St. Paddy's Day Red

joeirvine · 01-27-2012, 02:16 PM

I brewed an Irish Red two weeks ago that I'm planning on saving for St. Paddy's day. I've done the recipe before and I call it Irish Republican Ale or IRA for short... Anyways, since it is for St. Paddy's day I upped the fermentables a bit and after all is said and done, it seems my Notty has gotten the beer to around 8%. Just to add a little more Irish-ness to the concauction I've considered adding a pint of Jameson's into the mix.

With ABV already being decently high, will this cause a problem in the bottle conditioning? I usually let the beer sit for a month before checking for carbonation, but I have a few things working against me. One being a high ABV, Two if I bottle this weekend I have a month and a half for conditioning, and Three... I'm a poor college student in on the border of Canada so we have our heat turned down pretty low and the house average temp is less that 60F.

Is it doable, or should I just get that stuff bottle with out the whiskey and hope a month and half at 55 degrees is sufficient?

**thughes** · 01-27-2012, 02:23 PM

Skip the whiskey for now and just do Irish car bombs when it comes time to drink the beer.

**RM-MN** · 01-27-2012, 02:50 PM

Put your bottles in a smaller room/compartment and use a portable heater to make the room/space it is in a little warmer. It won't cost much but it might ensure carbonation. You're already stressing the yeast with the high alcohol, why stress them more with cold temps? If you can't afford to heat a little space for a couple weeks, you can't afford to drink.

**starman** · 01-27-2012, 03:43 PM

I've been playing with an adjustable aquarium heater in a plastic tote with some success. Essentially the same method documented in other threads for primary ferm temp control, except using the heaters built in t-stat instead of the ebay controller. Just keep the water level below the caps and the heater off the plastic tub bottom. $15 bucks for an adjustable aquarium heater and $5 for a tote should get you close. Maybe less if you can craigslist a heater.

Of course my current version has four star rube goldberg status... double decker to fit 50 22 oz with overflows and a reservoir/pump to keep the water height consistant.

joeirvine · 01-27-2012, 05:20 PM

Got the aquarium and tote already. I'll flush them damn fish and put it to use... I like your thinking.

@RM-MN, I'm in college, I'm always going to find a way to afford being able to drink. Hence the 55 degree house... Maybe even skip a car payment or two if I have to.