Don't brew and Host...

[AlmostWitty]

RDWHAHB they said, your beer will be fine, they said...

On Sunday, I got up early, started a pork butt, had some friends over and brewed a tripel:

15 lbs Pilsen Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.0 SRM) Grain 1 83.3 %
1 lbs Aromatic Malt (Briess) (20.0 SRM) Grain 2 5.6 %
1.00 oz Hallertau [4.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 11.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 12.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 2.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 6 1.2 IBUs
1.0 pkg Belgian Abbey II (Wyeast Labs #1762) [12 Yeast 7 -
2 lbs Candi Syrup, Golden (5.0 SRM) Extract 8 11.1 %

Infusion to 122* (for somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 minutes), Decoction to 148* (for somewhere around 50 minutes while I pulled the pork), and infusion to mash out, fly sparge.

It's been bubbling away nicely for a couple days, so I move on to figure out what my next project is, and I check my yeast stock... and realize I pitched American Ale II instead of Abbey Ale II.

So where to go from here? My two initial thoughts are to hop tea/dry hop the hell out of it to turn it into a really aromatic IIPA, or maybe secondary it on some (3lbs?) of tart cherries, then oak it to see what kind of fruit beer I can get out of it?

I'm open to suggestion and experimentation at this point, any other interesting ideas?

 

[poponon]

I think you should dry hop it with a ton of strong belgian aroma hops. maybe some more saaz, maybe through some mycrene-forward hops in also. I think if not, the brew is going to taste like some real hooch from amount of alcohol with none of the belgian yeast aromas

 

[Hello]

I don't agree that it'll taste like hooch but you could dry hop.

It sounds like you pulled off a good brew day with that one mistake. Not a terrible day.

How much yeast did you pitch? Did you make a starter? If you under pitched I wonder if you can't pitch that abbey yeast and see who wins.

 

[AlmostWitty]

I don't agree that it'll taste like hooch but you could dry hop.

It sounds like you pulled off a good brew day with that one mistake. Not a terrible day.

How much yeast did you pitch? Did you make a starter? If you under pitched I wonder if you can't pitch that abbey yeast and see who wins.

Made a 2L starter and everything, it's bubbling away nicely.

It was actually a great day overall--I'm more amused than upset, and now that the damage is done, I'm just trying to figure out what fun I can have with the result. Thinking split batch with the dry hops and the fruit at this point, unless I hear a more interesting suggestion.

 

[TimmyWit]

Made a 2L starter and everything

I'm confused. If you made a 2L starter, that was done days before your company arrived, right?

Is this a 10G batch? What was your OG? You may be able to get some character out of the yeast by ramping up the temp. From Wyeast's website:
"Ferment at warmer temperatures to accentuate hop character with an increased fruitiness. Or, ferment cool for a clean, light citrus character."

I say leave it. If this is a 10G batch, it looks like you made an American Blonde instead of a Belgian Blonde. It will be cleaner for sure but it should be refreshing.

Edit: one more idea would be to steep some grains. I think you could make a fine American Brown Ale out of what you have. If you have the headspace, you could add more water and play with your OG. Brad Smith recently did a write-up discussing steeping:

http://beersmith.com/blog/2011/11/17/brewing-beer-with-dark-grains-steeping-versus-mashing/

 

[Calichusetts]

I'd say proceed as normal and see what you get. Might be good, doesn't look to bad. Many IPAs use pilsner as their base. The candi syrup will certainly give it a belgian-side.

The dry hopping could help. I might consider putting this on a combination of dates, figs and raisins for a month or two, then dry hop if you feel it needs it.

 

[AlmostWitty]

Yeah, I made the starter about the same time I was making the pork brine the day before, way to call me out on it...

I might be sold on the steeping grain idea though... Awesome info!

I also like the darker fruit rather than the cherries, I just happen to have the cherries here already, but fruit before hops idea is solid too.

This is why I love HBT! keep the ideas coming!

 

[Tombstone0]

I'd suggest the sour cherries just because I made a sour cherry beer a few years ago that turned out really good. Is was 100% Mattis otter and a small amount of hops. I also added a pound of table sugar to dry it out and 7.3 pounds of sour cherries.
Although it was 9% it was smooth crystal clear and very tart and refreshing. It was big hit.

 

[AlmostWitty]

I'd suggest the sour cherries just because I made a sour cherry beer a few years ago...

I made one with a sour mash process that got much too sour, and had a friend who used a batch for a tart cherry porter, they were both pretty good. I'm leaning toward splitting it and tossing half on cherries, and half with some steeped dark malts to make an imperial brown/bitter/porter? I think that regardless I'll want to do something to work with (mask) what I'm assuming will be a pretty alcohol forward beer at ~11%

 

[TimmyWit]

Yeah, I made the starter about the same time I was making the pork brine the day before, way to call me out on it...

Sorry bout that. I was just thinking if hosting was to blame, either you host a lot or you made the starter on brew day. I like brewing and hosting. It's a good way to introduce others to the hobby. When I brew and host, it's burgers and dogs though. Raclette is even better. Just chop everything up ahead of time and people can cook for themselves.

keep us posted on what you decide. Looking forward to hearing how it turns out. If you are going to steep, I would recommend sooner rather than later. If you're going to give the yeast additional work, I think they'll do a better job of completing it before they go dormant since the environment already has a lot of alcohol.

 

[lookwow]

I hear ya. Brewed a quad last weekend and right as i turned the chiller on a friend came over. I helped him with something for about 15 mins. went to check on wort and my chiller was spraying water into my wort.

 

[AlmostWitty]

Well, here we go.

I think that primary is all but finished (1.014SG), but today is the first day I've really had time to do anything beer related in a while, so here's what I've done, and what I have yet to do

1) took 2lbs of tart cherries and racked ~2.7gal over top. Grabbed a small amount of yeast/trub in case it wants to ferment anything from the cherries. Hopefully there's just enough hop character in it to keep the whole thing from tasting like cough syrup when I'm done.

2) Taking the remaining ~2.3 gal, and going to add half a gallon of steeped chocolate malt and roasted barley (What I've got laying around), that I add some hops to (Northern Brewer) making a sort of darkened hop tea... or sugarless wort?) and throwing that in to approximate an old ale. I may even oak it for the hell of it and finish off most of the random ingredients I've got around.

For the record, upon transfer, the flat beer tasted pretty sweet, a little minerally, and like it would have made an awesome tripel with the right yeast...

Ah well, at least I get to experiment. Results to come in a few weeks!

 

[SimonHucko]

too late to the party, but you could have added spices (either in secondary or as a tea) to fake the belgian yeast character you're missing. another choice is to toss in a sour blend or some sour bottle dregs and let the bugs do their magic for a year. would be really good with the cherries...

 

[AlmostWitty]

Souring is a really good idea, and I'd still consider it if I wasn't moving in a matter of weeks. I'm of the assumption that ill need to get this bottled before that.

Stole a sample of the part that I added the dark grains and hop tea to, and I think I got a pretty kick ass roasty imperial oaked porter that I'll drink maybe fall of next year. I find that with the oak I used, it really takes a full year to settle in nicely.

I haven't tried the cherry batch yet, but there were signs of life from the yeast, though the little guys have got to be fighting hard in a 12% environment. I'm considering pitching a champagne yeast that can handle the abv, letting it finish out again, then bottling as is the norm. I'm concerned that if I just pitch champagne at bottling that it may find more sugars than American Ale II and blow up some bottles, and that if I don't add another yeast, that it'll never carb.

Anyone have experience with American Ale II in high abv environments?

 

[AlmostWitty]

The good news is: I made drinkable beer. I opted to avoid repitching yeast, and still had no problem carbing in bottles.

The cherry beer is nice and hides the alcohol well, but I think it was still too clean to cover for the off taste of fermenting the American Ale II at higher than recommended temps.

I just popped one of the beers I'm calling an imperial porter (though it might be closer to a dry stout in color and flavor, but no body) and it's also drinkable. Alcohol is a bit hot yet, but once it calms down, it'll be a nice beer. If I were to do it again, I might dry hop it for the aroma, but otherwise, a good beer if you're looking to be done before your 4th beer is gone.

I guess what I'm saying, is that with all your help, we've collectively saved a beer. Thanks guys!