Squeeze another .005 out while in the secondary

[spriolo]

I've got an ESB that is sitting in a secondary aging. I mistakenly racked it from the primary a little too soon and the SG is hanging at 1.020. This is a little sweet for me and I'd like to squeeze another .005 or .010 from it.

My goal would be to gently dry out the batch a little.

Some details:
It's all grain -
Weyermann Light Munich (2 row) 10 lbs
Muntons Crystal (2 row) L55 1 lbs

I mashed at 155*F and used s-05 as the yeast.

Any techniques for drying out a batch (a little) while in the secondary would be awesome. -- Also my processes are now changed to NOT pull beer out of the primary until it is good and cleaned up.

 

[PintOfBitter]

pitching more yeast would be the standard way to do this, especially since you are pretty sure you racked it early.

you should probably use a yeast known for vigor or maybe even one of the wine yeasts.

 

[CenturyStanding]

Dry Pasteur Champagne yeast has always done wonders to help dry out beer for me. It ferments as dry as it can and really doesn't have much flavor, so the ESB character should remain in tact.

 

[a10t2]

To reliably get fermentation to start up again, you'll need to make a new starter and pitch it at high krausen.

 

[spriolo]

I've got a cup of slurry from the primary of this exact batch in the fridge. I jut boiled up 2 cups of wort to try and wake it up. I'll wait until high krausen (as a10t2 has recommended) and pitch it in the secondary. I'll update in a week or so, hopefully by then I'm steady at 1.010.

thanks guys!

 

[spriolo]

I'm really interested in CentryStanding 's advice with the Dry Pasteur Champagne yeast. I looked on Northern Brewer's catalog and couldn't find it. Is this a slang name for something similar? Also, can this yeast be cultured / split / grown so I would only have to buy it once?

 

[Yooper]

I'm really interested in CentryStanding 's advice with the Dry Pasteur Champagne yeast. I looked on Northern Brewer's catalog and couldn't find it. Is this a slang name for something similar? Also, can this yeast be cultured / split / grown so I would only have to buy it once?

The Red Star Pasteur champagne yeast is about $.79 cents for a package. Buy a couple if you need to have more than one package. It'll keep for several years unopened in the fridge.

That said, I think the issue isn't the S05 yeast here. S05 is attenuative, and should do the job. I wouldn't pitch champange yeast into it.

I think it stopped at 1.020 for two reasons- the 155 mash temp. That's high, and will cause a less fermentable wort with lots of residual sugars and body. Secondly, racking early can cause it to stall. Third, Munich malt is a "sweeter" malt anyway in my opinion. I'd just wait another week and see if the SG drops.

 

[spriolo]

The Red Star Pasteur champagne yeast is about $.79 cents for a package.

I'm not sure I can beat 79 cents.

Thanks.

 

[spriolo]

Also YooperBrew has a good point about Munich. I was experimenting with Munich as a base malt and wanted the ESB to have a little more flavor / color / Crystal in it too. My IBU's are high enough to meet the style guide, as well as my starting gravity meets the style guide.

Hopefully when I'm done, the FG will meet the style guide (and my personal guide) and still be able to experiment with how an ESB made with Munich would taste.

Good stuff!

 

[ChshreCat]

+1 on yooper's advice. Just leave it be for a while. There's still yeast in suspension that will finish it off (if it's not done, and it might be) if you give it some time.