Tips for brewing higher gravity beer with 3711?

[rhys333]

Hey everyone,

As the title says, I'd like to try my hand at a high gravity beer with 3711. I'm experienced with standard gravity all-grain, but this will be my first ever big beer. I want something special I can brew and age till Christmas. I'm not overly sticky on staying in style, but I do have a moderately hoppy saison-ish beer in mind. Considering something like the following:

HIGH GRAVITY ALE (8-10% abv)
70% 2 Row
20% Wheat
5% Munich
5% Brown sugar
Magnum @ 60 to 15 IBU
Mosaic @ 10 & 0 to 35 IBU (total)
Spice additions? Or maybe oak and vanilla with fewer late hops?
WY 3711

Questions:
1) 3711 brewers, will a single pitch take me to FG no problem? Hoping YES with this beasty.
2) Primary only for approx 3 weeks okay, then bottle... or is secondary advisable here? Prefer to avoid.
3) How long should I bottle age something in the 8-10% abv range? 2.5 month timeframe here.
4) Other than oxygenating/pitching well, is there anything else I should be aware of over and above standard 1.050 brewing?

Thanks in advance!

 

[j1n]

What do you mean single pitch? You def need a starter for a big beer. use a yeast calc and see how much you need given the gravity and volume.

bottle at 3 weeks is fine.

taste it and see how it is and if it needs to age. ive brewed a dead guy clone and it was good right away.

 

[rhys333]

What do you mean single pitch? You def need a starter for a big beer. use a yeast calc and see how much you need given the gravity and volume.

bottle at 3 weeks is fine.

taste it and see how it is and if it needs to age. ive brewed a dead guy clone and it was good right away.

Thanks for the reply j1n. By single pitch I mean pitch once as per session ales, or do a second pitch as well part way into fermentation. I know higher cell density is required, just wondered if staged pitching is advantagous.

 

[RM-MN]

1. Adding a second pitch of yeast won't do too much as if your first pitch was into wort that was properly aerated, your first pitch will have multiplied sufficiently that a second pitch won't do much.
2. Big beers take more time to ferment and may have more yeast in suspension. I'd give this one 4 to 6 weeks.
3. I have a similar beer. It has ages for 10 months now and I'm leaning towards giving it another year. It will improve. Your beer will be lighter in color than mine so it will be ready much sooner but I'd still age it longer than 2.5 months. Your call.
4. Keep it cool for the first week to 10 days, then let it warm up to encourage the yeast to get the last few gravity points.

 

[rhys333]

1. Adding a second pitch of yeast won't do too much as if your first pitch was into wort that was properly aerated, your first pitch will have multiplied sufficiently that a second pitch won't do much.
2. Big beers take more time to ferment and may have more yeast in suspension. I'd give this one 4 to 6 weeks.
3. I have a similar beer. It has ages for 10 months now and I'm leaning towards giving it another year. It will improve. Your beer will be lighter in color than mine so it will be ready much sooner but I'd still age it longer than 2.5 months. Your call.
4. Keep it cool for the first week to 10 days, then let it warm up to encourage the yeast to get the last few gravity points.

Awesome, thanks RM-MN.

 

[Resonator]

3) depends on how much hop flavor you want to retain. The longer you bottle age it the more hop flavors you'll lose. Not sure how hoppy you want your saison-ish beer, but if you intend to age it for that long I'm not sure how much hop aroma/flavor will be left.

If it's 8-8.5% it should carbonate normally. When it gets above 9.5% it might take a bit longer to fully carbonate. Can't say with certainty, -- since I haven't used wy3711 -- but as long as your yeast can handle the alcohol, pitched the appropriate amount from the start, and you properly oxygenate you should be fine. Oxygen will be important in high gravity beers over 1.070 though, and crucial for those over 1.090.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

+1 for a longer fermentation. I did a 1080 OG with 3711 and left it in for 5 weeks. This yeast can be a slow finisher. It dropped 4 points in the last 2 weeks. FG was 1004! If I had bottled at 3 weeks I probably would have had bottle bombs or at least gushers.

I started fermentation at 66F for 3 days then ramped up to 76F for 4 days and then back to 66F for the remainder. It came out great but didn't really hit its stride until about 8 months. To have something ready for Christmas you may want to think smaller.