watering down to fix stuck fermentation

[HItransplant]

I have a small batch of a really big beer. SG was 1140 (oops).

needless to say, I think the yeast has done all it can to get it to 13% (FG of 1043), but its toooooo sweet.

so, ive been thinking of ways to bring it down a little bit more.

Since my problem is drunk yeast, what if I add water to dilute out the ETOH, thereby "sobering" up my yeast, then repitch to try to hammer down that FG a little more.

its a wild idea.. but i cant think of why it wouldnt work....

thoughts?



EDIT: LHBS guy said hit it with US-05, which is pretty "alcohol resistant," but I have my reservations about it going to 16% ABV... so Im hoping for a back up plan.

cheers.

 

[edmanster]

Try some champagne yeast.

 

[JSomps6]

You could always try this yeast:

http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp099.html

 

[malkore]

if you pitch US-05, make a small starter and get it actively fermenting before you pitch. I doubt it'll wake up in 13% but if its already rolling you have a decent shot of pulling 3% more out of it.

if its still a bit sweet you could dry hop or even oak it a bit to try and balance it.

 

[a_potter]

With an OG like that and your "oops" it sounds like you could add quite a bit of boiled and cooled water to it. On the other hand, if you tried that wlp099 and it worked.....

 

[PT Ray]

I would start by adding a wine yeast to try and drop the gravity. I don't see it taking it where it needs to be so diluting it sounds like a reasonable next step. I would boil the water with some hops to keep it from completely watering down the beer and the boiling will help remove oxygen. It would also help if your able to purge the water with co2 before adding.

 

[lumpher]

get some red star montrache wine yeast and add it. it'll bring it down to a good fg

 

[HItransplant]

if you pitch US-05, make a small starter and get it actively fermenting before you pitch. I doubt it'll wake up in 13% but if its already rolling you have a decent shot of pulling 3% more out of it.

if its still a bit sweet you could dry hop or even oak it a bit to try and balance it.

oops again.. I already pitched.. I could try that if just rehydrating doesnt do it.

You could always try this yeast:

http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp099.html

I asked the LHBS about this and they were concerned with pitching into an already quite alcoholic environment... he said the us05 needs less "babying."

I would start by adding a wine yeast to try and drop the gravity. I don't see it taking it where it needs to be so diluting it sounds like a reasonable next step. I would boil the water with some hops to keep it from completely watering down the beer and the boiling will help remove oxygen. It would also help if your able to purge the water with co2 before adding.

Try some champagne yeast.

get some red star montrache wine yeast and add it. it'll bring it down to a good fg

this will be my next step if the us05 doesnt work (im really going to put this autolysis issue to the test).

thanks for all the replies.. has anyone actually tried adding water to help drop gravity further?

 

[HItransplant]

Any special way to prep the Montrachet yeast for this job?

 

[HItransplant]

couple of options have come to mind, can someone help me figure out if any of these will help.

1. amylase, repitch.

2. this was a partigyle, and the 2nd runnings batch is still in primary (down to 1012). What if I mix a certain portion of that batch in with this stuck beer, bringing down the ABV, then repitch.

any help would be sorely appreciated.

 

[HItransplant]

I would start by adding a wine yeast to try and drop the gravity. I don't see it taking it where it needs to be so diluting it sounds like a reasonable next step. I would boil the water with some hops to keep it from completely watering down the beer and the boiling will help remove oxygen. It would also help if your able to purge the water with co2 before adding.

or, what if I make a small starter, hop it, pitch my wine yeast (montrachet is what im thinking), wait for high krausen, the dump the whole thing in.. thereby diluting a little bit, plus adding some awake, and hungry, yeast.

 

[HItransplant]

Anyone have any experience w this?

 

[samc]

Make a low gravity version and blend them.

 

[HItransplant]

Make a low gravity version and blend them.

funny you should mention.. this was actually a partigyle brew and the 2nd runnings batch is sitting in primary right now (at 1012 if my recollection is correct).

how would one go about doing this?

are there calculators for such math?

 

[samc]

Never done it, don't know that I would use math when the mouth would be a better indicator. Take a small glass with a 50/50 mix and taste, adjust accordingly and then you have your %%.

 

[HItransplant]

Never done it, don't know that I would use math when the mouth would be a better indicator. Take a small glass with a 50/50 mix and taste, adjust accordingly and then you have your %%.

Good call. I just don't have much to work with. 1.5 gal of big beer. 2.5 of small.

I'm also thinking that besides leaning out the big beer, mixing may allow the yeast to wake up a little an bring gravity down more... Wish I had a refractometer.

I feel like I've seen a formula for estimating gravity after mixing.

 

[HItransplant]

Anyone know of a way to figure this out?

 

[HItransplant]

So I think I'm going to calculate how much "small beer" I need to drop my "big beer" down to 9 or 10%...do I need to repitch, or will the yeast in there wake up once the ABV drops?

 

[HItransplant]

So I think I'm going to calculate how much "small beer" I need to drop my "big beer" down to 9 or 10%...do I need to repitch, or will the yeast in there wake up once the ABV drops?

Whew, llots of math.

if I add .5 gallons of my small beer into my 1.5 gallons of big beer, Ill get a total of 9% ABV and a gravity of 1040. If one yeast strain (the one that took the gravity down to 1043), can tolerate 13%, Im hoping it will wake up with some agitation, and take the last available gravity points. hopefully this will leave me with a FG of 1020 and an ABV of around 11.7%.

so crazy it just might work... but im starting to think im talking to myself here...

So, anyone have any thoughts??

 

[HHP]

When agitating, make sure you do your best to NOT introduce oxygen into the beer, that would not be very Good Eats.