Overpitching on purpose

[filthyastronaut]

Tomorrow I am intending to brew a Wee Heavy, bottle a Brown Ale during the boil, and use the yeast from the Brown Ale in my Wee Heavy. Yeast is US 05.

I know overpitching is typically considered undesirable, but as the reproduction phase is practically skipped, it results in very few esters and a neutral fermentation profile. To me, this sounds ideal for a Wee Heavy, as I want pure unadulterated malt flavors. The yeast should be in very good shape as the Brown Ale is <5% ABV and fermented in the low 60s.

Is there any reason not to just transfer onto the entire cake from the Brown Ale considering I want the results to be clean as possible?

Recipe if anyone is curious:

Pale Ale Malt - 10 lbs.
Castle Abbey - .5 lb.
Melanoidin - .5 lb.
Crystal 60 - .5 lb.
Crystal 120 - .5 lb.
Midnight Wheat - .25 lb.

Magnum - .5 oz. @ 90 min.

 

[day_trippr]

A potential down-side is hitting the high end of the attenuation capability for that strain when perhaps you're not looking for a dry-ish finish.

But with the grain bill there's probably enough dextrins in there to hold onto some body...

Cheers!

 

[filthyastronaut]

A potential down-side is hitting the high end of the attenuation capability for that strain when perhaps you're not looking for a dry-ish finish.

But with the grain bill there's probably enough dextrins in there to hold onto some body...

Cheers!

I figured with the grain bill and high mash temps the attenuation wouldn't be a huge issue. High attenuation shouldn't matter too much if there's a high number of unfermentables, right?

 

[day_trippr]

I believe that is what I said, yes...

Cheers!

 

[filthyastronaut]

I believe that is what I said, yes...

Cheers!

Was just reiterating because I had the same thought, and inviting anyone else to share their own input if they disagreed.

I went ahead and did it, for science. Transferred onto the cake at around 1 PM and it was well on its way before I went to bed. Essentially no lag time, to be expected. This morning the krausen was really high and about an hour ago it seems to have already dropped a little. Went from 64 degrees yesterday to 70 degrees this morning, and back down to 68. Hotter than I would want, but I also don't think the yeast gets stressed as much with such high populations. It smells pleasant out of the airlock.

Don't know if anybody is really interested, but I will post updates as I have them.

 

[parrothead64]

I read that it's better to wash the yeast and clean out your fermenter to get the trub and dead yeast out but I never tried either one. In the interest of science I would like to know how it turned out. Science is awesome when there is beer drinking involved. Don't you think you've had enough? Back off man, Its for science .(Ghostbusters)

 

[UndeadFred]

I've done several beers on the cake from the one prior.. potentially really overpitched with no issues whatsoever.

I imagine a over pitch, to matter, would have to be huge...

Fred

 

[filthyastronaut]

As of yesterday night, everything appears quite still, krausen is gone, and looks like the flocculation was higher than normal for US 05. Very fast fermentation for this strain, for sure. Temperature has gone all the way back down to 62 degrees. So far, everything has gone as expected. No lag, large temperature increase (hopefully not too much, but 05 seems to do alright as high as 70), and a vigorous, quickly finished fermentation. I would normally do a three week primary for a high gravity beer like this but I may see if everything is order after two weeks for bottling, considering how fast this "finished." Ultimately, we'll just have to see how it tastes.

 

[filthyastronaut]

Bottled today after three weeks in primary. The sample did taste quite clean, perhaps a little too much as I would want more malt aroma, but still malty and pleasant. Not quite as heavy as a Wee Heavy ought to be but there is enough body and sweetness that it's not like it ended up far off base from the style. I imagine everything about it will improve with age and carbonation, as always.

Overall I'd say it was a successful brew, but I don't think I'll bother with the whole yeast cake again, and I'd use a yeast that attenuates less than 05 for this style in the future.