1.200 20%+ 120 Minute IIPA

[Danek]

Yesterday I tried a sample of my 10.5% Strong Dark Belgian brewed in October which is aging in secondary at the moment. It was really nice, but as it still had a noticeable alcoholic harshness, I decided to leave it for another three months or so to mellow. And it was then that I thought of your 23% monster beer. How long will that much booze take to mellow to drinkable levels?

 

[sirsloop]

ehh... probably a year or two?

 

[CnnmnSchnpps]

Sorry if this is a noob question, but - normally we are told to not not aerate the beer after the first time so as not to oxidize it. I'm wondering what makes the process different in your case? Is it because you are keeping up an active fermentation the whole time?

 

[sirsloop]

Yeast consume oxygen when propagating... in this case there is so much sugar to be consumed its ok to give them extra oxygen early on to help them through the process. They still fermented more sugar after I stopped adding oxygen that most beers have in total.

 

[sirsloop]

it seems to have stalled at 1.030... so the last bit of dextrose didn't really ferment much. Maybe 2 points or so. I'm gonna see if I can coax .04-.06 out of them and call it quits.

good lord... so I tried some today... LOL... WOW. Its pretty sweet, pretty hot, pretty bitter. Pretty much everything in excess. I guess this one is gonna get kegged up and stuck in my closet for a while. Its extreme. I think it really needs to get dry hopped, carbed, and age before I can really put my finger on it.

 

[steelerguy]

I measured DFH 120 at 1.030 so I bet it is pretty sweet! That yeast is getting tired, but I bet you can eke out some a few more points with some time. If the beer is really sticking at 1.030 then rack it off without chilling, keep the yeast that is in suspension in there, move it to a secondary vessel, and then bump the temp up to 80. That cake is going to be getting pretty nasty and I bet there are a lot of dead US-05 yeast in there you don't want it sitting on that for long especially if you raise the temp.

 

[Donthoseme]

i need to see a picture of this and get some tasting notes.

 

[sirsloop]

HAHA... you may be waiting a while for that. I haven't cracked it open in a week, but its still bubbling away so there's somethin goin on still. Regardless, its quite hot now and will need a LONG time to age.

 

[Donthoseme]

I can't imagine what you must be going through having to wait. I check this page almost every day and I'm not the one drinking it!

 

[sirsloop]

OK! ITS KEGGED! 5 gallons exactly went into a freshly cleaned cornie 5 minutes ago. Its crazy, but this thing had 1.5 gallons of cake at the bottom!! HAHAH!! I didnt think it was gonna fit in one cornie...when it hit 2gal my jaw dropped. Monster cake! 1.028FG so far... probably will drop another 1-2 points over the next 1-2 years. Its got a pretty wild smell to it! I decided to hold off dry hopping until next year. I think it would be a waste to drop all those hops in there, only to let the keg remained in there for X amount of time before actual consumption.

Lol... this one should be interesting at competitions! Next up we have a 22.5% IIPA!!! BOOM!

 

[sirsloop]

 

[SkinnyShamrock]

A 22.5% IPA? There's no word to describe that

Wait, thought of one: INSANE!

That said I had my first taste of DFH 120 last week. It was positively ridiculous. My mouth didn't even identify it as beer.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Wow, THAT is a yeast cake!

 

[sirsloop]

I should have taken a photo of the cake with the beer off the top. Man... it was like yeast slime!

 

[MacBruver]

Holy cow! You created The Blob! Did the yeasties yell "HEY! TURN OFF THAT LIGHT!" when you cracked the lid?

 

[sirsloop]

They were probably thanking me when I flushed them down the toilet. Somewhere there is a big pile of fermented poo.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

Man that was a fun read.

Just out of curiosity, what would you do if you bottled it? Add fresh yeast? or yeast and priming sugar?

Awesome though, my hats off to you.

 

[sirsloop]

I may bottle some of it. I'll carb it in the keg, drop the keg pressure, and pour it right out of the faucet into the bottles at like 2psi. Let the foam pour over the top, cap it, all set. At this point, I don't think adding any more yeast will do anything.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

I mean in lieu of kegging

 

[Jonnio]

I may bottle some of it. I'll carb it in the keg, drop the keg pressure, and pour it right out of the faucet into the bottles at like 2psi. Let the foam pour over the top, cap it, all set. At this point, I don't think adding any more yeast will do anything.

With a beer like this you might as well spend the $5 on a BMBF - that way you get the bottles properly carb'd

 

[sirsloop]

I have a BMBF

 

[monkeychef]

Good god, I'd be afraid of that beer. Put a padlock on whatever closet you're keeping it in so it doesn't escape.

Awesome brew, really inspiring. I can't imagine how long it will take to drink 5 gallons of that stuff though.

 

[saq]

I've enjoyed reading this experiment. You should writeup a recipe post with a one page summary of your techniques, status updates etc

 

[user 22118]

You really just need to put a little pressure on the keg, pull off a shot glass full and take a picture so that we can see what the hell this devil looks like. Then I can completely plagurize your process and get one of my own

My third coffee is kicking in and it is barely 10 o'clock

 

[jkpq45]

Fabulous idea. I agree to the drinking it out of a shot glass. Maybe in 2 oz servings in a snifter like Utopias.

Congrats on the biggest brew I've seen so far!

 

[jkpq45]

Any update on the monster?

 

[cercueil]

I may get some people jeoulous but I did taste the 120 minute last night. It was amazing..Sirsloop also dry hopped the growler which I thought was a nice touch..For such a huge beer it was very well balanced. Even with all that malt it had a great hop presence. The body of the beer was definitely thick and kind of poured out like maple syrup. Its only 6 months old and I can definitely see this one improving with age. Great job Sirsloop!

 

[Arkador]

What was the cost of the materials to make this monster?

 

[sirsloop]

Roughly $70 for 5 gallons... probably closer to $85 after you consider all the gas, O2, sanitizer, etc...

Its actually only 3 months old!! It seems like longer, but dang its pretty good for 22+% and being that young! I had a FULL 5 gallon cornie... kinda needed to make room for dry hopping so I busted it out early. I'm going to toss it in the closet and forget about it for a while. Its got a real unique smell to it... kinda sorta a buttery smell (dms?) but its not. Its hard to put your finger on it. Just smells intense. Its surprisingly smooth, although you know its got some mega kick to it. The up front flavor is pretty sweet and different than what you would expect... almost shocking. You smell and taste the hops, and its got a pleasant hop finish to it. The recipe calls for dry hops so I just stuffed some amarillo in a bag and stuffed it in the growler. Would I make it again? Hell yeah, although I will probably find some other neat project to challenge myself with first. Reminds me... I owe Brad 3 beers for some hops he gave me...

 

[user 22118]

Damn it man! Take a picture! I want to see this beast in a glass so that I know what the monster looks like.