37 Plato OG (1.164)

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tmains

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I'm trying to work out a clone for Midnight Sun's M.

Hypothetically speaking, if I were to try mashing a grain bill that large (looking at 34ish pounds of grain)... what problems will I run into. My mash tun can handle it, no worries there. But will I even be able to extract all of those sugars?

Any suggestions regarding such a large mash would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
I'd be way more concerned about fermentation. Fermenting a wort that high in gravity is a pretty dumb way to do it. You'd get way better results doing incremental feedings.

You efficiency will drop with such a large grain bill, maybe down to 55-60%. Be prepared for a looooong boil. You could try doing a wort mash, where you take the first runnings, and use them to mash into another bunch of grain. But you efficiency is not gonna be great.

You FG will be around 1.077, which seems really high. I've thought about brewing Avery's Mephistopheles (which is great, if you haven't had it), and that's 15% ABV and only starts at 1.145. Over 1.120 the osmotic pressure can will literally squeeze the yeast's guts out.
 
Why dont you try calling Midnight Sun and asking them how they start the ferment with a gravity that high? I was up there last july, and they're really helpful, and almost all started out as homebrewers (or at least thats what they told me). Their house yeast isnt really suited for a gravity that high, either...
 
You might be better off stating at like 1.100 with a monster yeast starter and then ramping it up with additional sugar additions to get it where you want it. Kind of like how DFH does their WWS and 120.
 
Why dont you try calling Midnight Sun and asking them how they start the ferment with a gravity that high? I was up there last july, and they're really helpful, and almost all started out as homebrewers (or at least thats what they told me). Their house yeast isnt really suited for a gravity that high, either...

I did actually. I was told to use Scottish yeast and high gravity Belgian. No feeding in increments, no added sugar. Straight brewed and fermented in a single action.
 
I'd be way more concerned about fermentation. Fermenting a wort that high in gravity is a pretty dumb way to do it. You'd get way better results doing incremental feedings.

You efficiency will drop with such a large grain bill, maybe down to 55-60%. Be prepared for a looooong boil. You could try doing a wort mash, where you take the first runnings, and use them to mash into another bunch of grain. But you efficiency is not gonna be great.

You FG will be around 1.077, which seems really high. I've thought about brewing Avery's Mephistopheles (which is great, if you haven't had it), and that's 15% ABV and only starts at 1.145. Over 1.120 the osmotic pressure can will literally squeeze the yeast's guts out.

Fletcher says it was a 4 hour boil, so I'm prepared for that. He also states that there was no feeding, or added sugars. Only the initial mash and boil.
We're looking for a FG of 1.075 or so.

A wort mash would be one way to do things. I would agree about the incremental feedings, but we're not trying to achieve a high ABV. We're shooting for 11.6%
 
I should clarify for the thread, as I wasn't very specific. OG is 1.164 and we're shooting for 11.6% ABV. Not trying to get this bad boy down to 1.00x. 20% ABV isn't the objective here. Just gonna be a really sweet beer. Only thing is- how do we get it to stop around 1.175? And THEN bottle condition it?
 
11.6% should halt most yeast anyways, so it'll probably stop on its own.

Bottle conditioning may be the problem, unless you can carb it before bottling.
 
tmains said:
I should clarify for the thread, as I wasn't very specific. OG is 1.164 and we're shooting for 11.6% ABV. Not trying to get this bad boy down to 1.00x. 20% ABV isn't the objective here. Just gonna be a really sweet beer. Only thing is- how do we get it to stop around 1.175? And THEN bottle condition it?

I would add EC-1118 when bottling. Heat 1 pint of water to 105*F and pitch the whole pack. Stir, wait 15mins stir again and add to your priming solution when temps are equal. Add to your bottling bucket when racking. My priming solution was 3.8oz corn sugar to 1 pint water. I did this with my 14.87% IIPA. It's been a little over 3weeks in the bottle and they carbed up nicely.

Cheers.
 
I would add EC-1118 when bottling. Heat 1 pint of water to 105*F and pitch the whole pack. Stir, wait 15mins stir again and add to your priming solution when temps are equal. Add to your bottling bucket when racking. My priming solution was 3.8oz corn sugar to 1 pint water. I did this with my 14.87% IIPA. It's been a little over 3weeks in the bottle and they carbed up nicely.

Cheers.

The bottle priming rate for EC-1118 is 50g/hl, so 50g/100L, so 10g/20L ~5 gal. Rehydration ratio is 5:1 water to yeast. So for 10g that'd be 50ml of water. 1 pint is 473ml.

http://www.annapolishomebrew.com/Prodsheets/EC1118.pdf
 
Nateo said:
The bottle priming rate for EC-1118 is 50g/hl, so 50g/100L, so 10g/20L ~5 gal. Rehydration ratio is 5:1 water to yeast. So for 10g that'd be 50ml of water. 1 pint is 473ml.

http://www.annapolishomebrew.com/Prodsheets/EC1118.pdf

Those numbers are all fine and dandy for champagne. We're talking about carbonation for beer. A beer with this alcohol level is carbonated less than a normal beer. If you have read the package it tells you to use 1 pt anyways. I'm just sharing my experience that works very well.

Cheers.

image-1714893004.jpg
 
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