Beer Forum

I was listening to the podcast 'craftbrewer radio' and Graham was discussing pitching a new yeast into the secondary to add complexity and to help clean up any residual fermentables, particularly in a belgian triple. Mine (first time triple) is in the primary, it is day seven and the gravity is 1.013. The Midwest kit calls for a 1.012-1.014 final gravity. The question is (finally... I know, but I am drinking while i brew...), is a new yeast adding anything beyond more work knowing the gravity is good (not bad for my fourth brew)? Is the aussie knucklehead right? Or will the new yeast not find anything to eat, and cause problems by shitting on my hard work? Should I just stop crying like a bitch, rack to secondary, and bottle next week?
thanks for the help

[quote=Should I just stop crying like a bitch, rack to secondary, and bottle next week?
thanks for the help[/quote]

Are you familiar with the yeast strain your are using? You may really like it the way it is as Belgians, especially a Triple is all about the yeast.
I am not sure about what characteristics a second yeast will give you, but if you forgo it, I would keep you beer in the primary for another week or two and see if you can squeak a few more points out of it.
If after you taste the finished product and are not happy with the strain or want to try something different, brew the same beer again and add a another yeast strain at the end.
With just this one variable changed you will know the difference and then you will be an expert on this.
But it sounds like at 1.013 it is going to be a great beer.
Cheers.
Fritz

I agree with Fritz, don't add another yeast, leave it in the primary for at least another week and forgo the secondary all together. Yes, the Aussie is a knucklehead

I was making a doppelbock one time and I had made it with california lager yeast so I could do it around 65 degrees. I got the gravity down to about 1.032 and it was way too sweet so I wanted to get it down some more. I tried throwing in champagne yeast because I thought it was fairly neutral. It got the gravity down alright and completely overpowered every last bit of lager-like character. It ended up being more like an old ale. Turned out to be a damn good beer just not quite what I was going for. So don't put any different yeast in there in secondary.