A Tribute to Hunahpu

[DiscDoc]

My basement is always about 60F. According to my stick-on bucket thermometer, we're hovering around 64. I think that'll give me a pretty clean fermentation profile.

The version I'm using:

49.5% 2 row [13#]
20% Maris Otter [5#]
10% Chocolate [3#]
10% Roasted [3#]
5% Flaked oats [1#]
3% C60 [1#]
1.7% Flaked Rye [.5#]
.8% Special B [.25#]

Mashed at 155F for 75 minutes, sparged out at 168F for 10 min.
120min boil. Initial volume ~7.3gal
2.2oz Summit @60min

Final volume: 5.2gallons,
OG: 1.114

Pitched a slurry of harvested Thames Valley wyeast from an ESB.

It's thick and syrupy. I spilled a little on my deck and I swear it looks like I spilled motor oil. Anything else you wanna know? Just ask!

How did your tribute to Hunahpu come out... I'm thinking if trying one and would love any recs
Thank you

 

[WhizardHat]

How did your tribute to Hunahpu come out... I'm thinking if trying one and would love any recs
Thank you

Mine's only 12 days into primary. Right now, I'm collecting my secondary additions. So far I have dried ancho and pasilla peppers, cocoa, oak, bourbon, and cinnamon. I still need to get a Madagascar Vanilla bean. I'll probably rack to secondary sometime this week. It smells delicious.

 

[WhizardHat]

Looks awesome.....just getting into brewing, but haven't actually brewed yet.....think I will start with something a little less.....still going to start with all grain (probably BIAB), because I don't really have any interet in extract. Still, I think a beer like this would be a little much for a first brew?

I'll agree with FatCity on this one. Definitely not a beginner beer. I've been going for over a year and feel I'm in a bit over my head on this one. I'd also advise not BIAB-ing this. I did BIAB for a while, but I don't think it would be feasible with this much grain (maybe if you did partial mash). The mash tun pic I posted is from a 10 gallon mash tun, after the wort was drained. That thing was full, all the way, during the mash. There's tons of great smaller beer recipes to help you get your feet wet before doing this, and you'll have a blast doing it. Have fun!

 

[VSGLS1]

Ya, this needs some time. Plan on trying some in the fall.

 

[Loneleigh]

My rendition is fermenting. I checked gravity after 9 days it was at 8%. Im trying for 11%. I had to transfer because I dropped a damn chopstick in...dont ask...so I poured some of the yeast sludge in so I hope its enough to bring it up 3 more pts. If not I might have to add another packet of safale 04. (I also used London ale yeast.)

 

[VSGLS1]

Mine is sitting at 10.5% as of the last time I checked. I'll check again when I secondary.

 

[WhizardHat]

I'm at 10.2% right now, 65% attenuation, gravity is currently 1.038. I'm thinking I need to pitch more yeast ( starter at high Krausen). or some amalyse enzyme. what do y'all think?

 

[FATC1TY]

Be warned that you need to be easy on the amalyse enzyme. It can go wild and dry your beer out.

This ain't a beer that needs dried out!

You could try more yeast, or a more attenuative strain that won't toss esters to get in the way...

Past that, accept what it is and try again.

 

[skibb]

Wizard the ADF for hunahpu is 64% from the numbers Wayne told us - I would taste the beer - if it's very sweet b/c of unfermentables then perhaps pitching some active yeast will help fully attenuate it. But if it tastes nice and chewy and not overly sweet (hopefully the roast balances it) that may be where the beer's actual terminal gravity is.

I recall on a CYBI episode of the Pullman Brown clone, Jamil overshot his OG and subsequently his FG for the clone, but it attenuated the same amount as the real beer and they couldn't tell the difference b/t the two.

 

[Jeffh97]

I have brewed up a few batches of a similar type of beer. I talked with Wayne awhile back and got a bit of feed back and took into his suggestion and made it my own. In the past 8 months or so I have made two batches. With the intent to age both.... Didnt work. This stuff was too good to last. I managed to bottle about 24 bottles on the first batch out of the keg with a beergun. I think I have 3 bottles left of that batch and the 2nd batch I made had apple brandy soaked oak cubes added. I just bottled the remainder of that keg with hopes of saving and only got 24 bottles again. That stash is down to 18 bottles now. Both batches I made have gone over very well and I find this style of beer very fun to make. My first batch was 10.4% (1.100 OG) and 2nd was 11%(1.110) with Thames Valley Yeast. Both batches had crap mash efficiency as expected (55%) and maxed out my mash tun with ~30ish lbs of grain. I am curious to see how other's versions will turn out.

 

[Oophaga]

I am curious if anyone has down longe boils to get better efficiency out of such large grain bills? I would like to do a similar recipe but have a 10gal mash tun. I believe a two hour boil would allow at least 65% efficiency.

 

[sfrisby]

Did you means two hour mash? Once you're at the boil, the sugars have already been converted from the grain so boiling won't effect efficiency. Now,if you are saying mashing for 2 hours instead of 1 hour to give more time to let the water seep into the crushed grain for better conversion, I could see that.

 

[WhizardHat]

I did a 90 minute mash and a 2 hour boil. my brew house efficiency was 62.1%. this was in a 10 gallon mash tun with 26.75# of grain.

 

[WhizardHat]

Wizard the ADF for hunahpu is 64% from the numbers Wayne told us - I would taste the beer - if it's very sweet b/c of unfermentables then perhaps pitching some active yeast will help fully attenuate it. But if it tastes nice and chewy and not overly sweet (hopefully the roast balances it) that may be where the beer's actual terminal gravity is.

I recall on a CYBI episode of the Pullman Brown clone, Jamil overshot his OG and subsequently his FG for the clone, but it attenuated the same amount as the real beer and they couldn't tell the difference b/t the two.

that's good to know, and I've actually heard similar from several people now. I'm gonna trade it when I rack to secondary this weekend, and I'll be sure to report back!

 

[Loneleigh]

I threw another packet of yeast in but I sure hop it doesnt dry it out. That would suck. A couple of more days Ill check again the gravity.

 

[sfrisby]

I threw another packet of yeast in but I sure hop it doesnt dry it out. That would suck.

If only it was that easy.

 

[Oophaga]

Longer boil means you start with higher preboil volume, therefor you can sparge more and increase your sugar collection. I figured that may be able to buy me a few points. What is your normal efficiency to bring you down to 62%?

 

[WhizardHat]

Wizard the ADF for hunahpu is 64% from the numbers Wayne told us - I would taste the beer - if it's very sweet b/c of unfermentables then perhaps pitching some active yeast will help fully attenuate it. But if it tastes nice and chewy and not overly sweet (hopefully the roast balances it) that may be where the beer's actual terminal gravity is.

I recall on a CYBI episode of the Pullman Brown clone, Jamil overshot his OG and subsequently his FG for the clone, but it attenuated the same amount as the real beer and they couldn't tell the difference b/t the two.

@Skibb, I transferred to secondary and had a little sample. The retardedly large IBU count does in fact balance out the residual sweetness. In fact, as I tasted it, I said to myself, "what residual sweetness?". Also, my gravity dropped to about 1.036 since I last checked. If it stayed here, I'd be happy with it. I still need to source a vanilla bean before I add my secondary additions, and I think I'm gonna skip the bourbon this time around. Maybe for next year's batch. This thing is ROASTY. It's been a long time since I've had Hunahpu, so I don't really remember it, but I certainly like what I've made.

 

[WhizardHat]

Longer boil means you start with higher preboil volume, therefor you can sparge more and increase your sugar collection. I figured that may be able to buy me a few points. What is your normal efficiency to bring you down to 62%?

Round abouts 70%. I probably could have sparged more, but I was expecting crappy efficiency, compensated in my grain bill for it, and wanted to keep as close to Wayne's recommendation of using first runnings only as possible.

 

[Loneleigh]

Did you means two hour mash? Once you're at the boil, the sugars have already been converted from the grain so boiling won't effect efficiency. Now,if you are saying mashing for 2 hours instead of 1 hour to give more time to let the water seep into the crushed grain for better conversion, I could see that.

I thought when you boil, the water evaporates from the wort and thus creates a higher potential alcohol. No?

 

[sfrisby]

I thought when you boil, the water evaporates from the wort and thus creates a higher potential alcohol. No?

Higher alcohol? Yes. But not higher efficiency. Concentrating the wort through boiling is different from converting more sugar during the mash. Higher percentage of sugars converted during the mash is the efficiency that is being measured.

 

[Oophaga]

One again. Longer boils mean larger preboil volume. The more you can spare and the higher your preboil that can increase your efficiency. Part of the problem with large grain bills are smaller sparges.

 

[DiscDoc]

I brewed mine 2 days ago with a slight variation on WizardHat's grain bill (thank you). I mashed at 155 degrees for 60min and only collected first runnings 6.2 gallons. I boiled for 60min to prevent loss and added summit for 60. OG 1.113. I made a triple starter of WYeast 1968 and pitched at 68 degrees in my wine caller which I set for 64 degrees. Temp came down and has held at 64 degrees on my carboy therm. Fermentation started within one hour. Pics I'm posting are at 1 hour and 24hours the foam has a great chocolate smell. I plan on taking next SG at 2 weeks and to rack to secondary when stable. Thanks for everyone's help. I am very excited about this one.

 

[DiscDoc]

 

[WhizardHat]

I brewed mine 2 days ago with a slight variation on WizardHat's grain bill (thank you). I mashed at 155 degrees for 60min and only collected first runnings 6.2 gallons. I boiled for 60min to prevent loss and added summit for 60. OG 1.113. I made a triple starter of WYeast 1968 and pitched at 68 degrees in my wine caller which I set for 64 degrees. Temp came down and has held at 64 degrees on my carboy therm. Fermentation started within one hour. Pics I'm posting are at 1 hour and 24hours the foam has a great chocolate smell. I plan on taking next SG at 2 weeks and to rack to secondary when stable. Thanks for everyone's help. I am very excited about this one.

Which version of the recipe did you use? I never actually brewed the recipe in Post # 1 (although I'm sure it would be good). I used the recipe in Post # 31, substituting Maris Otter for Victory.

 

[WhizardHat]

Ya, this needs some time. Plan on trying some in the fall.

I definitely agree with you! The sample I took as I racked to secondary was too astringent. 3 pounds of roasted barley and 80 IBUs worth of magnum will do that to a beer, though. Not to mention the heat from the alcohol. I think the vanilla and oak will go a long way in mellowing out those flavors. That and time. Lots of time.

I'm planning to save several bottles of this, along with a yearly brew, so that I can do vertical tastings. That would be totally rad.

 

[DiscDoc]

Which version of the recipe did you use? I never actually brewed the recipe in Post # 1 (although I'm sure it would be good). I used the recipe in Post # 31, substituting Maris Otter for Victory.

I used your third recipe... I hope you don't mind. I also thought the victory might be too much. I decreased my boil time and used a very gentle boil to prevent too much boil off. I have no experience with adding cacao,vanilla chile etc to my secondary's . I have no idea how to assess how much or how long and the final flavor characters they will impart. How do you base yours. My wife is the mad baker so I am using her source online to get my ingredients.

 

[WhizardHat]

I don't mind it at all! The more the merrier!

As far as secondary additions, I'm just kind of winging it. I'll probably add an ounce or so of pasilla and ancho chiles. I picked those up at my grocery store. Maybe half a vanilla bean, split so the caviar spills out, and a stick of cinnamon. Still not sure about cacao. 3# of chocolate malt should cover that pretty well, in my opinion. 1 serving of oak chips for 2 weeks, then let them age in bottles.

 

[Oophaga]

I'd use cocoa nibs. Between 4-8 ounces. 8 may be more appropriate since the high level of intense flavors, it may get lost if lower.

 

[Loneleigh]

I put 4 oz of cocoa nibs, 1/2 stick of cinnamon, 2 anchos (seeds removed) & 3 vanilla pods...I am soaking some cherry wood chips in brandy. I think I'll add that in a couple of weeks.