Multiple Yeast Strains High OG?

AGbrewer

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So I've had some trouble getting a big beer (OG 1.134) to ferment down into the 1.025-1.028 range. I pitched this last one with Imperial Darkness A10 on Thursday evening last week. Then I pitched WLP099 (Super High Gravity) on Sunday afternoon/evening. Hoping that most of the yeast flavor (if any) comes from the Imperial Darkness.

Has anyone else had luck doing this staggered yeast pitch (1 day 3 days) with a "normal" yeast and a "high gravity" yeast?

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homeb...goose-island-bourbon-county-stout-mo-gp-base-
 
I've tried staggering, but not enough to be sure if it helps or not. It sounds plausible.

But you've used WLP099 and I've definitely used that to drop the gravity on a beer that wasn't finishing as low as I wanted. WLP099 is a diastaticus variant. Like a lot of saison yeasts it will produce enzymes that will break down some of the complex, unfermentable sugars, into fermentable sugars. Sort of like having a mash and fermentation at the same time. Unlike the saisons, it seems relatively neutral, but I've only used it on dark strong beers, so it'd be easy to miss anything it's adding.

When I used it I was adding it at about day 7, once I was sure the original yeast couldn't do any more. There's sure to be pros and cons to adding them together vs staggered, but those diastaticus blends do seem very hardy and probably will keep dropping the gravity regardless. So be prepared for a pretty long fermentation if your mash left a bunch of unfermentable sugars.

And as the diastaticus is so hardy, it provides cross contamination challenges. If you start noticing much lower finishing gravities on your normal beer you may need to do a special cleaning run or get new plastic equipment for the normal beers.
 
I've tried staggering, but not enough to be sure if it helps or not. It sounds plausible.

But you've used WLP099 and I've definitely used that to drop the gravity on a beer that wasn't finishing as low as I wanted. WLP099 is a diastaticus variant. Like a lot of saison yeasts it will produce enzymes that will break down some of the complex, unfermentable sugars, into fermentable sugars. Sort of like having a mash and fermentation at the same time. Unlike the saisons, it seems relatively neutral, but I've only used it on dark strong beers, so it'd be easy to miss anything it's adding.

When I used it I was adding it at about day 7, once I was sure the original yeast couldn't do any more. There's sure to be pros and cons to adding them together vs staggered, but those diastaticus blends do seem very hardy and probably will keep dropping the gravity regardless. So be prepared for a pretty long fermentation if your mash left a bunch of unfermentable sugars.

And as the diastaticus is so hardy, it provides cross contamination challenges. If you start noticing much lower finishing gravities on your normal beer you may need to do a special cleaning run or get new plastic equipment for the normal beers.

Interesting, I haven't come across the cross contamination issue when researching this particular yeast. Most people just mentioned that it was a beast and pulled their FG down on High Gravity brews with little to no esters/phenols.

My problem is that this beer typically drops down to about 1.036 - 1.042 which is a bit high. I'm hoping that it will drop it down to about 1.028 or so. Not concerned with a long fermentation as this beer will be aged for at least 1 year. I was planning on at least 1 month in the primary, and then racking over to a keg for bulk aging for about 9 months before bottling it. Last 2 months of conditioning would be in the bottle carbonating up.
 
There are some commercial brews (eg, La Fin du Monde) that uses as champagne yeast for finishing. Much higher alcohol tolerance than most beer yeasts. The champagne yeast is also very neutral.
 
There are some commercial brews (eg, La Fin du Monde) that uses as champagne yeast for finishing. Much higher alcohol tolerance than most beer yeasts. The champagne yeast is also very neutral.

Is that the same thing as CBC? I have used that in the past when I bulk age a beer for several months and it seems to work just fine. Though I'm not sure if it is only eating up the corn sugar or the extra maltoise left in the beer.
 
Interesting, I haven't come across the cross contamination issue when researching this particular yeast. Most people just mentioned that it was a beast and pulled their FG down on High Gravity brews with little to no esters/phenols.

My problem is that this beer typically drops down to about 1.036 - 1.042 which is a bit high. I'm hoping that it will drop it down to about 1.028 or so. Not concerned with a long fermentation as this beer will be aged for at least 1 year. I was planning on at least 1 month in the primary, and then racking over to a keg for bulk aging for about 9 months before bottling it. Last 2 months of conditioning would be in the bottle carbonating up.

You can think of diastaticus yeasts as about as hard to kill as brettanomyces. So completely doable if your equipment lets you. It's caused a bunch of recalls and various legal nastiness. More details here - http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Saccharomyces#Saccharomyces_cerevisiae_var._diastaticus.

That said I would still use it in the situation you've got. Just need to be careful with the cleaning afterwords.
 
Is that the same thing as CBC? I have used that in the past when I bulk age a beer for several months and it seems to work just fine. Though I'm not sure if it is only eating up the corn sugar or the extra maltoise left in the beer.
No, not quite the same. The champagne yeast will go a bit higher in alcohol. It should ferment any fermentable sugar.
 
Hate to drag out an old post, but...

I just found out that according to the manufacturer, Nottingham has an ABV of 14%. I'm thinking that if I get a good enough starter in viability and vitality along with an overpitch, I should be able to squeeze out 15%. Every other high gravity yeast I've used goes at least 1% ABV over what they state. This would get me to my desired FG without having to use multiple yeast strains.

Anyone tried this yeast at that level of ABV?
 
You can think of diastaticus yeasts as about as hard to kill as brettanomyces. So completely doable if your equipment lets you. It's caused a bunch of recalls and various legal nastiness. More details here - http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Saccharomyces#Saccharomyces_cerevisiae_var._diastaticus.

That said I would still use it in the situation you've got. Just need to be careful with the cleaning afterwords.

Brett, or S. cerevisiae var Diastaticus, really isn't more difficult to kill/clean/sanitize then any other yeast strain. It's just that a small amount of them make a big difference due to the enzyme production.

It doesn't really matter if you have 1M of an English ale yeast like 1318 leftover in your fermenter, no matter what the recipe or main yeast is. But 1M of Belle Saison is going to significantly change your FG due to the STA1+ gene expression causing it to produce glucoamylase and being POF positive.
 

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