What the heck did I brew?

The recipe: http://hopville.com/recipe/1281110/specialty-beer-recipes/midnight-oil

The story:
I was brewing last night and after I took my post-boil gravity, I found that it didn't come close to what I was expecting. I was expecting a 1.066, but it ended up being a 1.098!

I pulled the recipe off of a youtube video but didn't realize that the recipe in the video was for a 7 gallon batch and I brewed a 5 gallon batch. I didn't enter the recipe into hopville until after I finished my boil.

The Questions:

1. What did I brew? It was supposed to be an amber...
2. How long do I ferment this sucker? How long in bottles? I've never done a beer this big before (and wasn't prepared for it).
3. That brings me to...I didn't use a starter. Am I screwed?

Any insight would be appreciated.

I predict it will be tasty, but quite sweet. Watch out for hot alcohols from the stressed yeast. I expect you may want to pitch some US-05 to dry it out if you don't reach a reasonable FG. If it is unthinkably cloying you could boil up some high alpha hops in dme to add bitterness.

Maybe toss a pack of S05 in now...

I've actually got 3 packages of us-05 here now. Should I consider pitching those right away, or just ride it out?

It was supposed to be an amber? Then it sounds like you got an imperial amber now, haha.

Id say pitch one packet of the 05, no need to throw it all in.

I'd just add one, if you've already pitched yeast. It will probably turn out fine

Why add anythiing? us05 is the same thing as 1056. It will easily ferment a 9.6% wort if you made a starter.

elconquistadoodle said:

Why add anythiing? us05 is the same thing as 1056. It will easily ferment a 9.6% wort if you made a starter.

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he didnt make a starter so 1 vial of liquid yeast will be stressed with that high of OG!!

Yeah, I was not expecting anywhere close to the OG that I got.

I threw in some extra US-05. Hopefully it isn't TOO stressed.

Anyone have any tips on how long I should leave this in primary before dry hopping? What about bottles? I normally leave leave them for 3 weeks before I start drinking, however, I have a feeling that these will not be great at that point....

Maybe primary for 4 weeks, you could make a hop tea at the same time you are getting ready to dry hop. If the sample tastes way to cloying, add the hop tea and the dry hops.

I'd try some after 3 weeks in the bottle, but they should continue to improve with age. I made 2 gals of RIS with US-05...it is a good yeast and it did well to 9.6% ABV in that one.

I have been advised to to oxygenate high OG beers 12 hours(or was it 24) after pitching. You can do this by shaking the carboy. Might want to give that a try.

if it just started to ferment, why not add boiled water?

I thought there was some reason why I shouldn't add water after pitching.

Dhruv6911 said:

if it just started to ferment, why not add boiled water?

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If he's used to doing 5 gallons batches he probably doesn't have a primary that can hold 7 gallons comfortably. Although he could consider splitting it between two...

I don't have an empty fermenter, but I do use a 6.5 gallon (I think) bucket for fermenting and I've got 5.5 gallons in there right now.

I took a sample of this last night to check gravity and it looks to be finished fermenting. (It is down to 1.017)

It did taste very alcoholic. Will that age out? I'm planning on leaving it in primary for another 2 weeks or so.

I'm assuming I'll need to age it for a couple of months after that. Does it matter if I bulk age in secondary, or can I age it in bottles?

I think you can age in bottles just fine. I'm guessing it would even appreciate sitting in them for as long as six months.

Last month I was brewing with a friend of mine, and I was supposed to be brewing a tripel. Thing was, we were drinking ***ahem*** a little bit as we went along, and I was a tad careless. Our OG was a whopping 1.114!!! It actually fermented happily and is sitting at 12.4% in the bottles. I have pretty low expectations: at bottling time, it tasted like a cleaning solvent...

rinhaak said:

I think you can age in bottles just fine. I'm guessing it would even appreciate sitting in them for as long as six months.

Last month I was brewing with a friend of mine, and I was supposed to be brewing a tripel. Thing was, we were drinking ***ahem*** a little bit as we went along, and I was a tad careless. Our OG was a whopping 1.114!!! It actually fermented happily and is sitting at 12.4% in the bottles. I have pretty low expectations: at bottling time, it tasted like a cleaning solvent...

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12.4!

Mine didn't taste THAT bad, but there was some heat for sure...