the Nottingham into rather hellish conditions.