I've got a brew in primary now that should end up a tad over 9% ABV. That's one strike against bottle conditioning, as I've read several stories of big beers being difficult to bottle condition.
The second strike is that I plan on cold crashing w/ gelatin to clarify it. While I know gelatin does leave plenty yeast in the beer for carbing, I worry that the reduced amount of yeast, combined with the high ABV will cause me difficulties in bottle carbing. I don't have a kegging setup, so I cannot keg and force carb.
I am using WLP080, and I THINK I have healthy yeast. I did a big starter and added Wyeast nutrient in the last 10mins of the boil. I saw pretty good airlock activity within a few hours, but I wasn't watching it like a hawk, so I don't know exactly how long it took. it's currently fermenting pretty vigorously. it pushed krausen up into the airlock. and it's a bucket, not a carboy, which i would imagine would blow out easier.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to help my chances of it conditioning ok? Offhand, I thought of a couple things.
1) maybe pitch a little extra yeast nutrient when I do a fruit addition in secondary?
2) maybe even pitch more yeast, either of the same strain, or a more aggressive strain (i.e. wine yeast) again, at the same time as the fruit addition in secondary.
What do you guys think about the above? Do you think either will significantly impact the beer, either positive or negative? Do you have any other ideas?
The second strike is that I plan on cold crashing w/ gelatin to clarify it. While I know gelatin does leave plenty yeast in the beer for carbing, I worry that the reduced amount of yeast, combined with the high ABV will cause me difficulties in bottle carbing. I don't have a kegging setup, so I cannot keg and force carb.
I am using WLP080, and I THINK I have healthy yeast. I did a big starter and added Wyeast nutrient in the last 10mins of the boil. I saw pretty good airlock activity within a few hours, but I wasn't watching it like a hawk, so I don't know exactly how long it took. it's currently fermenting pretty vigorously. it pushed krausen up into the airlock. and it's a bucket, not a carboy, which i would imagine would blow out easier.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to help my chances of it conditioning ok? Offhand, I thought of a couple things.
1) maybe pitch a little extra yeast nutrient when I do a fruit addition in secondary?
2) maybe even pitch more yeast, either of the same strain, or a more aggressive strain (i.e. wine yeast) again, at the same time as the fruit addition in secondary.
What do you guys think about the above? Do you think either will significantly impact the beer, either positive or negative? Do you have any other ideas?
