Wood-Aged Beer Pirate Strong Ale

I don't keg...yet. I keep buying supplies (100 lbs of DME recently) storage containers, fermenters....it's like an addiction. And it's ending up all over my basement and my SWMBO get's a little frustrated. So I hand her a beer and she calms down for a bit

So, I'll be bottling this one. But, It'll be ready in time for a beach trip we have planned at the end of July.

I came in a little lower than expected on my OG at 1.076. I'll be curious to see what the FG measure comes to. It's already bubblin' away thanks to that starter though so I have high hopes.

Thanks again for sharing this!

Usually a 10oz pour but tonight it's a 16oz...looking forward to the weekend you guys.

So when you head to bottle stage do you have to prime or Is their enough sugar left to carb on its own?

You have to prime to get the carbonation needed. Not enough sugar left if its sat in primary/secondary long enough.

My batch is still actively fermenting..going strong now for 10 days!

Local brew didn't have American ale so I went with WL california ale p001 no starter dumped 2 tubes see what happens come the morning time! Used DME vice 2 row but had torttied wheat an other.

Bottled this last night. Used 2 oz dextrose and 3 oz brown sugar because it was all that was in hand. I had a fg of 1.017. tasted like pineapple, cinnamon and rum. Ill have to save some of these for the fall time.

Some Pirate in a big glass, smoking ribs, pandora killing some tunes....not a bad day

And....going to use it for the 2 step on the 3-2-1 method for smoking ribs

DAMMMMMMIT!!!! I'm still sittin' here waitin' for this bloomin' thing. I have 12 days before I rack onto the flippin' oak chips......argh. Speakin' of which, 24 hours in advance, I may toss the vanilla bean into the oak/rum solution then toss into the carboy/bucket. Not sure yet. The stuff looks better in the back yard in that Duvel glass too. I ended up buying the 4pack gift pack 2 x just to get that glass after I broke it by accident

Racked to secondary yesterday, so now to wait another week or so to bottle and condition.
As i said the OG was 1.091, final gravity came in at 1.010 --10.8% abv before the rum adds a bit to it. So yea hopefully this will be tasty...going to be an ass kicker as is

Holy crap, Draygon. That IS going to drop some people. I already planned to go and get some new glasses for this brew due to the %. I only have 16oz flip top bottles and I think it will be in everyone's interest to have a smaller glass of thisn'.

Five weeks in the keg and this stuff just gets better

So OG was 1.080 and bubbling away, dropped a few cloves in with the cinnamon, used 1 clove for each gallon and a few French roast coffee beans to try and give hints.
It smells grate coming out of the air lock and a nice amber color in the fermenter, a couple more days to the secondary cant wait to see the color in the glass carboy!

Moved into second ferm, gravity is 1.014

Did a taste reminded me of an IPA, but it still has time with the oak and rum

I am half way through my keg...

lol, all that means is you need to make more. I racked onto the oak chips this past Friday and washed the yeast so I could make more of this later in the year. SG was 1.014 down from 1.076 so I'm doing OK so far I think.

I am surprised by the airlock activity....well, lack thereof anyway. It's completely still - sorta eerie. Like, not even up at all. That normal?

What can I use as a substitute for the Weyermann CaraAroma? My local homebrew shop does not stock this. Thanks!

Nice I am going to have to try this

You could sub for Belgian Special B but not sure what the conversion would be.

Airrick, just an FYI but I know that Brewgadgets.com has it. That's where I got mine from. Shipping will be on there but it shouldn't be much....and it might be worth it.

I ended up buying Weyermann Caramunich III....will that be alright?

pwortiz said:

Airrick, just an FYI but I know that Brewgadgets.com has it. That's where I got mine from. Shipping will be on there but it shouldn't be much....and it might be worth it.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I will check it out when I get off of work.

Bottling my first batch of Pirate Ale, taste test is nice and friendly and will wake you up!

I'm one week out from bottling. I always bottle a 10oz so I can check it after a week or so to verify carbing progress...tonight's that night!

I just put it in 10 oz bottle was going to use my 24s, but since it seems to be kick butt better smaller bottles to keep it easy

Yeah, that's probably a REALLY smart idea. Mine are all in 16oz but I'm figuring I'll be splitting those with the SWMBO.

So pwortiz.....how was the tasting?

it was already tasty I'm looking forward to seeing how this one ages a bit. I could taste the spices and the oak was pronounced but in that soft manner that they said would be regarding the hungarian type. I was able to taste the hints of pineapple but think I would like to throw in a second vanilla bean next time to see if I can draw that out a tad more. Also, I'll be using that Captain Morgan Tattoo rum I had mentioned earlier my next version because I am DEFINITELY making this again!

Thanks alot for posting this, man! If i ever keg, this will be one of the first i put in.

Fresh pineapple or canned pineapple?

FRESH pineapple. I honestly am not sure what the difference would end up being as long as it was in pineapple juice....but I used a fresh one...almost ate the entire remaining portion during the boil too

Ok so did a taste test tonight and the beer has a strong green taste to it, slight carbonation, hint of oak and pineapple. just wondering on the green taste to it. Might need to sit another week in the bottles. Chilled the bottle to about 36 degree

Green?.....I am imagining a "grass or plant-like" flavor? My carb level was also a little low, but I don't think that's going to be an issue if we give it at least 3 weeks. How much priming sugar did you use btw? I think I used 5.15 oz.

I have never bottled this beer, so I would not be able to comment on carbonation times. When I keg this beer is super drinkable right away.

Since this is week 2 in the bottle, I'm actually gonna chuck my next one in the fridge to check carb level tonight

I used same amount of prime sugar, the green is grassy, the wife said it tasted if uncook bread dough.

Alright, 2 weeks in the bottle I can tell a difference. It's mellowing nicely and the carbonation has come MUCH further along! Nice head. Good flavors all working together. I can't wait for week 3's taste test

Grimmer, I'm not sure about that grassy-ness... I know what you're talking about though because I had one like that last year: the AHS Lavender Saison tasted like I was chewing on a stalk of grass. It mellowed after a while (like 2 months) but was always there. I think it's possible something might have gotten in there somehow or at some point but I don't know what. Is there any part of the recipe that you didn't follow or changed? <- I type that and am going to look back in the history to see if you mentioned it earlier.

Keg is kicked.....sadface

Just brewed this up on Saturday night. Ended up hitting 1.092 with about 4.5 gallons. Yeast is working away as I type. A few questions...Do you add in the rum with the oak chips or strain the rum out and just add the chips? I have never actually transferred a beer to a new carboy for the secondary stage fermentation, would it be alright to just add the oak chips into the same carboy after 3 weeks? Thanks!!!

I'm assuming you had to use nearly the full bottle of rum, right? I did - if you didn't, please tell me your secret! So, adding all that rum would basically be bad juju for your beer says I.

I filtered mine out using a mesh bag over another container so I could save the "oaked rum" and use it in some marinades or something down the road - you can definitely get the difference in taste!

That said, you're going to want to transfer if you have that option so that you have 2 things going on:
1) You're removing the beer from all the proteins that have settled out.
2) Clarity of the final product will be better as you'll have less protein base to suck up when racking to the bottling bucket.

However, if you don't have the option, then you gotta work with what you got

Best of luck!

J <- If I mispoke here, call me out!