Refermentation question

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Hello chaps, looking for a bit of advice. I'm looking to brew a clone of Brooklyn Brewery's Black Ops Imperial Stout from the BYO magazine book. Up until now I've played it relatively safe with standard brews (APAs, bitters, stouts etc). This one though is a bit more complex as it requires 6 months aging in secondary vessel and bourbon soaked oak chips. These things I'm fine with. The bit I'm not sure about is the refermentation at bottling. The recipe calls for Lallemand CBC-1 yeast (I believe its a champagne yeast) but doesnt specify how many packets for 19 litres of beers. I dont want to decorate my walls with 10.7% stout if I use too much, but I want a bit of life in the beer. Also do you fling the yeast into the bottling bucket with the priming sugar (I prefer to batch prime) just before bottling? It's at least 6 months away, but I like to be prepared! Any advice is most welcome!

 

[ChrisRedWills]

I've got no help what so ever I've never brewed this but it sounds absolutely gorgeous I think if I was going in blind I would do a yeast starter using all the packet and mix gently into the priming bucket with your dissolved sugar as normal I would imagine this will need a long time conditioning but would be worth it theres plenty off seasoned brewers on here that will help you and no doubt tell me I'm full of s#!t
lol good luck I will be keeping an eye on this

 

[stz]

I don't want to advise doing something different to a proven recipe as the proof is often in the beer, but there is often more than one way to skin a cat. Personally I'd look to use a greater quantity of oak chips for a shorter duration, say 10-14 days and then let the 6 months of ageing happen in keg or bottle. At least that way you've a good chance of having viable yeast for priming. The issue is what impact is sought from the wood? Flavour contribution? The gradual breakdown and softening of tannins? Lignin degrading to vanillin? But it is certainly possible to extract a great deal of oak character and tannins over a shorter duration.

Also for the yeast. Reseeding on pack is a thing, you don't really need a lot. Enough to give 1-2 @ 10^6 cells per ml is plenty. CBC-1 is 10 @ 10^9 per gram. You'd want 1.9g for 19L. Mix it into a little warm boiled water. Add it to the beer and ensure it is evenly distributed.

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Thanks for the replies guys. The bourbon soaked wood chips is meant to mimic bourbon barrels according to the recipe notes and the secondary 6 month conditioning is to introduce slight oxidation mimicking barrels aging I think. Fingers crossed this works, 6 months is a long time to wait for drain cleaner!