1 week in primary, took gravity: yummy yummy

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schadelh

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Just took the gravity on a brew i made a week ago:

Russian Imperial Stout recipe (modified slightly)
5 Gallon batch
5# Amber LME
3# Dark DME
2.5# Honey
1# roasted barley
1/4# Chocolate malt
1/2# Black malt
4 Oz Chinook whole hops (90 min Bittering)
2 Oz Goldings whole hops (10min)
2 packets Safale US-05

OG = 1.113
Current Gravity = 1.016
ABV: (OG-CG)*131 = 12.7% (wow!)

Took the gravity today and drank from the thief. DAMN this is tasty stuff deliciously malty and mellow, coats my tongue like cream, hint of sweetness, and not overly alcohol flavored. Really dark too! has a slightly sour/astringent aroma/taste that will probably resolve with aging, after all its only 1 week old.

Planning on racking to secondary next week sometime, dry hopping, and letting it bulk age for about 3 or 4 weeks. then into bottles.

Does anyone think the US-05 will have any problems bottle conditioning at this ABV, or should it have a high enough alcohol tolerance to finish the deed?

Patience is hard... so hard...:mug:
 
schadelh said:
Just took the gravity on a brew i made a week ago:

Russian Imperial Stout recipe (modified slightly)
5 Gallon batch
5# Amber LME
3# Dark DME
2.5# Honey
1# roasted barley
1/4# Chocolate malt
1/2# Black malt
4 Oz Chinook whole hops (90 min Bittering)
2 Oz Goldings whole hops (10min)
2 packets Safale US-05

OG = 1.113
Current Gravity = 1.016
ABV: (OG-CG)*131 = 12.7% (wow!)

Took the gravity today and drank from the thief. DAMN this is tasty stuff deliciously malty and mellow, coats my tongue like cream, hint of sweetness, and not overly alcohol flavored. Really dark too! has a slightly sour/astringent aroma/taste that will probably resolve with aging, after all its only 1 week old.

Planning on racking to secondary next week sometime, dry hopping, and letting it bulk age for about 3 or 4 weeks. then into bottles.

Does anyone think the US-05 will have any problems bottle conditioning at this ABV, or should it have a high enough alcohol tolerance to finish the deed?

Patience is hard... so hard...:mug:
Click to expand...

I while ago, I tried something like this. It turned out awful and flat. You will have a very hard time getting it carbed. I still have some of that sitting around. It has been in the bottle 18 months. Barely a hiss when I pop one. It to tasted ok at first, but, later the alcohol taste was so bad it was like drinking vodka. It has mellowed some since but it is more like wine than beer. I think the yeast died in mine because it has a hint of sweet. I would not be suprised if you have not killed all of the US-05.
 
Actually, its still bubbling. I don't know if its residual CO2 in the fluid, but it might still be fermenting a bit. I am pretty sure about my SG readings, so unless I did the formula wrong the US-05 is still going at 12.7 avb.

I plan to rack it to secondary next week, should I maybe pitch some champagne yeast when i do?
 
Champagne yeast might strip it a bit dry and thin. I'd research the abv tolerance of a few other yeasts and try re-seeding with one of those. Have a look at yeasts suggested for things like barley wines or eisbocks and doppelbocks.
 
So I downloaded Beersmith and it pinned my expected OG nearer 1.09X making me think my OG measurement was off (too bad I can't go back and retake it). That would put the brew at about 9% ABV, which gives me hope for bottle conditioning yet.

On the other hand, If for some reason my 5# bucket of amber LME was an 8# one, then my OG reading might be right (estimated at 1.115). The recipe originally called for 8# LME, but on brew day I realized my LHBS had only given me 5# LME (or at least thats what was written on the bucket), prompting me to add the honey to bring the gravity back up to expected.

uughhhh.... I really need to get a kitchen scale that can easily measure in Oz and #.
 
8 lbs compared to 5 lbs of LME should be easy to tell apart. Think back and compare your unknown Amber LME to your 3# of Dark LME; did the Amber look like about double the Dark, or about triple it?

For extract recipes, since I top-off with water after a partial boil, I no longer trust my own OG reading; I just assume Beersmith's calculation.
 
The dark was DME, but in retrospect I am pretty sure it was 5# of the LME.

Why don't you trust your OG reading after topping your extract off with water? Properly mixed, shouldn't it be accurate?
 
schadelh said:
Properly mixed
Click to expand...

Those are the key words. You can stir for 5 minutes and by the time you get your sample it's already started to seperate. Not definite layers, but you end up with thicker wort nearer the bottom. You may well have taken your sample from near the bottom of the fermenter and gotten a skewed sample.

When I take a sample after topping up a partial boil I have my brewing assistant (child slave labor) stir the crap out of the wort, then I take my sample while she's still stirring. gives me a good reading every time.
 
schadelh said:
The dark was DME, but in retrospect I am pretty sure it was 5# of the LME.
Click to expand...

Oops...sorry didn't look close enough.

schadelh said:
Why don't you trust your OG reading after topping your extract off with water? Properly mixed, shouldn't it be accurate?
Click to expand...

On my third batch I tried shaking it really well (mainly for aeration's sake), but the reading was way off. After learning it's hard to get an accurate reading and that you pretty much can't miss the OG if the recipe is done right, I decided it just wasn't necessary to take a reading.
 

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