Wee Heavy

[Craigerrr]

The thing that has kept me from doing a wee heavy is the yeast selection, and the apparent need to aerate before pitching.
I came across a recipe recently with an OG of 1078 that calls out one packet of S-04
I don't have a stir plate and all that is needed to buy liquid yeast and build up a big pitch, and I don't have what would be needed to oxygenate the wort.

Do you think that S-04 would be a good yeast for this style?

If I use DME to get to 1078, and brew 19L, would pitching 2 packets work?

 

[Megary]

The thing that has kept me from doing a wee heavy is the yeast selection, and the apparent need to aerate before pitching.
I came across a recipe recently with an OG of 1078 that calls out one packet of S-04
I don't have a stir plate and all that is needed to buy liquid yeast and build up a big pitch, and I don't have what would be needed to oxygenate the wort.

Do you think that S-04 would be a good yeast for this style?

If I use DME to get to 1078, and brew 19L, would pitching 2 packets work?

S-04 sounds like a good choice.

One pack would be close, 2 packs would certainly be more than enough.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

I think S-04 would be good in Wee Heavy but, I'd definitely go with 2 packs for 1.078.
If you wanted to try liquid yeast with a starter, you could just do the shaken-not-stirred method instead of a stir plate. Oxygenate the starter wort before hand than add yeast and swirl it every time you pass by. To oxygenate the main wort you could use a new paint stirrer and a drill.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Tangent off of the Shaken not Stired method, those guys on ExpBrw are also big proponents of putting the WeeHeavy wort onto an existing yeast cake. So brew up a small batch of a low gravity brown then when that is done, pitch that entire cake into the weeheavy. It would take some timing and extra work on your part and less on the yeasts'.
How are you planning around the volumes of strike and sparge water?

 

[Craigerrr]

Hey @Craigerrr , how big is your mash tun and how are you matching your grain bill to water and not over flowing your tun?

I just realized that I still have my cooler mash tun (pretty sure it is 48 liters), and a little anvil pump for recirculating, so I can do pretty big grain bill.
I can scoop the spent grains into a bucket and take them to the compost in a few trips to make it easier on my back.
Maybe I will sparge to volume and use DME to bring the gravity up.

Tangent off of the Shaken not Stired method, those guys on ExpBrw are also big proponents of putting the WeeHeavy wort onto an existing yeast cake. So brew up a small batch of a low gravity brown then when that is done, pitch that entire cake into the weeheavy. It would take some timing and extra work on your part and less on the yeasts'.
How are you planning around the volumes of strike and sparge water?

Kind of like a giant starter really, sounds doable.
I could easily transfer the starter beer off the yeast on brew day.
This will be my next project after the ESB I have on deck.
Not overly concerned about batch size, but will try to get as close to 5 gallons as I can

 

[Craigerrr]

I have a good Wee Heavy that I brew once in a while. Every time I do brew it I think about doing a parti-gyle but, never have.

Hey Larry, any chance that you would share your recipe with me?

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

Hey Larry, any chance that you would share your recipe with me?

I use this recipe traquair-house-style-wee-heavy. About the only change I make to the recipe is that I drop the batch efficiency from 75% down to 65%. I think the part that makes the difference is taking 1 gallon of the 1st runnings and boiling that down to 1 quart.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Kind of like a giant starter really, sounds doable.

Exactly like a giant starter. Airate your wort and you be rockin'!

 

[Craigerrr]

I use this recipe traquair-house-style-wee-heavy. About the only change I make to the recipe is that I drop the batch efficiency from 75% down to 65%. I think the part that makes the difference is taking 1 gallon of the 1st runnings and boiling that down to 1 quart.

Thanks bud!

 

[Craigerrr]

Exactly like a giant starter. Airate your wort and you be rockin'!

I am planning to brew an ESB in the next couple of days using S-04.
What if I just leave the yeast cake in the fermenter, and rack the Wee Heavy onto it?
Should I increase my volume by a liter on the ESB so I can leave some beer behind to cover the yeast cake?

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

I am planning to brew an ESB in the next couple of days using S-04.
What if I just leave the yeast cake in the fermenter, and rack the Wee Heavy onto it?
Should I increase my volume by a liter on the ESB so I can leave some beer behind to cover the yeast cake?

I think leaving a little beer over the yeast cake would be a good idea.

 

[Ward Chillington]

I am planning to brew an ESB in the next couple of days using S-04.
What if I just leave the yeast cake in the fermenter, and rack the Wee Heavy onto it?
Should I increase my volume by a liter on the ESB so I can leave some beer behind to cover the yeast cake?

Yes. As Barbi said, leave the cake covered up until racking onto the cake....the thing is that the "starter" from your bitter shouldn't be too high of an ABV brew...something with an OG no higher than 1040...you want the yeast to be fit and ready for their next meal...not pooped out! I want to say that @Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews does this with his Shady Boeh.

 

[Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews]

Yes. As Barbi said, leave the cake covered up until racking onto the cake....the thing is that the "starter" from your bitter shouldn't be too high of an ABV brew...something with an OG no higher than 1040...you want the yeast to be fit and ready for their next meal...not pooped out! I want to say that @Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews does this with his Shady Boeh.

All depends on what the previous brew was, if I’m brewing within a day or two of racking the previous batch and using the same yeast strain. I haven’t noticed any issues with just reusing the yeast already in the fermenter.

I’ve also just saved a (sanitized)pint jar of yeast from the bottom of the fermenter and repitched it if I knew it was going to be used within a couple months, brewed off a 34/70-Diamond Lager slurry for over a year that way a while back.

 

[Craigerrr]

Yes. As Barbi said

For a hot second I thought, how do you know my wife's name, and who said you could call her Barbi!!!

 

[Ward Chillington]

For a hot second I thought, how do you know my wife's name, and who said you could call her Barbi!!!

Well that cat's outta the bag!

 

[Craigerrr]

Well, I started thinking about brewing a Wee Heavy in October of 2019!
I finally brewed it today!
Using an airlock as I will be bottling this one, or at least most of it.
Was one point over on PBG @ 1074, and three points over on OG @ 1087.
Ended up doing a no sparge, and used 4lbs of DME. I mashed in Friday night, let it recirc for 90 minutes, then left it overnight with the 500W element on to keep it at mash temp. After pulling the malt pipe out I drew off about a liter and boiled it down separately on the stove.
If it ferments down the expected 1022 it will come in at 8.5%

 

[Craigerrr]

 

[Craigerrr]

Pitched 2 packets of S-04 around noon

 

[Ward Chillington]

Nice..how did you figure your sparge and strike waters?
I have a spread sheet I've been playing with for lower and higher ABV water amounts and the dark milds I'm brewing today shoots low wrt my desired batch size so I goose it up by 120% to get it in the ball park with the rest of my process.

 

[Craigerrr]

Just one running, no sparge. Approximately 27 liters total water, 4.5kg grain (pretty thin mash), and 1.8kg DME. Pretty sure I ended up with about 20 liters of wort, and will lose 2L to trub. S-04 is working away nicely since about 9PM yesterday.