Attempting 40%+ ABV beer... "Barley Brandy"

[sudsmcgee]

I eat popcorn whole by the kernel, so I imagine that its ass doesn't contribute too much unwanted flavor.

P.S. I know that "Popcorn" was a person and it was a joke.

 

[SittingDuck]

After this, umm, extended fermentation process, plus beano, plus turbo yeast, plus water up and down, you were expecting nectar of the gods?

And from a purely selfish perspective, I don't care if it tastes like an ass that ate an ass. I just want to see him hit his numbers. (Besides, he's not going to bring it to Atlanta and force me to drink it).

 

[Cape Brewing]

A large percentage of the fermentation has already taken place so I am hoping its not an issue. At this point, I am not sure I had much of a choice but to go with that yeast

 

[onthekeg]

No freakin way I am reading 64 pages on this issue. Cape, can you do a cliff's notes for those of us with a life? I'm interested in the progress.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Sure... It's bubblin'

 

[iaefebs]

No freakin way I am reading 64 pages on this issue. Cape, can you do a cliff's notes for those of us with a life? I'm interested in the progress.

You could change the threads to display in options, to 320. That way you would only have to read 2 pages.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Sure... It's bubblin'

Beano?

 

[bottlebomber]

Beano?

The brew does contain beano at this point I'm pretty sure...

 

[Cape Brewing]

Yes, i tried Beano over a month ago and nuthin'. Didnt touch it.

 

[TheBreweryUnderground]

So if you were to do this again what would you do differently? Baby the yeast with small additions during fermentation? Use olive oil?

 

[Cape Brewing]

I'm honestly not entirely sure. I thought I was babying the yeast quite a bit. The first batch was a high gravity but the US-05 put a huge dent in it. That brought the gravity way down for the 099 and then I fed it small doses of the ridiculous gravity wort... So... basically feeding it pure sugar.

I was always pretty confident it was not a fermentable issue and the beano addition, and subsequent inactivity, I think backs that up.

I pitched huge, healthy slugs of yeast...

I am honestly not sure why the yeast, especially the turbo yeast, crapped out at such a low ABV (about 17%). It should have gone a lot higher than that. And now that i have brought the ABV down through dilution, it seems to be moving again.

So... I'm not sure what the real issue was or how to fix it.

 

[bottlebomber]

It could be when you made your super high gravity wort, which if I remember correctly you did by boiling for hours, you created a ton of unfermentables.

 

[Homebrewtastic]

This is awesome... I'm gonna get sooooo many chics.

Word.

 

[Cape Brewing]

It could be when you made your super high gravity wort, which if I remember correctly you did by boiling for hours, you created a ton of unfermentables.

How do you produce unfermentables by boiling for a long time??

 

[motobrewer]

maillard.

 

[SittingDuck]

But even if so, how does that explain the experience? If boiling too long created unfermentable sugars, wouldn't the beano have effected at least some if that? IIRC, the beano had little or no effect. What did have an effect was dilution, which would only seem to change ABV, not alter the fermentability.

I'm not arguing with the concept, I understand the long boil could have had that effect. I am just wondering if that explains Cape's yeast crapping out and picking up again after dilution.

 

[bottlebomber]

How do you produce unfermentables by boiling for a long time??

Same as when you do a decoction mash. It's the Maillard reaction.

EDIT: moto enlightened you first I see

 

[bottlebomber]

I don't think we can say yet that Capes yeast picked up again. We won't know for several more years, when he takes a gravity reading.

 

[SittingDuck]

We won't know for several more years, when he takes a gravity reading.

Fair enough.

Maybe Cape and the guy who forgot his barleywine in the basement for 12 years in another thread should hang out. They could get together to not brew and not drink.

Man, I have a hard time leaving my beer alone for a week or two.

 

[bottlebomber]

Yeeeah I'm probably not qualified to criticize. Especially since the lagering fridge is also full. Lager a beer for 6 months? No prob.

 

[SittingDuck]

Yeah, but do you forget any? I've had 25 gallons going at a time (nowhere near yours, but as much as my bathtub could hold) with 10 plus gallons of home brew bottled in the fridge to drink, plus my commercial beer fridge full, and I am still anxious to monkey to with it and can't wait for it to finish.

I'm just an impatient mofo, I guess.

 

[edb23]

bottlebomber- that is one impressive picture

 

[Hugh_Jass]

Yeeeah I'm probably not qualified to criticize. Especially since the lagering fridge is also full. Lager a beer for 6 months? No prob.

damn dude, you win 1,000 internets. That's impressive.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

The brew does contain beano at this point I'm pretty sure...

Yes, i tried Beano over a month ago and nuthin'. Didnt touch it.

Yeah. I'm just saying beano again to be stupid again. Go back to like page 7 or something.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

I'm honestly not entirely sure. I thought I was babying the yeast quite a bit. The first batch was a high gravity but the US-05 put a huge dent in it. That brought the gravity way down for the 099 and then I fed it small doses of the ridiculous gravity wort... So... basically feeding it pure sugar.

I was always pretty confident it was not a fermentable issue and the beano addition, and subsequent inactivity, I think backs that up.

I pitched huge, healthy slugs of yeast...

I am honestly not sure why the yeast, especially the turbo yeast, crapped out at such a low ABV (about 17%). It should have gone a lot higher than that. And now that i have brought the ABV down through dilution, it seems to be moving again.

So... I'm not sure what the real issue was or how to fix it.

I have heard that over pitching can reduce attenuation. But that is in a normal fermentation. I'm not sure how it would apply here.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

It could be when you made your super high gravity wort, which if I remember correctly you did by boiling for hours, you created a ton of unfermentables.

Good call.

But even if so, how does that explain the experience? If boiling too long created unfermentable sugars, wouldn't the beano have effected at least some if that? IIRC, the beano had little or no effect. What did have an effect was dilution, which would only seem to change ABV, not alter the fermentability.

I'm not arguing with the concept, I understand the long boil could have had that effect. I am just wondering if that explains Cape's yeast crapping out and picking up again after dilution.

The beano would only affect starches that hadn't been converted. The maillard reactions change sugars that have been converted into more complex sugars.

 

[SittingDuck]

Ok, so that says beano may not have worked. (Which I wasn't aware of, so thanks. ).

But it doesn't answer why, if the reaction altered the sugars, dilution SEEMS to have made a difference. Dilution wouldn't change carmelized sugars back to regular.

Again, not disputing that the maillard reaction occurred or that there are a ton of unfermentables in the wort. Just trying to explain the data of fermentation stopping and (possibly) starting after diluting it.

 

[bottlebomber]

I don't think that it is fermenting, unless Cape made some miscalculations somewhere and there was more alcohol is the beer than he'd thought. It could be bubbling because 50 degree water was added to the 70 degree beer, and it is warming up now.

 

[Cape Brewing]

I just took a gravity and its come down just under ten points.


It was 1050-1052 after I diluted it and it is 1043 now and the air lock is still popping often and regularly.

 

[sudsmcgee]

I'm waiting for Revvy to chime in about airlock bubbling.