Thought I'd provide an update on how this is coming out...
Sampled again yesterday and wow, this is turning into a fantastic beer; although a very unique experience because IT'S STILL FERMENTING!? Never experienced anything like this, but this is also my first beer above 1.075.
Here's some notes, maybe too many:
4-24-13
- Brew day. OG = 1.093, pure o2 for 120 sec, pitched 3L starter of wlp007
4-29-13
- 1.036, upped temp to ~ 70* to help finish, aiming for 1.024 FG which Beersmith calculated
6-15-13
- Started making extracts for 3 secondaries (1. as-is 2. bourbon/oak/coffee 3. vanilla/cocao nibs)
- Added 1oz med-heavy oak cubes to ~200ml of Makers & ~100ml of Eagle Rare
- Split & scraped 2 vanilla beans to ~250 ml of Grey Goose
6-19-13
- 1.033, no activity, tastes good but tons of plum, raisin and dark fruit (a bit too much at this point), too sweet but not cloying
7-30-13
- Noticed activity again in the carboy, constant small co2 bubble rising to surface, starting to wonder if I kept in on the yeast cake too long??
8-10-13
- 1.026, transferred to secondaries, purged with co2
- Tastes very good, dark fruit starting to mellow, sweetness also mellowing, starting to come together
- Added ~100ml of bourbon/oak extract and ~100ml cold pressed coffee to 1gal secondary
- Added 1oz cocoa nibs to ~ 10ml of vanilla extract w/ half bean remaining, topped with vodka to submerge nibs (still haven't pitched this yet)
9-11-13
- 1.019!!!!! Still fermenting, wtf!? (pics below) This is getting ridiculous, started cold crashing all 3 secondaries to stop fermentation
- Tastes phenomenal!! Smooth, complex dark fruits, hints of chocolate, alcohol hidden, right amount of sweetness.
- At first I was worried that I was way under on roasted malts, but I'm not too far off from the real thing. Probably still needs a bump in roast, but 5% max IMO. This is not supposed to be a roasty RIS.
- Bourbon/oak/coffee version tastes and smells absolutely amazing. Blends really well with the dark fruit and chocolate.
Summary
Not really sure why this is still fermenting? My sanitation is very good and everything tastes spot-on, so it must be the 007 still chugging along
I'm at 79.57% attenuation right now, and I don't want it to finish any lower so I started cold crashing yesterday.
I am worried about bottle bombs for the two 1gal secondaries when the time comes, still need to figure out what to do about that. I will be kegging the 3gal secondary.
Below are some pics taken yesterday. All 3 have rings of co2 and constant co2 bubbles rising to the surface.
Thanks for listening. I'm very excited about this beer.