12-12-12 Wee Heavy Recipe Formulation

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Is everyone using extra yeast for bottling? I bottled some without and after 2.5 months.... Nada....Im going ton give it a couple more months but I as hopingbfor something....

I'm going to carbonate in keg (slow method) so I'm not at all concerned about the yeast's state. I also know it will be carbonated within 2-3 weeks of it going onto gas.
 
It's weird, but I took a taste at bottling, and this beer still tastes "young", even though I made mine Thanksgiving weekend 2011. Flavors still need to mellow a little. It tastes delicious though. I'm glad I made 6 gallons. I bottled some in champagne bottles for long term aging. I think it will peak at 2-3 years.
 
smokinghole said:
I've been drinking one from time time. It's good, it's super malty/boozy though. I think maybe a year or more might get it to calm down.

Yeah, that's exactly the impression I get. It's funny too because I made a 16% IPA that wasn't boozy at all and it's almost gone now 4 months from brew day. This beer has a vinous malty heat. It definitely still needs time.
 
I deviated (more than a bit) from the posted recipe. So, I'll probably not be participating in the bottle swap. But, if anyone is up in my neck of the woods, once it's ready to go to glass, you can swing by for a taste. :D

I expect to transfer to serving kegs sometime after the end of this month. Most likely in time to have it in glass by Thanksgiving. :ban: :drunk:
 
Mine is aging away in a carboy in the basement. Haven't had time to think about it (or any brewing sadly) this summer due to a new addition to the family, but I will definitely be participating in the swap.

It's good to see activity in the thread. It reminded me that it was there. Took a taste this morning. Not much change in the last three months. It's still a little hot, but tasty none the less. Threw a quarter cup into some BBQ sauce I'm making in lieu of molasses.
 
KBrian, are you still in on this? How did your whiskey/abused cellar oak experiment work out?
 
KBrian, are you still in on this? How did your whiskey/abused cellar oak experiment work out?

I never ended up making it. Got busy and by the time I was ready to brew it, I figured it wouldn't have enough time to age. The oak ended up in another big beer very like this one though. I made a beer with 95% warminster maris otter, 4% carastan and 1% black barley to commemorate my first kid who's due next year, and just racked it to secondary on top of oak. I didn't bury the oak in peat or age it outside after soaking in the alcohol though. :D
 
^^ it still sounds delicious though.

So how many people actually brewed this and are willing to swap?
 
I am. I better bottle a 12 pack of my keg though. I've been sipping on it for the past 3 months in my kegerator. It got a 3rd place in its cat in my clubs HBC. I am still up for trading.
 
BenS said:
I am. I better bottle a 12 pack of my keg though. I've been sipping on it for the past 3 months in my kegerator. It got a 3rd place in its cat in my clubs HBC. I am still up for trading.

Did you enter under wood aged? I've been thinking about entering this but hadn't been sure which category.
 
I did not age it on wood, so no. I entered it as a strong scotch ale.
 
I'm still planning on swapping, I need to bottle in a week or two, I've been bulk aging since dec. Hopefully with some extra yeast it'll still have time to carb. I've got a two year old barleywine that never carb'd, it was closer to 12% tho.
 
sapperxl said:
I'm still planning on swapping, I need to bottle in a week or two, I've been bulk aging since dec. Hopefully with some extra yeast it'll still have time to carb. I've got a two year old barleywine that never carb'd, it was closer to 12% tho.

Did you add yeast for the BW? I've had trouble with big beers carbing in the past, so I always rehydrate some champagne yeast in the priming sugar solution with anything over 9%. I did a half pack for this beer. I don't see there being any problems - I used the same technique on a 16% IPA and it carbed in 2 weeks - take that Revvy :D
 
bottlebomber said:
Did you add yeast for the BW? I've had trouble with big beers carbing in the past, so I always rehydrate some champagne yeast in the priming sugar solution with anything over 9%. I did a half pack for this beer. I don't see there being any problems - I used the same technique on a 16% IPA and it carbed in 2 weeks - take that Revvy :D

No I didn't bulk age it long so I figured there'd still be plenty in it. Oh well was a learning experience and my BIL loves it so I bribe him with it whenever I need help doing stuff around the house, tastes like rocket fuel to me. I was gonna add some fresh 1728 slurry for this one. I'm afraid of getting gushers using champagne yeast, but I guess if regular yeast can't eat it champagne yeast can't either so maybe I'll try it.
 
sapperxl said:
No I didn't bulk age it long so I figured there'd still be plenty in it. Oh well was a learning experience and my BIL loves it so I bribe him with it whenever I need help doing stuff around the house, tastes like rocket fuel to me. I was gonna add some fresh 1728 slurry for this one. I'm afraid of getting gushers using champagne yeast, but I guess if regular yeast can't eat it champagne yeast can't either so maybe I'll try it.

Actually champagne yeast is less likely to try and munch on the more complex malt sugars... That's why I use it. Plus it doesn't seem to have any trouble starting up in a high alcohol environment
 
I'm willing to trade, but want to give mine a taste before I commit. We moved this summer, and transport/storage may have taken it's toll. It was kegged and sealed, but I don't want to make assumptions. Probably another week before i'm unpacked enough to get the kegging system online.
 
Ezekielsays said:
I'm willing to trade, but want to give mine a taste before I commit. We moved this summer, and transport/storage may have taken it's toll. It was kegged and sealed, but I don't want to make assumptions. Probably another week before i'm unpacked enough to get the kegging system online.

C'mon man, you can't think like that. We are always WAY harder on our beer than we need to be. You're in. ;)
 
I'm just having my first bottle of this, and I have to say I am 100% satisfied with how it came out. It had some boozy and vinous notes from the fermenter, but carbonation has fixed all that, and lightened the body just enough to balance the sweetness. It is damn good. I am looking forward to trading.
 
I brewed the recipe a bit late. Want to let me in on the trade? On 12-12-12, mine will be just over 8 months old.

I still need to try it to see if it's worthy. I fermented @ 58 for a month and the sample was reely good. I then raised it to 65 to shave off a few more points, and it did, but tasted a lot hotter. It went from 1.109 to 1.019.
 
CrystallineEntity said:
I brewed the recipe a bit late. Want to let me in on the trade? On 12-12-12, mine will be just over 8 months old.

I still need to try it to see if it's worthy. I fermented @ 58 for a month and the sample was reely good. I then raised it to 65 to shave off a few more points, and it did, but tasted a lot hotter. It went from 1.109 to 1.019.

Mine tasted a little hot too until I carbed it. I betcha it will be killer.
 
bottlebomber said:
C'mon man, you can't think like that. We are always WAY harder on our beer than we need to be. You're in. ;)

you've convinced me. I'll trade. If the beer couldn't take the handling and turned out terrible, I'll be swapping a few bottles of overheated stinky malt bombs for some tasty Scottish goodness! :)
 
Ezekielsays said:
you've convinced me. I'll trade. If the beer couldn't take the handling and turned out terrible, I'll be swapping a few bottles of overheated stinky malt bombs for some tasty Scottish goodness! :)

Sounds great! :D
 
Decided to see how this was coming along. It finished at 11.8%ABV. Zero head retention. Also a little under carbonated. Pretty darn sweet. A lot of raisin and plum in the taste and aroma. Not too bad but 3/4 of a pint and I'm full. If I brew it again I will bump up the hops a bit to cut the sweet, Add some carafoam and more torrified wheat.
 
Bottled mine today. I pitched a 1/2 packet of EC-118 with priming sugar. I was shooting for 2.2 volumes of CO2; we'll see.

Tasting notes, it's still boozy. It's smooth, but you can smell the alcohol. Other than that, it's like chewing on a big, dense loaf of bead. An entire bottle would be quite an undertaking.

/Need to get a kegerator and Beer Gun...
 
Reading these posts of bottling and tasting notes reminds me of my poor beer and its demise. My cat seems to have largely stopped eating, being 17 years old, when she kicks off I will be rebrewing this beer, she was the tool of the first batches destruction, and like the Phoenix, this beer shall rise from the cats ashes, not literally, but figuratively, I wouldn't brew with the cats ashes, it would be too bitter, wouldn't cremate her either, just dig a hole and plunk.... In she goes.
 
So, I didn't exactly make the recipe in the OP, but I DID write a recipe and brew a ~12% ABV wee heavy at the end of last year to go along with this thread.

Mine had a pretty strong raisin/prune thing going on, so I thought I'd try a weird experiment. I entered it in two categories: Strong Scottish Ale, and just for kicks, Belgian Strong Dark Ale. It ended up getting first place for Scottish Ales, and scored an unbelievable 35 as a Belgian. :p
 
Type: All Grain Date: 12/11/2011
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 8.18 gal
Boil Time: 120 min
Equipment: 15 gallon Megapot + 12 gallon Ice Cube MLT
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Taste Notes: Scored 37 and won 1st place at 2012 Pacific Brewers Cup.
Also scored 35 and 3rd place entered as a Belgian Dark Strong Ale (!) in the same competition.

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
19 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (92.1%)
0.5 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (2.4% )
0.5 lbs Melanoiden Malt (2.4%)
0.25lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) (1.2%)
0.25lbs Smoked Malt (1.2% )
2.1 oz Black (Patent) Malt (0.6%)
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [10.90% AA] - Boil 60.0 min 18.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 % AA] - Boil 20.0 min 11.0 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 0 mins)
2.0 pkg Nottingham Yeast


I did a double decoction for the mash:

30 min Protein Rest @131F Add 30 qt of water at 141.3F
45 min Saccharification @156F Decoct 12 qt of mash and boil it
10 min Mash Out @168F Decoct 8 qt of mash and boil it

Batch sparge with ~3.4gal of 168.0 F water

To get more kettle carmelization, I pulled ~1 gallon of sweet wort to a separate, smaller pot, and boiled it down to about 1 quart, while the rest of the wort was heating up to a boil in the main BK. Then I added that back to the main boil.



Other notes: the hop variety for the bittering hops--I chose Northern Brewer only because my club had an "Iron Brewer" competition using three specific ingredients. In this case it was smoked malt, NB hops, and bitter orange peel, that all had to be in the beer. I added the orange peel as a tincture to the bottles later on for the Iron Brewer competition. In Scottish Ales the variety of hop doesn't matter. Just try to hit the tiny IBUs with whatever you've got laying around for a bittering addition. Also, for what it's worth, it won that competition.
 
Bottled on Sunday. Had an issue with the champagne yeast. I think I shocked it maybe when I added it. It was all sitting at the bottom of the bottling bucket. I think impatience got the best of me as I didn't wait for it froth up in the priming solution. Ended up adding a few grains to each bottle so hopefully it will still carb in a timely fashion. I hate bottling.
 
Just popped my first tester after a month in bottles. Hallelujah! Nice soft carbonation. Feeling much better about it and looking forward to the swap now.
 
I went for very light carbonation on mine as well. It's pretty darn oaky, and very little head retention at its 11% ABV. I'm hoping the head retention improves a little with continued bottle conditioning. Really good though, drinks easier than I'd thought it would.
 
Mine has little to no head. I bottled it off of the keg. It came in at 11.8%.

I entered it in a comp today. I'm curious to see what the judges say.
 

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