Mad idea? Use champagne yeast and Crystal Malt?

[allanmb]

So, I thought I would update this thread with the results. The brew fermented for about 6 weeks! It came out at around 10% which wasnt quite as strong as I aimed for but still mighty strong. The taste was superb! It was ultra hoppy, and crisp with a touch of biscuity malt sweetness. It was definitely not too dry. It was dangerously drinkable for such a high ABV. Needless to say I will be making this again in a 23L batch

[spanspoon]

So, I thought I would update this thread with the results. The brew fermented for about 6 weeks! It came out at around 10% which wasnt quite as strong as I aimed for but still mighty strong. The taste was superb! It was ultra hoppy, and crisp with a touch of biscuity malt sweetness. It was definitely not too dry. It was dangerously drinkable for such a high ABV. Needless to say I will be making this again in a 23L batch

nice 1 what was your final recipe? i've got a brew thats stuck at 1.040 (OG being 1.085) and was thinking of adding champagne yeast to bring it down a bit. i was a little fearful of using champagne yeast but after reading this thread i might give it a go.

[allanmb]

The recipe was:

To make 1 gallon (4.5L)

Ingredients:
300g Pale Crystal Malt
400g Medium DME
500g Brewers Sugar +more for bottle conditioning
11.5g packet of Safale US-05 yeast
5g packet of Gervin GV10 champagne yeast
50g of Simcoe pellets
Whirlfloc tablet and/or beer finings

60 mins:
10g Simcoe

30 mins:
10g Simcoe

10 mins:
Whirlfloc

Dry Hop:
30g Simcoe

Target IBU: 58
Target ABV: 11.2%
Estimated OG: 1086 (1044 before sugar goes in)
Estimated FG: 1002
Estimated Colour: EBC 49

Partial Grain:
- Mill grain to desired consistency - good default is 0.045 inches (0.11 cm)
- Start with pan of cold of water ~4litres (no more than 3/4 full) with a lid/plate on the bottom to save the grain touching the bottom
- Add grain to a bag and place inside pan (Dont add any of the dust that may spill from the bag)
- Bring the temp of the pan and contents up to 70C
- Put lid on and leave to steep for 45-60 mins (ensure temp doesnt dip below 65C)
- Remove and Sparge the grains, do not squeeze!
- Remove the plate/lid before proceeding to bring the temp up to a boil

- Add 200g of the DME, bring to boil and let froth clear (hot break) making sure not to let anything stick to the bottom of the pot
- Add the hops in bags in stages as listed above, keep a good rolling boil and keep topping up to counter evaporation
- Add a whirlfloc tablet (if using) with 10 mins left to go
- At flame out, cool quickly leaving in hops
- add the rest of the DME
- Once cooled below 20C, remove hops, but do not squeeze the hops out
- Sparge the hop bags by pouring small amount of boiling water over the bags (dont go over 4L!)
- transfer to demijohn and top up to 4L with cold tap water if needed
- Once temp is below 22C, take OG reading and pitch the ale yeast
- Leave to ferment at 18C with an airlock for 10-14 days until no fermentation any more
- Dissolve the 500g of sugar in minimum amount of boiled water (~150ml) until dissolved
- Add to fermenter
- make a yeast starter with champagne yeast and add to fermenter
- Leave to ferment at 18C with an airlock for 14 days (this took 28 days!)
- add dry hops.
- Leave for 7 days with airlock
- Syphon into another demijohn, take final gravity reading then add 25g of brewers sugar.
- Bottle and leave in a warm dark place to carbonate for 14 days
- Transfer to fridge to settle and clear for 21-28 days
- Cross fingers and taste!

Final Gravity was 1009 but I think it was because I didn't manage to get all of the fermentables properly dissolved. I still had clumps of DME.

I'd say give the champagne yeast a go, especially if you have any Crystal Malt or other malt that doesnt fully ferment. The results of this were fantastic. I can't wait to try it again with a bigger batch and perfect the recipe

[orlando]

Another quick aside: in my experience, the Adnams dual-strain and the Ringwood dual-strain are English ale yeasts capable of fermenting even drier than Champagne yeast can, all things being equal.

I've used Adnams yeast for my last 3 brews and despite mashing low with all of them I've only got it to 1.008, one of which was on the yeast for 3 weeks.

[6470zzy]

Most wine yeasts can't ferment maltotriose and are generally bad at fermenting maltose, your best bet would be to ferment it initially with something like notty or us05 then add simple sugar and champagne yeast to really bump up the alcohol

but notty should do an 11% beer on its own i think


edit:
sorry misread the brewers sugar as DME

In your case, then just champagne yeast would be a good idea as it'll chew through all of that but leave the maltose, if a steeped crystal leaves much of it. I don't know if it does


try it, but i suspect it would be minging, but aging it for a year might make it an ok wine

Champagne yeast cannot ferment maltotriose whereas Lalvin K1-V1116 can. I have used it several times for ales and find it to be pleasant enough as well as being very economical compared to beer yeast.
http://www.danstaryeast.com/articles/sp ... st-strains
Cheers

[Hanglow]

Cheers, that's good to know

What sort of pitch rate/temp etc did you use? I'm going to brew a strong english ale next week and you've given me the idea to hoy in one of the 5g packets along with some repitched s04 to add a bit of complexity

[6470zzy]

The Lalvin K1-V1116 doesnt play well with other yeasts as it is a "killer strain" If you want to use S04 then use that 1st and add the Lalvin K1-V1116 to finish off the brew. I like to keep the ferment between 15-18C and don't forget to properly rehydrate.

Cheers

[far9410]

sorry replied without reading!