repitching to finish a high gravity beer

[brewinhard]

My english barleywine might need to be repitched to finish up (still slowly dropping in gravity so we shall see) and I was wondering if a pint starter pitched at high krausen would be sufficient enough or if I should make up a quart starter instead. Really only need to gain about 15 points at most. Was planning on using WY 1056 to clean things up. Any thoughts?

[spiderwrangler]

You don't really need to have propagation happening in your starter, just getting the yeast active and rocking so they can go to town on your stalled ferment. I would imagine that either would be fine.

[brewinhard]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. The barleywine is still chugging away (about 3 bubbles/12 sec) so I may not even need to repitch, but it's always good to be prepared. Thanks!

[spiderwrangler]

That's still fairly active, I'd let it keep working, don't worry about pushing it to get it done in a certain time window, it'll be a beer you are going to need to be patient with anyway once it's packaged!

[brewinhard]

Eeked out about 6 more points and got it down to a 1.033. The hydro sample tasted phenomenal, not overly syrupy, sweet, or cloying. Think I might just let it be and keg it for long term aging.

[scotchpine]

What yeast did you use, 002? What was your og? If it's only been in fermenter for 10 days or so, I think I'd let it sit on the cake another week or so. No point in rushing this one. Maybe raise the temp a little to clean up good.

[brewinhard]

Used WY 1968 yeast cake with an OG of 1.110. Attenuated down to about 72% with that strain so the yeast definitely worked hard for me. I have since raised the temps up to 70F and let the beer sit for some time. Not rushing this one at all, just wanted it to finish well. The last sample I tasted was richly malty with a good dose of balancing bitterness, not cloying or syrupy as I had expected even at 1.033 FG. I was going to repitch to try to eek out a few more points but enjoyed the way it tasted so much that I chose not to. A good 10% BWine will be tasting just fine next winter and beyond.....

[scotchpine]

That beer sounds awsome! I would have to hide that one real good from myself.