All-Grain - Imperial Honey Porter - Page 9

matalec1984 · 07-08-2011, 06:44 PM

I chose this as my first big beer to tackle. Was wondering if I could get some thoughts on pitching a second yeast and also carbonating. I know there's a lot of posts in here about it but they are pretty scattered.

I have packet of champagne yeast I was thinking about throwing in as a second yeast in secondary. Thoughts? Also I've read mixed reviews on how much priming sugar to use. I've heard use less around 3.5-4 oz. and I've heard to use more 6-7 oz. Which way should I be leaning?

CPADRE · 08-17-2011, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vaughn

Anyone else brew this lately? I am thinking about brewing it again and adding less honey and throwing in some maple syrup.

I was thinking the same thing. Did you brew it? how did it turn out?

**Saccharomyces** · 08-24-2011, 06:41 PM

Maple syrup would be nice. I used clover honey the first time, wildflower the second, the wildflower was "funky", better to stick with something more neutral, I think.

Bottle conditioning big beers is tricky, I have used Montrachet added to the bottling bucket, works great, carbs up and clears much faster. I don't like this beer overcarbonated so I'd stick with 5oz or less of priming sugar.

akardam · 10-12-2011, 10:18 PM

What do you think about a month in primary and a second month in secondary with toasted oak cubes (soaked in whiskey) for a wood barrel hint to the overall profile of this beer?

i'm thinking of re-brewing this this weekend, but not confident with decoction.. will single mash fusion at 154F suffice for an hour?

thanks in advance!

vichmania · 12-20-2011, 03:10 AM

brewed this up this up 4 months ago. sat in the primary 3.5 weeks, then went straight to bottle for conditioning. just cracked one open after sitting in the bottle for 3 months. very tasty, but didn't carbonate completely. think i may have to give coopers carb drops a shot at this to save it. thoughts?

ashplub · 12-21-2011, 06:13 AM

How much sugar did you use? What was your final volume? What temp are the bottles at? You might try taking them all and rolling them around on the floor to get the yeast back into suspension (assuming you used the correct amount of sugar) and then trying another in a month or so. This beer will drink better under-carbed than over.

akardam · 02-19-2012, 06:31 PM

brewed this beer up back in november and everything reading was on the dot. the only difference is that I pitched in the irish yeast 1048 because i couldn't find american or london ale yeasts. rumors say this irish yeast doesn't ferment well for high gravity ales and gets tired quite easily.. the outcome was that it fermented completely to 1.030 instead of 1.015. i tried stirring a bit of the yeast and elevating the temperature but that only bought me a few points. i am tempted to pitch in a dry yeast to ferment this to its final destination and give hope of carbonating it. what do you guys think??
the thing is that it is super tasty and i don't won't to blow it!!

akardam · 02-19-2012, 06:32 PM

brewed this beer up back in november and every reading was on the dot. the only difference is that I pitched in the irish yeast 1048 because i couldn't find american or london ale yeasts. rumors say this irish yeast doesn't ferment well for high gravity ales and gets tired quite easily.. the outcome was that it fermented completely to 1.030 instead of 1.015. i tried stirring a bit of the yeast and elevating the temperature but that only bought me a few points. i am tempted to pitch in a dry yeast to ferment this to its final destination and give hope of carbonating it. what do you guys think??
the thing is that it is super tasty and i don't won't to blow it!!

matalec1984 · 02-19-2012, 10:24 PM

^^ I'd probably throw something like a nottingham in and see if you could jump start the fermentation.

On a side note, I'm about to do this beer again, but I plan on using my beergun to bottle with and carbonate using co2. I haven't done a big beer with co2 before. Anything I should be looking out for. I would love to not avoid pitching more yeast and carbing with sugar since it has caused me some issues with big beers in the past.

**66Fox** · Yesterday, 12:09 AM

I posted some some questions about scaling this down and fermenting in the
recipes section--and the crickets chirping was I heard in response : (

I know its frowned upon here to repost the same questions in different sections, but I'd like to brew this so its ready to bottle when I get back. Is 4 months in the primary going to be too long? I have a 3 gallon glass carboy to keep this in and my crawl space doesn't change temps much. It may top out at 68-70 come August then taper back off. I figure a month in the primary then rack to the carboy (my secondary) and forget it until I return. (I have two kegs of a Elliot Ness clone lagering that I will be able to drink immediately upon my return

) I plan to bottle this batch since I normally keg, I have a bunch of flippies to put this in, so this should be ready by Christmas.

Here is my 3 gallon version:

Grain:
6lbs Maris Otter
2 lbs Munich (10L)
.5 lb Crystal 60
.38 lb Carafa II (~450L) I have chocolate I could use here too
.44 lb special B
.1 lb Black barley (not malted)

1 lb honey at flameout (maybe 2?)

Hops: (It’s what I have)
1oz northern brewer @60 min
1oz cascade @ 30min
1oz Willamette @15min
1oz cascade @10min
1oz Willamette @ flameout

Yeast: Wyeast 1728 Belgian Abbey II (or Wyeast mead yeast) at least two packs and maybe in a 1 Ltr starter. I have an O2 setup to use for this too.

Brew Pal says:
40L
OG 1.102
FG 1.025 (seems high)

I know the weight of the grains are weird, I used grams to get the percentages close then went back to pounds and rounded things some. I hope to have some smoke/roast flavor like the Edmund Fitz porter fm Great Lakes.

Any help is appreciated thanks!