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I recently brewed a Tom Hardy's old ale recipe, that i screwed up and planning on doing it again. and looking for advice, when i get it correct.

in the directions, it says "once the fermentation has abated, to rack to a barrel and add a sachet of wine yeast to it and stash it somewhere and forget it for 3 months. "

I understand the barrel aging of it, but don't quite understand why the wine yeast is added to the barrel?

recipe specifics

size 2.5 US gal

mash at 151F @ 90 mins

OG 1.125

Racking Gravity 1.028

no FG given. abv~13%

[directions_01]

[directions_12]

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With that OG and mash temp it will have a lot of fermentables, that OG really goes into Wee Heavy and English Barley Wine territory.

The wine yeast sounds like it's to finish out the few remaining gravity points and for natural carbonation using a 2 bar air lock on the barrel.

Update: The additions of the wine yeast are to insure a good FG and added again with sugar at bottling time for carbonation and aging.

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  • I added some pictures of the directions, i think you are right about the wine yeast to clean up the last few points, and it wouldn't be for carbonation since it gives bottling instructions with adding more yeast. and yes, its in the range for barley wine.
    – jsolarski
    Commented Apr 25, 2016 at 22:44
  • The instructions seem pretty clear, only add wine yeast IF you get a stuck fermentation. Or when its time to barrel. And then again at bottling time.
    – Evil Zymurgist
    Commented Apr 26, 2016 at 3:17
  • The instructions are great, but I think you answered my question about why, it just seems odd to me that you would add so much yeast, and wine yeast at that to finish. thanks!
    – jsolarski
    Commented Apr 26, 2016 at 3:39

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