irish red 18%abv

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Christafer11

Christafer11

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so I brewed two 5 gal batches today both the same base recipe
#6 light malt extract (lme)
#2 Amber dry Malt
#1 Crystal Malt 20L
#1 Crystal Malt 120L
#1 Cara Red
2 oz Golding Hops
Notingham Dry yest...
one I added some pecans to but the other I went wild and added #6 of brown sugar...Drinking home brew ......brewing home brew why not.....I didnt expect it to get to 18% about 1132og but it did so now I have to get some champaign yeast but unable to get it until monday I do usually have very good fast starts with the notty about 4 hours or so will the notty start and then I can add the stronger yeast monday or later and be ok? If so should I let the notty stall out before pitching the other yeast? any sugestions on what yeast to get? Also I will be dry hopping this any sugestions on that size style.
 
wow. Yes, you can use the wine yeast later on when the notty poops out. However, 6 lbs is a LOT of sugar. Is that 3 lbs per batch, or 6 lbs in each?

Edit: O, I see, 6# in one.
 
From the ingredients I make one to be 1.075 (or there abouts) and the other to be 1.130 (or there abouts). Fermenting out 75% will get you to 1.035 (very sweet), and 13% alcohol. Notty will not get there.

I've never added a yeast late, but since there is a lot of alcohol, and low O2 it will not reproduce, so will be very slow to ferment (maybe months). Anyone else with experience?

At 2 ozs Goldings hops, I think both are going to be very lacking in bitterness and flavor.

I think brew #1 will be very sweet due to a lot of crystal (and associated unfermentable sugars), low bitterness and not have a lot going for it.

I think brew #2 is a lost cause. Maybe some type of malt wine in about 18 months.

Hope they turn out better than they look.
 
Christafer11 said:
so I brewed two 5 gal batches today both the same base recipe
#6 light malt extract (lme)
#2 Amber dry Malt
#1 Crystal Malt 20L
#1 Crystal Malt 120L
#1 Cara Red
2 oz Golding Hops
Notingham Dry yest...
one I added some pecans to but the other I went wild and added #6 of brown sugar...Drinking home brew ......brewing home brew why not.....I didnt expect it to get to 18% about 1032og but it did so now I have to get some champaign yeast but unable to get it until monday I do usually have very good fast starts with the notty about 4 hours or so will the notty start and then I can add the stronger yeast monday or later and be ok? If so should I let the notty stall out before pitching the other yeast? any sugestions on what yeast to get? Also I will be dry hopping this any sugestions on that size style.
Click to expand...

i can't read this very well because of no punctuation but i dont think this will be good with 6 # brown sugar because brown sugar is molasses and sugar and will ferment out quite a bit and i don't like (fermented molasses tastes like ass) it but it wont get to 18% anyway no matter what kind of yeast you use so it will be sweet and you can pitch whatever kind of yeast you want i don't think 18% is right so you could check the hydrometer reading but 18% is the absolute limit for champagne yeast anyway so you can do it if you want but no other yeast will be able to ferment it all out anyway. You can add the yeast later if you want- it doesn't matter.
 
People that are new to brewing want to just jump in and make some outrageous ABV. What they don't realize is that it takes experience to understand how to make that work. I personally think you just "brewed" your first dumper. Some people will come on here and ask if something is a good idea. I think that is a better route to take than doing something you may not have realized was so drastic. If there's something you need to know, the information is likely already on this forum somewhere. You just have to take the time to search it out. Good luck.
Oh. I doubt there's much you can do with this batch except aerate a couple times a day for 2 days and then you can try pitching champagne/wine yeast probably somewhere right after high Krausen maybe.
 
With that much sugar its gonna taste like a$$ unless you age it for a very, very long time and even then i have my doubts. I never liked the taste of fermented corn sugar. I wouldn't waste the hops to dry hop it. Good luck though, its your brew and if that's your thing go for it. I think everyone has gone through a high ABV phase at one point or another.
 
back to the OP question...

add the champagne yeast well after the notty is done, that way you get the flavor that the notty might produce. I'd use that dry champagne yeast in the little yellow packs - it will fermetn to very high alcohol levels.

good luck with your beer. 6# brown sugar is a lot, but you never know. Feel free to send me one for evaluation :)
 
what can I say I was drinking and a buddy said "how high can you make the abv" so I made it high (well potentially high abv). I have been brewing for several years and not my first rodeo but never done anything like that before, it was a Ill show you type thing. @kegtoe if it does finish and gets to bottle I just might do that ill pm if it gets that far....
 
The hop bill won't support it, either. Looks to me like you'll have an overly sweet molasses mess of a "beer" on your hands. Even the original recipe looks too sweet with 5 lbs of crystal.
 
photo.php
 
Christafer11 said:
No the original is a very good beer I have made it about 5 times and turns out great
Click to expand...

Thats crazy! I feel like 6 lbs of extract and another 5 pounds of grains is a lot of sugar for 5 gallons water and 2 ounces of hops, then top that off with 6 pounds of Brown Sugar!, Dang. Let alone a recipe for a red ale....but...to each his own. If you like it, I have no say in the matter, because i have never tasted it.

Hope it turns out, or you learn your lesson about Brown sugar?...:mug:
 
haha lesson learned while brewing don't take buddies up on dares. I knew better when I was doing it but had a few in me and that I'll show you what I can do attitude. Like I said before the brew is really good I have made it several times and its usually the first to go when people come over.
 
Just checked my sample bottle reading at 1080ish now and still bubblin so the notty is going strong I expect it will poop out soon though.
 
For what it's worth I totally botched a batch of apfelwein by letting someone influence me to sub molases and brown sugar for a good bit of the dextrose content. I've never ate crap before, but I assume the taste would be similar.
 
At the end of the day it's what homebrewing is all about trying new things because we can. I did taste about one drop tasted like pure sugar but a lot of yeast work still to be done and I will dry hop so might help. I figure I won't quit on it I have hundreds of empty bottles (I keg now). So it will sit in bottles for a long time no need to dump and quit any time soon.
 
Christafer11 said:
haha lesson learned while brewing don't take buddies up on dares. I knew better when I was doing it but had a few in me and that I'll show you what I can do attitude. Like I said before the brew is really good I have made it several times and its usually the first to go when people come over.
Click to expand...

this is where the magic happens! if no one tried doing something off the wall or stupid we'd still be drinking unrefrigerated, fizzy piss water. And if it turns out tasting like ass, the best punishment is having to sit there and drink the whole barrel. At least it's full of booze!

:tank:
 
Christafer11 said:
At the end of the day it's what homebrewing is all about trying new things because we can. I did taste about one drop tasted like pure sugar but a lot of yeast work still to be done and I will dry hop so might help. I figure I won't quit on it I have hundreds of empty bottles (I keg now). So it will sit in bottles for a long time no need to dump and quit any time soon.
Click to expand...

Whatever happens, please reply to this thread once you've started drinking it and report on what something like this tastes like.
 
I will for sure post when I try it, I will for sure try one on 5-24 for my own reasons but I dont think it will be any good for a lot longer than that.
 
Ok update time. I just checked the brew and it still has an air bubble about ever two seconds. It's at 1032 right now and still coming down. My question will be from this point, Should I pitch the champagne yeast and if yes when? I am planning to rack to a secondary just not sure of time. Now or when the org yeast (dry notty) stops? If I add the second yeast should I do it in the secondary? I am going to dry hop whole leaf 2oz cascade in secondary also.
 
If it was me, I would make a starter with the champagne yeast, bolster the levels, and pitch that to get as good a result as possible out of that yeast. Just one packet may not be enough to chug through, but with a starter I would think it could cut some of the sugars down at a quicker pace.
 
Christafer11 said:
Ok update time. I just checked the brew and it still has an air bubble about ever two seconds. It's at 1032 right now and still coming down. My question will be from this point, Should I pitch the champagne yeast and if yes when? I am planning to rack to a secondary just not sure of time. Now or when the org yeast (dry notty) stops? If I add the second yeast should I do it in the secondary? I am going to dry hop whole leaf 2oz cascade in secondary also.
Click to expand...

If your notty is still going (by SG movement, not bubbles) then I would say wait for the notty to finish and see where your gravity is. You probably don't want it to dry out too much, you'll need some residual sweetness to balance out the alcohol.

Rack over to a bright tank after the fermentation is complete and bulk age until palatable, add the dry hops about 10 days or a week before bottling. If you dry hop to soon the volatiles will dissipate before you have a chance to bottle.

I would only add the champagne yeast if the notty couldn't get it to the low 20's, and I would try to make a starter for it so it had some alcohol conditioning.

That's what I'd try were I in your shoes.

Edit: I will be watching for updates too, I'm curious about how it turns out. To the spirit of trying things to see what happens! :mug:
 
Another thought... if the champagne yeast doesn't work out, you may want to throw some bugs in... not sure how alcohol tolerant they are though.
 
Just checked my sample bottle still at 1032 so it looks like the notty is done. I will rack to secondary and pitch the champagne yeast tomorrow. Any idea what fg it should get to?
 
You're gonna have to wing it with this one, try tasting it to see if there is enough sugar to balance the alcohol.

It's going to be a matter of personal taste on this one, when it is dry enough for your taste use some campden tablets or k-meta (? check me on this one, I'm not sure what will be most effective. try searching the wine forum for pointers.) to kill the yeast and terminate the fermentation.

I would think you'd want to be in the 1.02x range myself, but I really don't know. If you dry it out too much it will be thin and hot.

It might have a good balance at 1.032, did you try a sip?
 
lol

That's right, I forgot about that.

There is a technique for finding out if your FG is due to unfermentables. I believe it involves taking a small amount of your brew and pitching some yeast in that, doing a fast ferment, and seeing if the gravity in the sample has changed at all.

There are a few threads around here that mention it, anyone else know what I'm talking about? :drunk:
 
some one tried this with their high FG brew to see if it would work:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/escape-stuck-fermentation-mountain-ae-rescue-212926/

He basically took a sample, added some amalayse enzyme, and watched it for a few days to see what it did. He liked the result, so he applied it to the bulk of the batch.

You could try the same thing, but with your yeast instead and see if it goes down any further.
If the yeast doesn't drop it any, you could always try the ae.

my 2 cents... :)
 
WOOOO HAAAA Just sipped from my sample bottle. Very strong alcohol up front and finished hint of sweet and smooth. I think it's a no go on more yeast it may dry it out just secondary and dry hop. I have to say I am really really happy with what I tasted expecting a alcohol syrup. Nothing like that at all just might be ok. Now one more question any ideas on figuring the actual abv? Would the best way be to take an exact size like 100ml and put that in a pot and boil the alcohol off and see whats left? If so what temp should I get it to and for how long? Also now that I am way more excited and optimistic about how this will turn out any reason I should bottle instead of keg I prefer to keg and have 2 empty. I was going to bottle thinking I may have to sit on this for a while but not so sure about that now.
 
Apendecto said:
How much lower could you get with 5 lbs of crystal?!
Click to expand...

I think you're misunderstanding the recipe. It seems to me that it is 2 lbs of Amber DME. There is still 3 lbs of steeping grains, which is a lot, but still.
 
bknifefight said:
I think you're misunderstanding the recipe. It seems to me that it is 2 lbs of Amber DME. There is still 3 lbs of steeping grains, which is a lot, but still.
Click to expand...

If they really are steeped (I see 3lbs too), then this beer should get low as a regular barleywine. 1.032 is quite reasonable for that OG.

Now just let it sit around for a year or two, then drink. Dry hopping probably wont help you much.
 
Wow, i just stumbled into this thread. First and foremost. Yoop... You're awesome.

Second, my opinion is worth zero so take anything I'm about to say as crap....

Is this "beer" bottled? (sorry, havent read every word)

I wpuldnt use champaigne yeast on any beer. Get some white labs 099 (If and thats a big IF you wanna dry this thing out even more).

Just tossing out an idea but... What about letting this batch sit on its own and age in the secondary... Making a five gallon batch of mead.... And ten combining the two to make a braggot? At some point i wpuld combine the two and then think about some oak to kill that alcohol.

The only thing I can think of to make it drinkable is to make it into a braggot. And if you do that, you might actually produce sonethig full of win.
 

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