Fermenting in a cornie

[Mike]

For my next two beers (in order), I'm going to brew Jamil's Flanders Red and then Denny's Old Stoner barleywine. I'd like to brew the red one weekend and let it sit in primary for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, I'm thinking of racking the red into a cornie, pitching the Roselare yeast starter then brewing the barleywine and pitching the US-05 yeast slurry from the red. I'd let the red fester in the cornie for 6-12 months as instructed.

My question is since I'll be pitching the Roselare yeast into the cornie, it won't exactly be like I'm aging in the cornie since I'm pitching active yeast, but then again, it won't have much left at all to ferment. Will there be CO2 I'll need to let out occasionally via the pressure release value or not? Should I secondary the Roselare in a carboy for a couple weeks then transfer everything (yeast and all) into the cornie for aging? What should I do?

Lastly, should I transfer the barleywine onto the entire yeast cake from the red or should I use Jamil's yeast calculator to get an exact pitching quantity? I've never reused yeast before.

Thanks!

 

[TheTooth]

For my next two beers (in order), I'm going to brew Jamil's Flanders Red and then Denny's Old Stoner barleywine. I'd like to brew the red one weekend and let it sit in primary for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, I'm thinking of racking the red into a cornie, pitching the Roselare yeast starter then brewing the barleywine and pitching the US-05 yeast slurry from the red. I'd let the red fester in the cornie for 6-12 months as instructed.

My question is since I'll be pitching the Roselare yeast into the cornie, it won't exactly be like I'm aging in the cornie since I'm pitching active yeast, but then again, it won't have much left at all to ferment. Will there be CO2 I'll need to let out occasionally via the pressure release value or not? Should I secondary the Roselare in a carboy for a couple weeks then transfer everything (yeast and all) into the cornie for aging? What should I do?

Lastly, should I transfer the barleywine onto the entire yeast cake from the red or should I use Jamil's yeast calculator to get an exact pitching quantity? I've never reused yeast before.

Thanks!

Lots of questions here. I'll do my best to answer them as best I can.

1. Fermenting in kegs: I use them for primaries for all of my beers. I have a set of kegs that I have trimmed the dip tubes on and drilled holes in the lids for gromets to hold airlocks. Later, I heard of a less invasive technique for airlock... simply run a length of tubing from an in(co2) disconnect to a jar of sanitizer/water. You're basically creating a small diameter blow-off tube.

The nice thing about using cornies for primaries is that I can put a normal lid on it and use CO2 to rack from fermenter to serving keg under pressure. They are also very easy to move around and fit well in my fermentation fridges.

2. Pitching on a yeast cake: I have done this for big beers and an apple wine. Basically, after an apple cider finished fermenting, I racked to serving keg and poured the ingredients for an apple wine right on the yeast cake. Worked perfectly. I've also done this for beers... make a stout or a brown, then pour wort for an RIS on the cake. Worked like a charm.

3. Flanders Red Advice: Sorry... I haven't brewed one of these yet, so I have no experience with the roselare culture.