12-12-12 Showdown Wee Heavy vs. Quad

[bjl110]

... So wouldn't that make this a great time to do it? When we have everyone's resources/knowledge? Although not scientific by any means, it might also show a bit about procedures.

 

[bierhaus15]

It takes some serious yeast management, temp control, nutrients and recipe tweaking to make a very tasty beer north of 10%.

I would say this is even more true for a Wee Heavy than a Belgian dark strong. While you can get away with some off flavors in a big Belgian - due to high esters, character malts, and sugars - any thing 'off' in a strong scotch is instantly noticeable. Wee heavy is not an easy style to brew well. You have little esters, almost no hop character, and ideally just a lot of very clean, caramelly malt. There is little room for mistakes here. Water profile and fermentation control are going to be paramount to making this a good beer.

I'm all for brewing a Scotch, though it might not be the friendliest style for a "community brew."

 

[smokinghole]

I get that, but I'm not envisioning super high ABV for the wee heavy, maybe 8-10%. Getting to 12% is a bit more of hurdle. With the brew date set in or around December the difficult thing people might have to deal with are clean water and proper amount of yeast. I figure with the colder weather in December fermentation temp can be controlled by heating the fermentor at low to mid 60s in a garage with an aquarium heater. That should prove easier than keeping a beer cool in summer temps for most.

 

[MDVDuber]

Closed my eyes and clicked - Wee Heavy. This is a good thing since I have 10 lbs of Golden Promise looking for a home...

I'm cool with a Quad too - they were my top two choices in the initial poll.

 

[JLW]

I get that, but I'm not envisioning super high ABV for the wee heavy, maybe 8-10%. Getting to 12% is a bit more of hurdle. With the brew date set in or around December the difficult thing people might have to deal with are clean water and proper amount of yeast. I figure with the colder weather in December fermentation temp can be controlled by heating the fermentor at low to mid 60s in a garage with an aquarium heater. That should prove easier than keeping a beer cool in summer temps for most.

Keeping a beer cool for me in the summer is way harder than warming in the winter. My wife has grown to enjoy the sounds of fermentation in the warm bedroom

The first wee heavy I brewed turned out ok but my technique was missing boiling a small amount of wort to carmalize and I believe this is what my wee heavy is missing.

 

[smokinghole]

Carmelized first runnings will certainly be a part of the recipe....

 

[GuldTuborg]

Right, like I need another reason to buy a new smack pack of 1728. Twist my arm, folks. I'm in for the Wee Heavy.

 

[corncob]

How about a brief rundown for those of us who have never participated in this game? How many bottles are sent out? When? How do you even mail a bottle of beer? How specific is the recipe? Yeast? Mash/fermentation temps?

What are the rules, man? I don't want to vote and skew the results if I won't be participating anyway.

 

[Hoppylikerabbits]

I voted for the Quad. After trying La Trappe Quadruple Belgian ale i fell in love. One of the 7 Trappist ales left. But i wouldn't mind brewing either one.

 

[azscoob]

I await the Wee Heavy recipe formulation thread. :rockin:

 

[KingBrianI]

I await the Wee Heavy recipe formulation thread. :rockin:

Same here!

 

[binkman]

Same here!

Me too!

 

[smokinghole]

You guys waiting for me to start the thread?

 

[azscoob]

You guys waiting for me to start the thread?

I figured since this was your poll, you would want to start the recipe thread.

 

[smokinghole]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/12-12-12-wee-heavy-recipe-formulation-271379/

Here we go.........