higher gravity attentuation and dryness

[Seangoloid]

Greetings Comrades!
I'm working on an imperial red ale of sorts and am at a fork in the road regarding which yeast to use. I want something that will attenuate down pretty far to get the dryness I want. I was thinking that a Dry English Ale strain would do the trick, or possibly an Irish Ale strain, but not sure if the latter would be able to handle the higher starting gravity (probably about 20° plato) and still finish out properly. I was also thinking about a Pacific Northwest Ale strain as well...

Anyone have experience with this style and any of these strains? Issues? Concerns?

Cheers!

[Ray Hodge]

I am also working on two new high gravity ales that I want to have good attenuation, one an imperial ipa and the other a barley wine at 25P. I narrowed it down to London Ale or Chico(1056), and think I will go with the 1056 due to familiarity with its flavor and fermentation characteristics. I have also gotten better attenuation than specs by higher pitching and temperature, so I think either of these or Irish could get you to 80% with no trouble. Any comments appreciated. Good luck!

[a10t2]

What's your target FG? With proper mash temperature and maybe a little simple sugar, any yeast should be able to ferment to 4-5°P. To get to <4°P you may need to be careful about strain selection.

[chaser]

I like the 007 strain you mentioned. Was able to consistently get a 24 plato IIPA down to 4 or below with it. We used all the techniques suggested previously to coax it along and it was usually a 8 or 9 day fermentation.

[Seangoloid]

007

I do like the 007, as we are currently using it for our IPA. Attenuation is great, however it's a little more estery than I want for this little project.
I would like it to get down to 3° plato at the highest if at all possible... Again, this is where my dilemma comes into play. I like the dryness, however I don't want it to stall out, leaving too much residual sweetness. Which, I think, is where the London strain would be the better choice... still not sure though.
Thanks for the insight, and I'll let ya'll know how it turns out.

Cheers!

[a10t2]

I would like it to get down to 3° plato at the highest if at all possible...

So you're looking for 85% ADF, minimum. I've used the London Ale strain (as W1028) pretty extensively, but haven't seen it go quite that high.

Have you thought about Nottingham? That's the most attenuative yeast I've personally used - even more so than Chico.