High attenuation yeast

[Liam Callaghan]

I have an oatmeal stout thats a little too sweet and thick for want of a better word, sort of fills you up too much so you can't drink much of it.  I was thinking of adding a higher attenuation yeast to it in the keg and hopefully dry it out a little.

 

Anyone have any good yeast strains for this or advice on whether it will help or not?

 

 

[Richard Jack]

EC 1118? Usure if it'll help though. I've got some Uvaferm 43 you could try as well if you'd like some. that works for drying out wines, unsure if it works on beers.

[MrC]

I don't know about adding more yeast but here's a different idea. Boil up some hops and water and add it to the beer. The additional bitterness will reduce the perceived sweetness and the water thin out the body a bit.

[Richard Jack]

That's an interesting idea... you could try the same thing with a bit of gypsum, as well, right?

[MrC]

Yep, gypsum would crisp up & sharpen the bitterness if that's what you're after.  In theory, any water adjustments that you make to a beer that relate to bitterness would be applicable to this also. 

[JR]

What yeast did you use in the first place?

If it was a poorly attenuating one then the easy option might be US05.  You would want to get it going in a starter then add that to the keg.

[mattd2]

On this what was the OG/FG and what temp(s) did you mash at?

[Liam Callaghan]

They look like they are worth a try Richard, not sure about wine yeast in beer but its definitely worth a try.  I'll give the Uva a go if you have some spare, I might have a champagne yeast in the fridge already, I'll check tonight.

A friend has a similar issue with an ESB and he has just done the hop addition to his, I thought I would try another appraoch and we can get some understanding between us.  It was Saf05 in the original, the issue was the mash temp being too high initially.  Its was the last batch I made while I was reworking my brewing method (Speed brewing back to back beers). 

Not something thats likely to happen often but it would be good to understand how it can be modified if it does happen.

It's not a bad tasting beer its just hard to digest.  Its the one I brought to Limbo for tasting Richard.

Probably good if your on a diet, guarunteed no more than one beer per night :p

as long as you don't see the other 5 kegs inthe fridge of course...

[Richard Jack]

Oh, I liked that one! Heaps of uvaferm if you want it, just come grab it. I use it for sugar washes and distilling.

[Grant R Baker]

Heaps of alternative Yeasts at brewshop and thebrewhouse, some with very high attenuation.

 

Following the 'don't throw good money after bad' line of thought, maybe consider ageing it a bit longer so mellow out and next time change you base recipe... maybe reduce the Oatmeal or replace some of the Oatmeal with green barley (although that may be a bit Barley Wine-ish)... but won't be as thick.

[Liam Callaghan]

I think the recipe was pretty good, I just mashed it the wrong temp so was left with too many unfermentable sugars, I'm hoping the Uvaferm will break them down though...  Time will tell. 

 

Mashed at 68 degrees but left the lid open for a while and stirred to cool it, was a bit frantic on the day running a new system and over heated the strike water.  OG was 1.060 I think with FG 1.016.

 

My mate added hop oil to his and its worked a charm Mr C, balanced it out really well.

 

I'll try a gypsum addition before I run the yeast though it.  A good experimet either way.