Experienced opinions please

I brewed a christmas ale recipe that my LHBS helped me develop and I just have some questions for experienced christmas brewers. I steeped the grain (6oz C-80 and 2oz black patent malt) for 30 minutes at about 155 degrees. Turned up the heat and removed the grain just before boil began. Added 1/2 oz warrior hops and 4 lbs of DME to the boil. and cooked it for about 45 minutes. About 15 minutes before flameout I add another 4 lbs of DME as well as 1/8 tsp Allspice 1/8 tsp Nutmeg 1/4 tsp ginger and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and continued to boil for another 15 minutes for a total 60 minute boil. Here is one concern this seems like a lot of DME for a recipe that was supposed to be scaled down for a three gallon batch. I fermented it in a 3 gallon PET bottle and expected some blow off so set up a blow off tube in a sanitized bowl. Here is my second concern I experienced a lot more than some blow off but I mean major blow off. My three gallon PET is now down to about 2 gallon of liquid. The blow off has stopped and I have installed an air lock that is bubbling away so fermentation is still progressing. So I lost 1 gallon of liquid in about three days of fermentation. Is this fairly normal. In hindsight I should have fermented in a 5 gallon or larger vessel but only 2 gallons of liquid is left. Suggestions? any abnormalities spotted? Experienced extract Christmas Ale brewers please reply Thanks in Advance GNUBIERGUY

8 lbs of DME seems like a lot....What was your target OG? What was your OG?

8 pounds of DME in a 3 gallon batch gives you a starting gravity of 1.112 Depending on attenuation, this would give you an ABV between 10.5 and 12% A beer that big will take several months of conditioning to reach it's prime. You will also have MAJOR blowoff from a brew that big. It probably won't be ready in time for Christmas this year, but it will probably be getting really happy by Christmas 2013!

wow , big indeed! that sounds like a 5 gallon recipe.
Agreeing with Seth on this ...hard to imagine it'll be ready in two months . Should be good next year though.

Agreed that this Christmas is not likely. I did a Winter Ale last December hoping for February or March. It wasn't nearly as high OG, and is just now coming into it's own.

The loss of the beer was mostly due to having 3 gallons in a 3 gallon vessel. I use a 6 gallon Better Bottle for 5 gallon batches and even that is just barely enough for big beers.

I am still pretty new to this stuff and I don' t have a hydrometer. Isn't that what I would need to measure OG and SG? Will a hydrometer give me the ABV and other measurements I need to know? Also thanks for the input on how the beer will probably be better next year than this. I will probably bottle in a couple of weeks regardless and try a few beers this Christmas but set a few bottles aside to age for next Christmas to compare with next years attempt that I will start much earlier since this is my first attempt at a Christmas Ale.

Forgot to mention that I pitched with Nottingham Yeast at about 68 degrees and I am storing around 68

You should get a hydrometer.
They don't give you a reading of the amount of alcohol in a beer.
You have to know what the gravity was when you started, and what you finish at.
You look at the difference in those gravity readings to get your alcohol content.

The other method of determining alcohol content is to drink about 12 beers and compared to other beers with known alcohol content.
This method works best with a couple guys each drinking 12 beers and then you take an average of the drunkenness.

A hydrometer is used to measure the SG and the FG. It does not directly measure alcohol content, but if you know the SG and FG, then it is very easy to calculate the ABV. I would at least pick up a hydrometer before bottling this brew, so you can make sure that the fermentation has finished. A brew this big could easily take 3 weeks or more to completely finish fermenting.

Also, what yeast did you use? I would double-pitch this beer (use 2 packs of dry yeast, or 2 vials/smack packs of liquid yeast) if I was brewing it. Depending on the yeast you used to start with, you may need to repitch a second helping of yeast to enable this beer to finish fermenting.

45_70sharps said:

The other method of determining alcohol content is to drink about 12 beers and compared to other beers with known alcohol content.
This method works best with a couple guys each drinking 12 beers and then you take an average of the drunkenness.

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THIS is by far the most entertaining method of ABV measurement!

However, since this brew is gonna be in the 10-12% ABV range, I might lower that to 3 or 4! 12 of those might result in an unexpected emergency room visit!

DrummerBoySeth said:

A hydrometer is used to measure the SG and the FG. It does not directly measure alcohol content, but if you know the SG and FG, then it is very easy to calculate the ABV. I would at least pick up a hydrometer before bottling this brew, so you can make sure that the fermentation has finished. A brew this big could easily take 3 weeks or more to completely finish fermenting.

Also, what yeast did you use? I would double-pitch this beer (use 2 packs of dry yeast, or 2 vials/smack packs of liquid yeast) if I was brewing it. Depending on the yeast you used to start with, you may need to repitch a second helping of yeast to enable this beer to finish fermenting.

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I used Nottingham yeast at about 68 degrees. Should I pick up another pack this weekend with the hydrometer I plan to purchase. If I get another active fermentation session I might wind up with only one or two bottles of beer. Man did I screw this up or what

I agree here with all the posts that say too much DME. I am thinking a 3 gallon batch would be about 7.5 cups of DME. I think you put it about 18 cups .....If my conversions from weight to volumes are correct and assuming I know the correct brewing methods and I may not.

The 8 lbs of DME sounds like a mistake. Other than huge ABV what effect will this have on the brew? also as this still fomenting would adding water to replace the lost liquid improve the brew or would you just let it ride and bottle when fermentation is done?

gnubierguy said:

The 8 lbs of DME sounds like a mistake. Other than huge ABV what effect will this have on the brew? also as this still fomenting would adding water to replace the lost liquid improve the brew or would you just let it ride and bottle when fermentation is done?

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You can add water(boiled to kill germs, then cooled to room temp) to the fermenter to replace the volume lost to blow off. 99% of the time I would NOT suggest this method, since you are basically diluting the beer with the added water. In your case, since you seem to have made beer-concentrate, adding a gallon or so to the fermenter might be a plausible course of action.

If you choose to add water, do not add too much (probably 1 to 1.5 gallons at the most), and do it as soon as possible, while the beer is still fermenting. This may help lower the ABV enough to give the yeast at least a chance of finishing fermentation before they all pass out from alcohol poisoning! This would also be an opportune time to add a second dose of yeast.

If you do choose to leave it as-is, then I suggest letting it primary for one month. Check the gravity make sure that it gets stable. I bet this brew stops somewhere around 1.025 to 1.030 because it started so dang high! Once you bottle them, stick them in the back of the closet and forget about them until next Winter. You will have beer by this Christmas, but it is very likely that it will taste like Jet Fuel if you do not let it age a very long time.

DrummerBoySeth said:

You can add water(boiled to kill germs, then cooled to room temp) to the fermenter to replace the volume lost to blow off. 99% of the time I would NOT suggest this method, since you are basically diluting the beer with the added water. In your case, since you seem to have made beer-concentrate, adding a gallon or so to the fermenter might be a plausible course of action.

If you choose to add water, do not add too much (probably 1 to 1.5 gallons at the most), and do it as soon as possible, while the beer is still fermenting. This may help lower the ABV enough to give the yeast at least a chance of finishing fermentation before they all pass out from alcohol poisoning! This would also be an opportune time to add a second dose of yeast.

If you do choose to leave it as-is, then I suggest letting it primary for one month. Check the gravity make sure that it gets stable. I bet this brew stops somewhere around 1.025 to 1.030 because it started so dang high! Once you bottle them, stick them in the back of the closet and forget about them until next Winter. You will have beer by this Christmas, but it is very likely that it will taste like Jet Fuel if you do not let it age a very long time.

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Well since this is my first Christmas ale I really want to try it this Christmas. I added about 1gallon of water after boil and cool. I also added a pinch of Safale 04 and the fermentation is still chugging along at about a bubble every 10second. I hope it ferments out in a couple of weeks and tastes better than jet fuel. Thanks for all the suggestions and advise.

Well the bubbles have stopped so I think I will take a couple of hydrometer readings and see where I am. More later.