1.200 20%+ 120 Minute IIPA

[Coastarine]

Sucrose would require the yeast to produce invertase, in a high alcohol environment I'm not sure how good the yeast would be at adapting to produce invertase? It might work... Inverting the sugar using an acid and heat before adding would certainly work, but it'd be a pain compared to dumping in dextrose I would think.

Got it, thanks.

 

[sirsloop]

One other question, is there any particular reason to use dextrose over sucrose? My understanding was that sucrose is more fermentable. I'm not really sure on the difference in flavor, post fermenation.

You could use table sugar, but dextrose is easier to dissolve and lessens the chances of (more) cidery off-tastes.

 

[Coastarine]

You are inspiring me. I'm trying to dig through this thread...how did you end up deciding to add the dextrose? Dry?

You missed my first question.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Coastarine,
From earlier:

Yeasties destroyed the last sugar addition. More oxygen and sugar went in today. I'm stirring up the cake with my aeration stone and racking cane, then simply sprinkling the corn sugar on top. There was mention about added nucleation sites making for a bubbly mess... didn't have that problem. It may be more of an issue in a carboy...

 

[sirsloop]

what he said...

I'm done adding oxygen to this soup... so I switched to my large plastic brew spoon. I crack it open, stir the heck out of it, pour in a pound, stir until dissolved, close it up.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

I'm done adding oxygen to this soup... so I switched to my large plastic brew spoon. I crack it open, stir the heck out of it, pour in a pound, stir until dissolved, close it up.

C'mon...admit it...you talk to it don't you?

 

[sirsloop]

I've been trying to talk it into being finished and aged immediately but it doesn't want any of that...

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

I just got this visual of you at the base of the castle (which is a huge fermenter bucket)...yelling up for it to finish and age quickly...and it yelling; "I fart in thy general direction!" and throwing a cow out of the fermenter.

 

[sirsloop]

Here's an actual visual for you guys. This stuff is THICK. There is a MASSIVE amount of yeast in this thing. I'm up to 8 pounds of dextrose on top of the 1.091 initial gravity. The thing shows no signs of stopping. The pound of dextrose I added last night is done and gone. I bet if I checked gravity before this last addition it would be LOWER. At this point, this thing has so much yeast in it, it'll eat ANYTHING I put in there!!!

Oh, another note... I finally hit the point where the CO2 in solution will foam up the fermenter. I stirred it up real good like I didnt in the past, but I didn't add oxygen. I sprinkled in like 1/2 pound of dextrose on top and the thing started foaming up real good. It almost went over the top. You can see the line from last night. At this point I gotta be REAL careful adding extra sugar. Add a little, let it foam up, and let it settle down.

Also, notice the level of the liquid in the bucket. I'd say its pretty damn close to 6.5 gallons now. The yeast cake this thing makes in 1 days is impressive. Its gotta be over an inch thick at the bottom in 24 hours. I also added in a full 5 gallon starter cake for the WLP099 which was damn near 3/4 gallon of pure sediment.

I tasted it too... its CRAZY bitter and has a lot of winey flavors. I'm definitely going to need to keep adding sugar until the yeast won't go anymore. Other threads I saw landed the FG at like 1.030. I'll probably need to reach that in order to balance out the extreme hop bitterness. It sounds insane, but thats 3 MORE pounds of dextrose on top of what I already have in there IF THE YEAST STOP EATING NOW!!! That would already be 11 pounds of dextrose. I only have 5 more pounds of dextrose here, so that may mean I gotta make a run to the LHBS to pick up another 5 pounds! HAHAH!

 

[steelerguy]

The first thing I thought when I looked at that picture was...ummmm, I want a sip!

That is one insane brew you got going there...love it!

 

[MacBruver]

Man, that is some crazy looking stuff. Better be careful man... it looks like it's close to growing legs and walking away!!

 

[Coastarine]

If you dipped your finger in that you might pull out a boody bone.

That is a ton of sugar. I hope it tastes good, you're talking about 40% dextrose!

 

[Bobby_M]

You might want to start trying to dissolve the sugar in a small amount of water and some heat so that you're not adding all those nucleation sites.

 

[smizak]

I know I'm late to the party, but........

Holy crap.

 

[sirsloop]

I know I'm late to the party, but........

Holy crap.

party is still goin

 

[bobsstory182]

This sounds like an awesome brew! I wanna give it a shot when I get my tax return. Do you think oxygen is a neccesity or could I get by with shaking and stirring the bucket? Thanks!

 

[sirsloop]

The oxygen is necessary. The O2 rig is relatively simple and cheap, the bottles are relatively cheap, and its a kick butt way to add oxygen to your brews. You can get away with shaking on weak brews, but this is extreme brewing at the limits of the yeast. You gotta help them bring their A+ game.

 

[bobsstory182]

Alrighty, I have a few projects I need to get done before I invest in anything else so this brew will have to wait. Hopefully I can get this thing started by the end of march. Hopefully that will be enough time to age for winter drinking

 

[sirsloop]

winter 09?, winter 10?, winter 11?, winter 12?, or.... ?

 

[avaserfi]

This looks pretty good. I wish I could try some. Might have to make a batch myself when I finally get a decent place to take on such a project.

 

[Stinkonamonkey]

Wow. Great experiment! I'm looking forward to how this ends up.

 

[bobsstory182]

How long do you plan on aging this bad boy?

 

[sirsloop]

until it tastes good I guess... I figure a year? I'll probably bottle up a few Fischer double deuces and forget about em...

 

[sirsloop]

1.091+8 pounds of dextrose (1.165)... current gravity is 1.016. Stirred it up, added another pound of dextrose, closed it up.

 

[Irish1225]

1.016 holy cow

 

[Danek]

1.016 holy cow

Yeah, precisely. Sirsloop, you reckon that could be too dry?

1.016. Wow!

 

[Geo-Brewer]

I have a ~8% Imperial stout that is stuck in its fermentation process at an SG of 1.027. How do I start that back up??? I harvested the yeast from the stout's primary, and prepared a healthy starter with yeast energizer and corn sugar. Is it ok to add this into the stout? And will it add off flavors?

 

[sirsloop]

Yeah, precisely. Sirsloop, you reckon that could be too dry?

1.016. Wow!

It is too dry... totally. Its ridiculously bitter right now. I'm gonna keep adding sugar until the yeast die, then sweeten it to taste. Kinda what the mead crowd does. That part of the process will take place a month down the road after the last addition fails to ferment. I need to secondary this beer to clear out all the yeast + dry hop it still.

 

[sirsloop]

I have a ~8% Imperial stout that is stuck in its fermentation process at an SG of 1.027. How do I start that back up??? I harvested the yeast from the stout's primary, and prepared a healthy starter with yeast energizer and corn sugar. Is it ok to add this into the stout? And will it add off flavors?

hijack attempt eh?

I would stir up the cake, warm it up, and see if it starts on its own. If not, grab a packet of US-05 or Nottinghams and simply pitch that to finish it up. Could be its just a lot of non-fermentable sugars in there from either extract, crystal grain, or high mash temp.

 

[Danek]

I have a ~8% Imperial stout that is stuck in its fermentation process at an SG of 1.027. How do I start that back up??? I harvested the yeast from the stout's primary, and prepared a healthy starter with yeast energizer and corn sugar. Is it ok to add this into the stout? And will it add off flavors?

Have you tried stirring the yeast up with a sanitized spoon and upping the temperature a little? I'd try that first, as it might be all you need to drop a few more points. [EDIT: DOH! Beaten to it!]