Climb
Well-Known Member
Hello HomebrewTalk:
I am seeking some advice pertaining to using Brettanomyces, which I have no experience with. I have a barleywine that I brewed in March, 2016 that didn’t fully carbonate in the bottle and tastes too sweet. It went from an OG of 1.098 to a FG of 1.018 with WLP013 (London Ale). This is 80% apparent attenuation and 10.5% ABV using the standard formula or 11.5% using the alternate formula which is more accurate with high gravities. WLP013 lists an apparent attenuation range from 67% to 75% and an alcohol tolerance of ≤ 12% ABV. So it looks like WLP013 did it’s job, but the beer was not carbonated (none of the several bottles I tried) and was way to sweet.
In October, 2016, in an attempt to reduce the sweetness and to get it to carbonate, I emptied all of the remaining bottles back into the bottling bucket and pitched WLP090 (San Diego Super Yeast) with some additional fermentable sugar in boiled then cooled water, thinking that WLP013 might have hit its alcohol limit. WLP090 didn’t help with the carbonation problem nor reduce the sweetness. My notes don’t indicate the approximate cell count of WLP090 that was pitched, but knowing me I am sure I made a suitable sized starter. My notes show that the FG didn’t change; still at 1.018, so the WLP090 must have converted all of the added sugar. Unfortunately I didn’t take a gravity reading after adding the sugar. The barleywine has been sitting in bottles ever since; still too sweet and not carbonated. I assume that this ale has a ton of unfermentable sugars/dextrins and thus my interest in using Brettanomyces to help further reduce the sweetness and to add some carbonation. I just don’t have the heart to toss this batch and am thinking that this might be a good opportunity for me to gain some experience with Brettanomyces.
I enjoy some barnyard funk, but I am not a big sour fan. For any of you who have experience with Brettanomyces, what would you recommend I do in an attempt to save this batch? Which Bret would you suggest and why? Any specific details on how to pitch it; does it need oxygen, nutrients? My thought is to leave this in a carboy to let the Brettanomyces do it’s thing for about a year or I could package it in heavy duty belgian bottles and hope I am not making bottle bombs. If it’s not drinkable after that, then to shed my final tear and show it the drain.
Other ancillary details …
Batch Size - 10 gallons
Fermentables
63.3% Pale Malt
14.1% DME
9.4% Crystal 40
7.0% White Wheat
4.4% Dark Molasses
1.2% Special Roast, 50 SRM
0.6% Chocolate, 350 SRM
SRM target - 19.5
Total IBU - 93.7
BU:GU - 0.847
Oxygenation - vigorous shaking only, I don’t have any supplemental oxygen. I know, I should!
Need 805.3 billion cells of WLP013
Made a starter and pitched ~843.0 billion cells of WLP013
I am seeking some advice pertaining to using Brettanomyces, which I have no experience with. I have a barleywine that I brewed in March, 2016 that didn’t fully carbonate in the bottle and tastes too sweet. It went from an OG of 1.098 to a FG of 1.018 with WLP013 (London Ale). This is 80% apparent attenuation and 10.5% ABV using the standard formula or 11.5% using the alternate formula which is more accurate with high gravities. WLP013 lists an apparent attenuation range from 67% to 75% and an alcohol tolerance of ≤ 12% ABV. So it looks like WLP013 did it’s job, but the beer was not carbonated (none of the several bottles I tried) and was way to sweet.
In October, 2016, in an attempt to reduce the sweetness and to get it to carbonate, I emptied all of the remaining bottles back into the bottling bucket and pitched WLP090 (San Diego Super Yeast) with some additional fermentable sugar in boiled then cooled water, thinking that WLP013 might have hit its alcohol limit. WLP090 didn’t help with the carbonation problem nor reduce the sweetness. My notes don’t indicate the approximate cell count of WLP090 that was pitched, but knowing me I am sure I made a suitable sized starter. My notes show that the FG didn’t change; still at 1.018, so the WLP090 must have converted all of the added sugar. Unfortunately I didn’t take a gravity reading after adding the sugar. The barleywine has been sitting in bottles ever since; still too sweet and not carbonated. I assume that this ale has a ton of unfermentable sugars/dextrins and thus my interest in using Brettanomyces to help further reduce the sweetness and to add some carbonation. I just don’t have the heart to toss this batch and am thinking that this might be a good opportunity for me to gain some experience with Brettanomyces.
I enjoy some barnyard funk, but I am not a big sour fan. For any of you who have experience with Brettanomyces, what would you recommend I do in an attempt to save this batch? Which Bret would you suggest and why? Any specific details on how to pitch it; does it need oxygen, nutrients? My thought is to leave this in a carboy to let the Brettanomyces do it’s thing for about a year or I could package it in heavy duty belgian bottles and hope I am not making bottle bombs. If it’s not drinkable after that, then to shed my final tear and show it the drain.
Other ancillary details …
Batch Size - 10 gallons
Fermentables
63.3% Pale Malt
14.1% DME
9.4% Crystal 40
7.0% White Wheat
4.4% Dark Molasses
1.2% Special Roast, 50 SRM
0.6% Chocolate, 350 SRM
SRM target - 19.5
Total IBU - 93.7
BU:GU - 0.847
Oxygenation - vigorous shaking only, I don’t have any supplemental oxygen. I know, I should!
Need 805.3 billion cells of WLP013
Made a starter and pitched ~843.0 billion cells of WLP013