I just racked off of a British brown ale and have a nice cake I could pitch my American Barleywine onto but I'm not sure if I should. Would this be appropriate? What should I expect from it rather than using the WL001 California Ale yeast I was going to make a starter with? This is my first strong ale so I'm not sure what to expect. Any help/suggestions are much appreciated.
American Barleywine pitch to British Ale cake?
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motorneuron
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Well, it depends a little on which English yeast it is, but in general, you're going to get more esters from English yeast, and lower attenuation. You can tweak things, of course--for example, English yeast tends to be highly flocculent, which is part of why it attenuates less than American yeasts, so you can rouse the yeast (gently rock the carboy to stir up the sediment) to keep the yeast in suspension and keep it fermenting. As for esters, you can control those in part by keeping fermentation cool.
But I guess the real question is style. Do you want to make something that is a little fruitier and maybe maltier than an American yeast would produce? Those characteristics seem to go well with barley wine. So I think you're probably fine using whatever this English yeast is.
The one thing you might need to do is monitor the fermentation. If you get stuck at a gravity that is higher than you wanted (a possible risk of using less attenuative yeast in a big beer), you might need to pitch a different yeast later. So, e.g., ferment with an English yeast for a week, then pitch US-05 or something else to get the last bit of attenuation.
I guess in sum, it just depends on what you want to do. But there's no per se reason you can't pitch onto the English yeast.
But I guess the real question is style. Do you want to make something that is a little fruitier and maybe maltier than an American yeast would produce? Those characteristics seem to go well with barley wine. So I think you're probably fine using whatever this English yeast is.
The one thing you might need to do is monitor the fermentation. If you get stuck at a gravity that is higher than you wanted (a possible risk of using less attenuative yeast in a big beer), you might need to pitch a different yeast later. So, e.g., ferment with an English yeast for a week, then pitch US-05 or something else to get the last bit of attenuation.
I guess in sum, it just depends on what you want to do. But there's no per se reason you can't pitch onto the English yeast.
The yeast is Wyeast 1098. Thanks for the detailed response. I think I'm going to go ahead and give it a try. I'll just rock it every once in awhile and keep an eye out for a stuck gravity reading.
I racked the British cake yesterday and I plan on brewing tomorrow; do you think it will be OK having sat for a couple days? It has a layer of beer on it and a lid on the carboy. It should be fine right?
Thanks again!
I racked the British cake yesterday and I plan on brewing tomorrow; do you think it will be OK having sat for a couple days? It has a layer of beer on it and a lid on the carboy. It should be fine right?
Thanks again!
