How Far/High Have You Pushed Wyeast 1968?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by BedetheVenerable, Jun 3, 2012.

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  1. BedetheVenerable

    BedetheVenerable Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2008 Missouri

    So, and bear with me, I will be posting several questions about my brew-day on here in the next few hours/days. I would first just like to say how AMAZING this particular forum is (even without old stalwarts like HB42 and the like) for noobs/relative noobs like myself. Thank you all so much for helping those of us much less experienced than yourselves!

    At any rate, have any of you ever gotten Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) to ferment beyond its stated 9% limit? Long story short, I had massive extraction problems today on a mini-mash barleywine and, to combat it, as well as add flavor, did a 2-hr boil. For some reason, I couldn't get BeerSmith to work out a change in OG for that additional boil time, so I wasn't sure where I'd end up. My original (i.e. before the shitty extraction problems) was 1.092. I hit 1.102. This is going to put my alcohol content up around 10%, rather than the approximately 8.75 it was supposed to be. I pitched this wort onto a washed yeast cake of 1968 that I just harvested today. My oxygen ran out last time, and I forget to get any more, so all I could do for aeration was to shake, and shake I did. I pitched a nice thick slurry, probably a bit over a cup (the cake was taken from a special bitter that was around 5%).

    Is there ANY chance this thing will ferment out to completion? If not, have any of you used any other kind of yeast strains (Champagne?) to kick-start barleywine fermentations? Here's the recipe.

    mini-mash, 5 gallons, 4.8 collected

    -6.3 lbs. Gold LME
    -3 lbs Maris Otter
    -8 oz Carapils
    -8 oz. English Dark Crystal
    -8 oz. English Medium Crystal
    -4 oz. Pale Chocolate
    -10 oz. Dark Brown Sugar
    -1 lb. Corn Sugar (Dextrose)


    -1 oz Brewers Gold (60 min)
    -1 oz EKG (60 min)
    -1 oz EKG (20 min)
    -1 oz Styrian Goldings (1 min)

    Thanks so much for all your help.
     
    #1 BedetheVenerable, Jun 3, 2012
  2. jokelahoma

    jokelahoma Savant (1,162) May 9, 2004 Missouri

    Nice timing. I just yesterday racked a 1968-fermented Old Ale over to a carboy to sit on some bourbon-soaked oak cubes. My OG on that one was 1.090 and it finished at 1.014, for about a 10% abv beer. Now granted, this was an entire cake of 1968 from a previous batch (an ESB at 1.058), and I did use a pound of demerara and a half pound of treacle in the recipe, so that could account for the 83% attenuation rate and the fact the yeast pulled a 10% beer without dying.

    Whatever the cause, I got 10% out of 1968, so given the right conditions, you may be able to as well.
     
    #2 jokelahoma, Jun 3, 2012
  3. NiceFly

    NiceFly Initiate (0) Dec 22, 2011 Tajikistan

    I have gotten to 10%ABV with 1968 with no problems a few times.
    I a few days ago I checked the gravity on a RIS. OG112 gravity after 6 days 28 and still going, 11% ABV.

    As long as you pitched enough yeast to compensate for the gravity difference you will be fine.
     
    #3 NiceFly, Jun 3, 2012
  4. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,647) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Pitch a large amount of yeast (as stated), give it plenty of O2 (shaking or O2 bottle/stone). You can even give it more O2 up to 10-12 hours later to give the yeast a boost. For a good fermentation, watch those temperatures.
     
    #4 hopfenunmaltz, Jun 3, 2012
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