Bottling a monster 1.138OG beer

[etk29321]

Our LHBS recently had an anniversary sale offering 30% off grain. We took that opportunity to brew a 5 gallon batch using a full 50lbs sack. It's been fermenting the past few months, but seems to have stopped at 1.055. I was hoping it'd get to 1.040. Yeast was Wyeast 1056 to start (built up from previous 5gal batch) and pitched again with some WLP099 super high gravity when things started slowing.

Given that that puts us at ~11-12%ABV already, here's my question. We're planning to bottle this beer. At 1.055, I seriously doubt adding priming sugar would be wise but I am not positive it will carbonate. On the other hand, I don't want to force carbonate it then have it ferment more in the bottles and turn into beer bombs.

What do folks think? Bottle as is and trust it will carbonate? Bottle, adding fresh yeast and trust it will carbonate? Force carbonate then bottle?

I keep going back and forth between the options, so any opinions would be helpful.

 

[philosofool]

That really sounds like it's under attenuated to me. I calculate 60% AA. That's sounds like it's not finished and that your yeast is sputtering on the high alcohol. WLP099 is a finicky yeast and I don't really trust it. I would pitch two packs of rehydrated dry champagne yeast into that and see what happens.

 

[etk29321]

Yeah, it is pretty low attenuation. That didn't surprise me from the 1056 as I suspect it's right at its alcohol limits, but I've never worked with WLP099 so I didn't know what I should expect there.

What attenuation should I expect with the champagne yeast in such a big beer? Flavor-wise I really don't want to go much above 70 so that I can keep some sweetness.

 

[flars]

The yeasts discussed in this thread may give you some options for getting the FG down.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/best-yeast-bottle-conditioning-barleywine-442370/

 

[philosofool]

Yeah, it is pretty low attenuation. That didn't surprise me from the 1056 as I suspect it's right at its alcohol limits, but I've never worked with WLP099 so I didn't know what I should expect there.

What attenuation should I expect with the champagne yeast in such a big beer? Flavor-wise I really don't want to go much above 70 so that I can keep some sweetness.

I wouldn't be worried about keeping sweetness in a beer that large; the usual challenge is to eliminate enough sweetness when you're making barleywines. To be honest, attenuation isn't a very good way to approach sweetness in the first place. There's a helpful discussion of sugar in this recent thread, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/question-about-sugars-441053/ Summary: Maltotriose is the sugar which is residual in fermentation, but it isn't very sweet, so it's not the best way to control the sweetness of the beer.

Champagne yeast is very dry and will ferment as much as anything else in beer, but most beers as big as what you're talking about will be sweet, no matter what.