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boostsr20 · 11-12-2011, 03:58 PM

What are you thinking for hops and ibus?

**smokinghole** · 11-12-2011, 07:47 PM

I'm aiming for 95ish IBUs and I'm using Calypso hops. I have them and figured I'd use them. I figure year or so that this will sit in the fermentor for secondary fermenation much of the bitterness will subside. Plus much of the flavor of the hops will be gone I think as well.

**smokinghole** · 11-19-2011, 07:30 PM

Well I did Calypso FWH and will be adding some at 10 minutes to see if anything sticks around. I should have right around 100ibus that fade through the year long secondary. I will likely dry hop it before I bottle also. One interesting thing I did was add 6 grams of finely ground roast barley right to the kettle. I saw that as a technique listed on the Brewer's Association website spotlight on RIS. In the recipe .05lb in a 100lb grain bill was added to the kettle. After a little math I got .0125oz or about 6grams. I added them with my FWH.

2.5hr boil with 1:45 left to go. It's black as the night and smells awesome!

statseeker · 11-21-2011, 10:29 AM

Awesome. Get some pics when you get it in the fermenter.

**smokinghole** · 11-21-2011, 10:53 AM

I'll take some pics once a pellicle forms. I ended up a 1.117. It originally ended up at 1.127 but I diluted it just a tad. I figure it already has the potential of being 12.5%abv no need to go higher. The brew day went fine doing the decoctions, it's just messy pulling the decoctions with a pitcher.

The yeast went gang busters by morning. I had roughly 3 gallons of head space in the fermentor and I still had crazy blow off. I had to change the blow off bottle twice due to overflowing into the container I had it sitting in to catch the eventual overflow. I will take the gravity when I transfer to secondary in a few weeks. I will be adding 2oz of french medium toasted oak cubes for the duration of secondary.

statseeker · 11-21-2011, 11:11 AM

Yeah, seriously, 1.127 is crazy. Did you use an oxygen stone? I would think something that high in gravity (1.117) is going to need a serious infusion and possibly several in the first day to make sure everything gets to the level it needs to be. Granted the brett is going to do its work on the less-fermentable sugars, but from what I understand you want the sacc to do all it can in this yeast mix before the brett takes its turn.

**smokinghole** · 11-21-2011, 03:04 PM

I hit it with an oxygen stone for sure. I'm not too worried about infusing a whole lot of oxygen past the initial infusion because of the brett. I will transfer and it will pick up some O2 at that point for the long secondary. If this was a Sacch only fermentation I'd be worried about oxygen for the primary yeast but it's a mixed culture. The sacch can derive nutrients from the dead sacch and other compounds in the beer. I'm going to let the beer do its own thing. Short of my first 02 infusion I will let it go at ambient temps to do whatever it does through the year.

The only thing I'm concerned about is the high abv environment. I know that brett can live in up to 18% abv wines. However the data I've seen is that it dies at a much lower alcohol setting in laboratory studies. I think it might have to do with how they add the alcohol or something but we'll see.

statseeker · 11-21-2011, 10:56 PM

I think that might be because the brett is shielded in the wine barrels and has access to extra sugars that it can feed on in the wood. Looking forward to hearing the results in a year's time.

**smokinghole** · 12-01-2011, 01:32 AM

Well after 11 days the primary fermentation seemed to be finished for the most part. My plan seems to have worked out beautifully! The gravity at transfer is 1.040 so hopefully it doesn't drop more than 20 more points from the brett.

sudndeth · 12-01-2011, 02:07 AM

Nice, I haven't checked on mine in a while. Do you plan on racking to a secondary at all, or leaving it in the primary?