Imperial Stout Ten Fidy Clone

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My blow off tube was bubbling up until yesterday. Checked gravity today (5 day mark) and it's at 1.045. I rarely check gravity on my beers until I'm ready to keg at around the 3 week mark, so I don't know how long it can take to reach FG. If it's at 1.045 after 5 days should I not be very optimistic it will get anywhere near 1.030?
 
PianoMan said:
I'd be suprised if it hits upper 30s.
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Before I took my reading yesterday morning I moved it upstairs where it's a bit warmer, then roused the yeast a bit. Checked again this morning, there is a small layer of krausen on top and I'm reading slightly lower, around 1.043. I guess I'll be happy with anything below 1.040, we'll see.
 
sejasba said:
I used 2 packets of S05 so I didn't think oxygenating would have been as much of a big requirement.
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One thing I didn't mention using that technique is I brew a lighter 6.5% beer first to build up a yeast cake. The Imperial Stout gets dumped on it, transfered back and forth between 2 buckets then divided in half so one never has to wonder if they have enough yeast or enough head space.

Enough oxygen is a must during the sugar conversion.
 
PianoMan said:
One thing I didn't mention using that technique is I brew a lighter 6.5% beer first to build up a yeast cake. The Imperial Stout gets dumped on it, transfered back and forth between 2 buckets then divided in half so one never has to wonder if they have enough yeast or enough head space.

Enough oxygen is a must during the sugar conversion.
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Huh, I always thought the oxygen was meant for yeast reproduction, so if you added more yeast it was less important.
 
I'd imagine you'll end up at 1.022-1.026 Pure 02, another pack and 21 days in primary are ways to help your yeasties finish
 
Big beers are a challenge for yeast. A healthy pitch is the minimum you can do for them. Pure o2 will be used up in short order by the yeast as they set up to bud and multiply. Without a good o2 supply they struggle to replicate enough and then are weak when the abv climbs up. So they crap out a little early and your left a little short of awesome. I would always over pitch with 02 for a big beer. You can underpitch Brett and play with Belgian yeast pitch and 02 but not with a 1.1Xx. Beer.
 
So what are my options at this point? Would making a starter and repitching help bring it down more? Obviously I don't want to introduce more oxygen at this point.
 
My last batch of stout was 1.126 and I transferred it to a barrel at 1.034. I didn't see any visible signs of fermentation for the last 16 days of a 28 day Primary fermentation.

Your at day 9 and your less than 1.045 right? It's a big beer with big flavors. If your controlling temps I'd probably let it ride. You really shouldn't add o2 after 12-18 hours.
If you have a reason to be nervous( you had a huge blow off and lost yeast or you let it get hot then cold) I'd keep it as warm or warmer than the peak temp reached during the peak ferment. Most of your flavor profile is set at this point.

You could ( I have with big blow off batches) add another pack of yeast. You would want to hydrate it and keep it clean. Gently add the yeast, don't splash and give it some time to finish.

With big beers I don't really follow a time line. I let them tell me when they are done. Keep good notes! You can always add a little more bitterness to the next batch and keep the mouth feel while finding a balance
 
sejasba said:
I tossed in another pack of hydrated yeast. We'll see what happens!
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Good luck...😒

Oh, did you ever post your mash temp? And, if it doesn't drop, keep the beer. After carbonation and 4 more months it'll be a great summer beer! 😉

Trust me, I've been down your path..like 100% of it. That's why I'm wiser now..
 
PianoMan said:
Good luck...😒

Oh, did you ever post your mash temp? And, if it doesn't drop, keep the beer. After carbonation and 4 more months it'll be a great summer beer! 😉

Trust me, I've been down your path..like 100% of it. That's why I'm wiser now..
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My mash temp was about 155 or a degree or two less.

Of course i'm keeping the beer, I wouldn't think of trashing it! It may not be what it was planned to be, but it's still going to be over 7% and I'm sure it will taste alright in the end. We'll see what the reinforcements can do now that they're in there :)
 
So I checked gravity again since it's been almost 4 days since pitching another packet of rehydrated yeast. The gravity is almost unchanged, still just over 1.040. So does this tell me it wasn't a matter of O2 or not enough yeast, but instead the sugars there just are not fermentable?
 
sejasba said:
So I checked gravity again since it's been almost 4 days since pitching another packet of rehydrated yeast. The gravity is almost unchanged, still just over 1.040. So does this tell me it wasn't a matter of O2 or not enough yeast, but instead the sugars there just are not fermentable?
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Yep, not surprising. Have totally gone down this road before. Mashing at 150F and the procedure stated earlier solved my attention problem for these high gravity beers. And 1.040 is exactly where it stopped for me also. I simply kegged mine and moved on. It was pretty good after 4 months and carbed.
 
From #143...

Pianoman
Lastest TF clone ended at 1.040 after 2 weeks. OG at 1.110. I have no experience with stuck fermentation and I have no oxygen setup. I used 2 packets of safeale5. No off flavors but sweeettt and very heavy. Any one with experience on how to get FG down further?
 
Using rehydrated yeast is the wrong way to go about it IMO. If there are fermentables (at least with typical ale yeasts) you'll need yeasts that are acclimated to ethanol. As a last ditch effort, I would brew another beer of medium gravity, treat the Yeasts well, and at high krausen, scrape it off and put into high gravity wort. The yeasts need to have some alcohol tolerance. This has worked for me in the past when I f'd up my handling of a high gravity beer.

Also, I've read really stressed Yeasts put out compounds which tell other yeasts to go dormant. This could also be your problem and you're hosed. Or Pianoman is right about the fermentables and you're hosed.
 
Just ordered the stuff for this brew, do we have a consensus on mash temp? Do most people feel 155 is too high? I want to get this as right as possible.
Also, what type of water profile should I be going for? Building from RO water. Thanks
 
Tarpon87 said:
Just ordered the stuff for this brew, do we have a consensus on mash temp? Do most people feel 155 is too high? I want to get this as right as possible.
Also, what type of water profile should I be going for? Building from RO water. Thanks
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Because of the combination of lower mash efficiency and generally lower attenuation I get from high gravity beers, 148-152F works for me. With Bru'n Water I just go with the Dark Balanced, not enough experience with experimenting, but comes out fine. One thing I do is to only add about 1/4 of the darks to the mash for the first 15min, then add the rest and start the vorlauf. Too much darks with too long a mash will create excessive bitter tannins. Took me a while to figure this out, much cleaner stouts after I did.
 
Well brewed this yesterday morning, hit 1.1 og, pretty happy since im using biab and thought i might come in lower. I did add 2# of base malt to the bill. In the fermenter with a blow off tube on it. Made a 1L starter with 1056, split it and made 2 1L starters, then combined them in a 2L starter, hopefully this works out ok for me.
 
Tarpon87 said:
Well brewed this yesterday morning, hit 1.1 og, pretty happy since im using biab and thought i might come in lower. I did add 2# of base malt to the bill. In the fermenter with a blow off tube on it. Made a 1L starter with 1056, split it and made 2 1L starters, then combined them in a 2L starter, hopefully this works out ok for me.
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Keep us informed!
 
Little update. Beer sat in primary for 30 days, just transfeted to secondary to sit for a few months. FG ended up being 1.03 putting the beer at 9.19%. A little short but im happy with it. Sample tasted really good already cant wait to see what its like in a few months.
 
I ended up only leaving it in secondary for about 6 weeks, I needed the fermenter so I transferred to a keg about 4 days ago. Ill let it carb up and then I will bottle off the keg because I will need the keg in a few weeks as well and I don't need 5gal of a 9% stout on tap when its 100 degrees outside. Ill get a taste of it today and see what its like with a little bit of carbonation.
 
Any change to the recipe in the op? Did this before but got lots of off flavours. I want something for Christmas.
STill using 05 or something different. Has to be white labs liquid
 
winstonia said:
Any change to the recipe in the op? Did this before but got lots of off flavours. I want something for Christmas.
STill using 05 or something different. Has to be white labs liquid
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What off flavors did you get? Did you figure out the cause? I'm brewing tomorrow, so any info would be great.
 
Scturo said:
What off flavors did you get? Did you figure out the cause? I'm brewing tomorrow, so any info would be great.
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It was 2 years ago when I brewed this, loads of combos for off flavours.

Mashed too high, using a spirit temp that I didn't trust

However I sat this in secondary in my room for 4 months and the temp would not be steady during that time so I was pretty sure this was the main reason.

The off flavour was hot alcohol.
 
I heated strike water to 161, after adding bag and grains and stirring in, i was at 152. Mashed for 75min, stirring every 15min i ended up at 147.5. Preboil gravity was 1.074, boiled for 90min. Post boil gravity was 1.10. Built up a 2l starter of 1056, pitched at 66F. Left in primary for 4 weeks 2 days (work trip). Transfered to secondary and took a sample, FG was 1.03, so 9.2abv. Left in secondary for 6 weeks, kegged and half carb'd until my co2 ran out today. Taste is great, just a slight booziness but its still pretty young. This is a fantastic beer.
 
I just wanted to say a quick thank you to the OP as well as others who posted. Ive been following this post for a year and actually brewed this back in Feb. Its been aging in the keg since then in the basement. I did a BA version of this with Vanilla bean. I put it on tap 2 days ago and the first pour gave me butterflies because it was everything I was looking for! I had my doubts on this due to this being my first ever stout. It came out to be roughly 9% ABV which is fine. Ill get better efficiency next time Im sure. I plan on drinking a Oskar Blues BA Ten Fidy to see differences. But I am absolutely satisfied!!!!!
 
Peepmachine said:
I just wanted to say a quick thank you to the OP as well as others who posted. Ive been following this post for a year and actually brewed this back in Feb. Its been aging in the keg since then in the basement. I did a BA version of this with Vanilla bean. I put it on tap 2 days ago and the first pour gave me butterflies because it was everything I was looking for! I had my doubts on this due to this being my first ever stout. It came out to be roughly 9% ABV which is fine. Ill get better efficiency next time Im sure. I plan on drinking a Oskar Blues BA Ten Fidy to see differences. But I am absolutely satisfied!!!!!
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Congratulations! Butterflies in the stomach is a good sign.
 
I did end up brewing this recipe for the FotHB thread. Interesting enough my abv was 9% as well. I used it as the base formula, and added Maple Syrup at the end of the boil, and some oak aged bourbon in secondary. The only change I did to the process, was I added the dark grains to the last 30 mins of the mash. The beer is already very drinkable, but will benefit from aging. Thanks to the OP for the recipe,
 

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