"accidental" 16% beer. advice?

[jt8d]

I brewed a Rochefort 10 clone kit from AHS about 5 weeks ago. The OG was a little high (1.119 vs 1.110). May have underpitched slightly by only using a 2L starter, but I did oxygenate with pure o2 and again 16hrs post pitch. Despite stirring and raising the temp up to 80, the Wyeast 3787 quit around 1.032 (13.1% abv according to Brewersfriend alt calc.) According to the instructions it's supposed to finish at 1.023. I lowered the temp back down to 69, pitched some WLP099, let it go for a week then racked to secondary. Currently it's down to 1.013 and still going. Never made or sampled a beer with this much ethanol before. I'm contemplating adding some oak, maybe even using some oak cubes I've been aging my sangiovese in to give it that "wine barrel aged" layer (inspired by a wine barrel aged beer i had that was phenomenal). I've made a BDSA before that turned out well, but I didn't do anything "extra" to it. Obviously this beer needs to be forgotten about for a year or more before drinking. What else would you try?

 

[HopGobbler]

Ship it to me, I'll take care of it for you

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

I accidentally made a ~12+% 'Belgian IPA' that was supposed to be 7%..I thought for sure it was a dumper because there was so much 'heat' coming through. It wasn't very good, but it didn't last long! If I were you, I'd just drink em, move forward and learn from it. Or, if that doesn't sound good I'll split the batch with HopGobbler

 

[PlexVector]

When the FG was 1.032 did you taste it and if so how was it compared to present?

 

[jrgtr42]

You can throw some Campden in there to shut down the yeast - but only if you plan to keg / force carbonate. If you bottle, you'd need to add yeast to carb, and that would chew through everything left.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

My advise...call Uber every time you drink it

 

[jalc6927]

Drink it slow, and don't drive, lol

 

[6midgets]

You could blend it with a lower Abv beer.

 

[jt8d]

Just wanted to update. I tried the beer a few times 6 months to a year after I made it and hated it. There was a cidery, phenolic in your face clash with a boozy backbone that was hardly drinkable. I figured if it was bad after a year there was no hope and forgot about it.

Over the years I dumped a few bottles because I needed the Belgian bottles for something else (all I make are Belgians now with corks/cages).

I decided to bring a bottle of this stuff (now over 7 years old) to try with my brother at dinner as a joke. I was pleasantly surprised that not only is it quite drinkable, but it has aged into something that is both enjoyable to drink and hard to categorize. The carbonation is fairly low (despite using 2 packs of EC-1118 and 12oz priming sugar according to my notes.) It has a nice transparent mahogany color in the glass and is somewhere between a wine, beer, and brandy in flavor characteristics. It was an easy drinker, and even beer haters that had a taste thought it was ok. I think I still prefer a BDSA to this, but I won't be dumping any more! I look forward to sharing with friends that have adventurous palates.

 

[stamandster]

Now this is a necropost I can get behind! Nice update!