High Gravity Help

biohazzardbrewing · 09-10-2007, 06:06 PM

I just made a batch of APA and in an effort to get my abv up to 6, I got a little bit over zealous and wound up with a starting gravity of 1.070. What should I expect and is there anything special I should do? Longer fermentations, conditioning, etc?
Thanks

**Yooper** · 09-10-2007, 06:10 PM

If you have a starter made, that will help alot (or pitch two vials of liquid yeast). The fermentation shouldn't take longer, but it might take longer to age it. Also, you might want to consider dryhopping even if you didn't plan to originally. Your beer will be out of balance if you didn't add more bittering hops to counter the additional fermentables and you might be able to cover that a bit with some dry hopping. Make sure you oxygenate before pitching the yeast to keep the yeast healthy and happy and from being stressed.

I can't think of anything else right now!

FlyGuy · 09-10-2007, 07:46 PM

Just to add one thing to Lorena's advice -- if you bottle condition, the beer *might* take a little longer to carbonate. Don't expect it to be done in anything less than three weeks (if it is, hey - pleasant surprise). Regardless, and as Lorena suggests, you want to age this beer a bit more anyways, so leave it in the bottle longer than you would have otherwise.