WY1318 for 10% RIS

[Krown]

Hello fellows!

As any one had good experienced good or bad experiences fermenting high gravity brews (approx. 1.100 OG) and bottle carbonating? I couldn't find much related info online.

I will be brewing a RIS next weekend and would like to use 1318 as I will be harvesting some yeast for my next NEIPA from the massive yeast starter I will build for this beer.

Should I drop the planned OG to 1.085-1.090 range to make sure I don't kill yeast from ABV to bottle carb? Or should I use champagne yeast for bottle carbing? I'm going to bottle age for 4-6 months.

Thanks!

 

[cswis86]

If you treat it right it should be able to handle 10%+. It sounds like you'll have plenty of yeast so I wouldn't worry.

 

[makubex]

I've used 1318 for 1.100+ OG beers before and I'm not certian I'd do it again. I love the flavor profile of 1318, and IMO it's a great strain for stouts and porters but for higher OG stouts I think a semi-neutral, highly-attenuative, american or english ale yeast is your best bet.

Even with yeast nutrient, proper pitching rates, and proper oxygenation, 1318 has a tendency to not want to ferment fully with this high of an OG. Regarding carbonating in the bottle, you're spot on - if your ferment stalls, then your bottles certianly won't carbonate properly. To make matters worse, champagne yeast is very highly attenuative and will tend to want to go back and ferment a lot of the sugars left behind from the 1318 meaning you'll potentially have bottle bombs or at the very least a severely overcabonated beer.

An alternative would be to start your fermentation with 1318 and then pitch a smaller amount of something like US-05 just after high krausen to encourage the beer to finish fermenting to the proper FG. That way, you'd still get the fermentation character of 1318 but hopefully not stall just before the finish line.

 

[Landlord]

Ive used 1318 for old ales. I've had not attentuation problems. I have a batch I am ageing on oak in a keg- wy1318 took it from 1084 to 1014 (9.2%). I did leave it on the yeast for a couple of months and the recipe had a fair bit of simple sugar- 1 can of black treacle. I think the key achieving a good attentuation is to; mash low (148-150), pitch a huge starter, hit the batch with plenty of pure O2, and ramp up the temps towards the end of fermentation- ie up to 72°F.

In terms of bottle conditioning- in my view a big beer like that needs extended bulk conditioning (several months) and you aint gonna have much viable yeast after extended ageing a big beer like that. Moreover, if you keep the beer on the yeast for a couple of months or so, chances are its gonna be attenuated. Just add some fresh yeast when you bottle. Personally I would use the same strain 1318 just in case.

 

[Krown]

Thanks for the feedback guys, its really helpful! I will either add a pack of us05 toward the end of fermentation or just try the 1318 with a pitch rate of 1.25-1.5.

I don't have access to an O2 stone so I will shake the carboy like crazy for a few minutes.

I will ramp temp to 73F and keep it in primary for a month before bottling it. I will then age in bottles as I will only be brewing a 3G batch and dont want to bulk age with too much head space.

 

[Bamsdealer]

A healthy pitch should get it done, but I'd sprinkle a little champagne yeast in your bottle bucket

 

[Krown]

Update: 10 days after brew day I decided to take a sample to see attenuation - 77%! Its down to 1.021.

I could not detect any unwanted off flavors in the sample (although it was harsh) so I am going to bottle after 14 days only to free my carboy. I will pitch champagne yeast at bottling and age for 6 months.

Thanks all for the great tips!

 

[bigdawg86]

I am hoping for good performance of a 1.135 OG stout I just did... this gives me hope. I stepped up my starter of WLP007 to 10L and hit with massive amounts of O2 before pitch. I tried to reoxygenate at 12 hours, but made a huge mess due to the O2 causing the Krausen foam up.