Adding wort in 2 stages

[TAK]

For an upcoming barley wine, I'll be walking the line of 12% (+/-). So, I'm considering adding the wort in 2 steps. I'd rack about half of the 5 gallons, aerate and pitch. The other half I'd rack into my 3 gal carboy and seal it up. After fermentation is moving, I'd aerate the unfermented portion, then rack into the half that's already moving.

(*) I assume I should rack the second half at high krausen. Is that right?
(*) should I calculate pitch rate from my starter assuming 5 gallons, or just 2.5, which would be the first pitch?

Any other advice?

 

[IslandLizard]

It's not safe to store raw wort. Maybe a week in the fridge is the limit, but I'm not sure. Botulism is the enemy.

You're not making stronger beer that way. Your OG gravity remains the same, and so does the alcohol. You just get a larger volume. May as well pitch a larger starter into the whole batch.

Are you gonna be brewing wort with an OG of 1.200?

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Calculate the pitch rate based on the actual volume of the wort (2.5 gallons)

Yes, the second half at high karusen would be ideal, but after 24 hours the cell count will have about doubled and can likely support the rest of the wort.

Adding half now and half later is a great way to make the most of your yeast. If you pour the boiling wort into a sanitized container and can squeeze out nearly all the air and seal it, then it should be okay. (See the no-chill method) I've heard that plastic water containers typically used for camping work well.

Unfortunately wort has the perfect concentration of sugar for a number of organisms to thrive. Without sterilizing and sealing I would be hesitant to let it sit for more than about a day.

 

[TAK]

Hmmm... consensus is its not worth it, huh?

 

[dcp27]

if anything i'd think you're making it harder on the yeast by adding the same high OG later. if you were to have the 2nd half at a higher concentration, say a split of 8% & 16%, it might be beneficial. just make sure to pitch a lot and 12% shouldn't be a problem for most strains. what yeast btw?

 

[feinbera]

It's not the total volume of sugar that causes problems in high-alcohol beers, it's the gravity. So, just splitting the batch down the middle and pitching into half as much wort at the same high gravity won't make things any easier on the yeast.

What you want to do is start with a relatively normal-gravity wort, then add more concentrated fermentables part-way through the ferment; a lot of strong Belgians are produced this way by adding candi sugar a couple days in. However, I don't see any reason you couldn't do the same with wort boiled down to like 1.300, 1.400 OG, in fact, I've been meaning to do a beer this way myself at some point...

 

[RedBeardedBrewer]

I'm confused why you want to do this? I just dont see the rationale or the advantage. But i do like an experiment It would be an expensive one though with all the raw ingredients...

I've made barley wines that were around 10 and 11% and never had any issues with the yeast (Cali ale yeast) and they were both very delicious within a month. I agree that it would be very risky to store your 2nd addition of wort.

Heres how i do it (not necessarily the best way): With a high gravity beer like that I mash at a low temp (148F) because you really want a very fermentable wort. There will be plenty of body in the finished beer because of the alcohol and the residual sugars that are inherent to this style.

If you have the ability to oxygenate with pure O2 then do it (although I didn't do this and like I said, they were tasty). The most important thing is to pitch the proper amount of yeast. Pitching too much is far less detrimental than pitching not enough in a high gravity beer. Let us know what you decide to do!

 

[TAK]

My original rationale was to add more fermentables during fermentation, to keep the yeast going and encourage attenuation, without adding simple sugars. I had considered, briefly, splitting the batch into a lower OG for the first portion and a higher OG for the second. However, I just don't think I want to go to that effort. I'm already planning on making a small beer from the 3rd runnings. I'll just make sure to pitch a big healthy starter.

Now I'm wondering about decanting or not; separate post though...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/e...cculent-starter-without-cold-crashing-433206/

btw, I'm rollin' with WLP007.