Re-oxygenating wort 12h into fermentation?

[aangel]

I'm planning to brew a belgian quadrupel. I'll be using dry abbey yeast. Getting full attenuation has been an ongoing challenge. (Don't ask, I use a ferm freezer with a temp controller and fan, I oxygenate via air stone for an hour, and my dry yeast is stored in freezer).

I've read the first 12 hours of fermentation are when the yeast consume oxygen to reproduce. Since I lack a stir starter, I'm wondering if I should boost my yeast count via re-oxygenating at 12H to boost my yeast count.

Thoughts?

 

[JonM]

That's what I did the last couple times I brewed heavy beers and it worked out great.

The only pain is, say you finish brewing and pitch yeast at noon. Your next dose comes at midnight.

ETA: I was using liquid yeast. (read the whole post, JonM...) I don't know how re-oxygenating works with dry yeast.

 

[d3track]

Build a starter, even if you use a growler - that's a very stressful environment at that alcohol level. Give them the best chance possible to finish the job

 

[aangel]

I've read that, based on cell count, you need a 5L starter if you're going to starter with dry yeast. What should I do then, use a 2gal bucket as a starter container?

 

[JonM]

You should probably just get an extra package or two of dry yeast. However much the calculators recommend.

 

[Queequeg]

The calculators don't factor very high gravities. Pitching at 0.75m/ml/P is going to be sub optional. My research suggests for very high gravity beers you need to aim at 1.5m/ml/P. Even then the suggestion is aerate with pure O2 to 12ppm and then repeat at 12 hours. Take a look at the beer and wine journal online, they are a series on barley wines which will be pretty helpful

 

[jahdub]

2-3 packs of dry yeast sounds like a good idea. I've only done one dark strong that was around 11.5%. I used ~350bil cells and a minute of pure o2. It attenuated fine.

I read a lot of recipes for brews of a similar nature, and they all recommended ramping the temperature up throughout the fermentation. I started at 64F and ramped up to 70 over a few days and before 10 days I was up to 75F. A lot of technique goes into getting proper attenuation with high gravity brews.

 

[MattyIce]

I have done this a couple times with success on double IPAs and a couple barleywines. Great attenuation. It would be fun to split a batch to test the technique.

 

[slym2none]

5-6 gallons in the batch? Go with two packs of yeast. You'll be fine.

 

[Bellybuster]

typical Quads have an OG of 1.100 or higher, you need almost 700 billion cells to reach optimum. 2 packets ain't gonna cut it.

if I were gonna introduce oxygen again, Id do it around the 6-8 hour mark when it probably needs it

you can also just pitch enough yeast in the first place and Bob's your uncle

 

[Calder]

Use 2 to 3 packs and re-oxygenate somewhere around 8 to 12 hours. I know dry yeast is supposed too have all the sterols they need already in the pack, but O2 will not hurt and with that size beer, you will need all the help you can get.

 

[beergolf]

typical Quads have an OG of 1.100 or higher

I would not call a typical quad above 1.100. That is on the high end of the style guideline. In fact only one of the beers listed below has an OG of 1.10. So unless we know his OG then we can't give a recommendation for yeast pitch.

Vital Statistics:
OG FG IBUs SRM ABV
1.075 - 1.110+ 1.010 - 1.024 15 - 25+ 15 - 20 8 - 12+%
Commercial Examples: Rochefort 10 (blue cap), Westvleteren 12 (yellow cap), Chimay Grande Reserve (Blue), Rochefort 8 (green cap), St. Bernardus Abt 12, Gouden Carolus Grand Cru of the Emperor, Abbaye des Rocs Grand Cru, Gulden Draak, Kasteelbier Bi̬re du Chateau Donker