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If you want to increase the ABV now, you could add a little sugar (if you also rouse the yeast) directly to the carboy. Beware that this will increase your ABV without changing your FG, which could wind up leaving you with a beer that feels a little thin or insufficiently sweet, depending on...

Do you mean adjustments to make if you made this recipe again, but at a higher ABV? Or do you mean what can you do now to increase the ABV of your existing already-fermented beer? (Small note: in the future, I would not use 4 oz of hops for a stout, especially not one that has other flavors in...

I personally would let it have more time in the bottle. Sometimes a beer needs three weeks, in my experience, before it's really ready for prime time (though some beers are different). So if I were you, I'd brew it today and bottle it as soon as you reach FG. A little yeast or sediment in the...

I hear what you're saying, and it'd be worth trying an experiment making something like a hoppy Oktoberfest--that is, use a ton of a Vienna or Munich to lay the malty foundation. But another answer is just that amber is a different beer. "Amber" doesn't just mean a color; it also has come to...

APAs are a bit trickier than people give credit for--in some ways, I think they're harder to do well than an IPA. You have less gravity and hops to hide behind, so you need to balance it well. I also think that a SMaSH is not necessarily a good competition beer. SMaSH is designed to be easy to...

I agree that you should be fine with the pitch from a single yeast pack. I personally would slightly increase the Special B quantity and cut out the crystal 40. It'd be more in line with the style. Special B provides more of the dark fruit flavors that are key to a good dubbel. I would also...

That sounds like a good approach. You can check the nutrition facts of the product in question to figure out how much sugar is in it. Generally it'll all be fermentable if you leave it in for long enough--it's mostly sucrose and fructose, I think, but in any event is mostly simple. You can...

I think the above advice is spot on. You could consider using a yeast that is more spicy than fruity, which might allow the cherries to shine. Also consider adding the tiniest amount of true cinnamon, which I think enhances and highlights sour cherry flavor. (Thanks to Radical Brewing for that...

Yeah, wheat makes sense, although I would probably go with a small amount of unmalted for head retention and body. This isn't a big deal, though. Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with those sugars. If they taste good, though, I bet they'd be good for a little layering. There's nothing...

This looks like a great base. Thoughts in no particular order. Attenuation is key in a quad. It's not necessary to use amylase--that's what your pils is for. But to get proper attenuation, you may want to increase your sugar percentage. The simplest way to do it is to use a little plain sucrose...

Irish ale yeast is pretty neutral, so it's pretty versatile. If it gives you a little ester production, that'll probably blend well with a complicated spice profile. So yes, I think you should be good with that. (The only reason to use a different yeast would be if you really want some...

A few ideas, which focus on the medium part of the color spectrum (I think that works best with oak flavor): *virtually anything Belgian, since the style can often be more elastic. *old ale. *barley wine (a bit obvious, but good). *a medium-color beer with dark fruit--e.g., ESB with raspberries...

In my experience it's not always obvious whether a beer is sour until it's carbed. Uncarbonated beer is less sour than carbonated beer, since it's missing carbonic acid (the reason seltzer is sour) from dissolved CO2. So the first piece of advice is, wait until it carbs up to decide. The other...

This sounds like a great idea. I did something similar myself last summer, though I used acidulated malt. For reference, my recipe is here: https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/sour-harlem-common (the amber malt listed there is a stand-in; I actually used home-toasted 2-row.) Just my two cents, but...

Since you're using the Fuller's yeast, you might consider a high-gravity ESB variant, like the Fuller's 1845: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/71/560/ That could certainly be oaked. I would not add bourbon to it, but oak alone would produce a nice set of flavors, sort of in the...

I think you're right and that it's basically just strength. I brew both, and I would say they are quite similar. A BDS is basically an "imperial" dubbel, and the beers fit that pattern. For example, a double/imperial IPA is usually sweeter than an IPA, and similarly, a BDS is often a little...

Yep, everything except the one that I'm bottling is already bottled and is fully carbed, ready to drink.

Hi everyone-- I posted this on the sampling/critiquing forum, but since it's somewhat time-sensitive, I'm posting it here too (higher traffic). Hope that is okay. My girlfriend and I are moving from Harlem to the Lower East side, and we are significantly downsizing our quarters. I have way...

Hey everyone-- My girlfriend and I are moving from Harlem to the Lower East side, and we are significantly downsizing our quarters. I have way more beer than I realized (it's easy for stuff to get lost in closets when you have a lot of closets!), and while I'm willing to move it, I would be...

That looks good to me. Man, I love dubbels!!