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

[scubakevdm]

Contrary to how PTN makes it sound, this is a really easy beer to brew. All I did was create 11 gallons pf 1060 wort...

Nothing really difficult about it.

So, when you say this is as easy to brew as a 1.060 wort are you talking about:

straight brewing 1.060,

or

brewing 1.060, boiling it down half of it to 1.180, half to 1.260, partially fermenting and mixing the two halves, and then recombining and diluting it back to 1.060

 

[Cape Brewing]

What was saying is that my esteemed colleague, The Nurse, once imfamously told a fellow HBT'r that his attempt at making The Nurse's Utopias clone would be equal to "someone trying to paint the Sistine Chapel masterpieces with crayons".

Reality is, nothing he did on that beer or what I've done with this beer, is "difficult" in any way. If you can brew a 1060 AG batch, you can make either of the beers.

It is simply a matter of boil time.

I was shooting for an OG of 1200 and always planned on doing it in two batches. I short-armed the OG on the first batch because I never bothered to check gravity while I was boiling (something that isn't exactly "technically difficult"). I fixed the problem by just boiling longer on the second batch... Again.... not too difficult.

The beer stalled out on fermentation and as an experiment, I diluted it. Adding water wasn't hard. You just open bottled spring water and pour it in.

So... I'm not sure how any of it was difficult and don't see why anyone couldn't do the exact same thing.... Unlike Paul's Sistine chapel/crayon comment.

 

[Cape Brewing]

And... No flames yet.

I pulled some ice out this morning and poured off a small sample. I gave it a flame test and I'm not there. I took the pot I had just pulled out, re-lined it with the strainer bag and tossed it back in.

I'll just keep going until I either can't get any more ice out or it flames up.

 

[motobrewer]

wait, flames? 40% won't ignite.

it has to be around 57% to ignite.

edit: actually, check this out:

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ethanol-water-d_989.html

heat it to 80F and see if it'll ignite. if it does, you're at 40%.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Hmmm. See?? Learning something new every day.

Wow... See Moto?! You CAN add something once in a while!!

(standing and starting a slow-clap)

 

[motobrewer]

oh you WISH you were this good looking.

 

[scubakevdm]

So... I'm not sure how any of it was difficult and don't see why anyone couldn't do the exact same thing.... Unlike Paul's Sistine chapel/crayon comment.

Arite. From what you know about how it tastes so far, if you were to rebrew it would you still go the high grav route?

Did you add the beano to reduce the methane concentrations? I know it has that effect on me.

Do people still say goobah up there?

 

[NJstout]

do you get a lot of carmalization in the taste due to such a long boil? How much $ to ship a 4oz sample?

 

[KYB]

What was saying is that my esteemed colleague, The Nurse, once imfamously told a fellow HBT'r that his attempt at making The Nurse's Utopias clone would be equal to "someone trying to paint the Sistine Chapel masterpieces with crayons".

Reality is, nothing he did on that beer or what I've done with this beer, is "difficult" in any way. If you can brew a 1060 AG batch, you can make either of the beers.

It is simply a matter of boil time.

I was shooting for an OG of 1200 and always planned on doing it in two batches. I short-armed the OG on the first batch because I never bothered to check gravity while I was boiling (something that isn't exactly "technically difficult"). I fixed the problem by just boiling longer on the second batch... Again.... not too difficult.

The beer stalled out on fermentation and as an experiment, I diluted it. Adding water wasn't hard. You just open bottled spring water and pour it in.

So... I'm not sure how any of it was difficult and don't see why anyone couldn't do the exact same thing.... Unlike Paul's Sistine chapel/crayon comment.

Yea it's pretty simple, just more work. Fermentation is the tricky part. My Insanity Stout is still chugging along, and still has a lot more work to do. If it ferments well I'll post a thread about my process and plans.

 

[TheBreweryUnderground]

Update!?

 

[Cape Brewing]

Was gone all weekend last weekend and then this week has been brutal. I haven't had five minutes to stop and play with it. I have an IPA that is waiting to get dry hopped as well that just hasn't happened.

Good news is I have tomorrow off and it has already been sanctioned as a "brew day" by the powers that be so... update tomorrow and I'm hopefully that'll it'll finally be a video.

 

[jhorgan1]

anything cool happening with this?

 

[WortMonger]

Man I hope so!

 

[NJstout]

its getting close to a full year since brew day so its probably get close to bottle it for a few years. Even though its going to be still, i would still bottle it with co2 via beergun

 

[jhorgan1]

its getting close to a full year since brew day so its probably get close to bottle it for a few years. Even though its going to be still, i would still bottle it with co2 via beergun

Bottling? I just want to know if he actually managed to make 40% beer. Maybe I missed something about that somewhere

 

[cmybeer]

updates?

 

[deuce40]

WOW! I just read through this whole thread. It only took me about three days all together but ive made it lol. I just started brewing and finished my second batch of beer, stone IPA clone about a month ago. This thread has taught me a lot about high ABV brews and also about brewing in general. Just wanted to share that with you.

 

[deuce40]

Oh and whats the update on this thing!!!

 

[tom_gamer]

WOW! I just read through this whole thread. It only took me about three days all together but ive made it lol. I just started brewing and finished my second batch of beer, stone IPA clone about a month ago. This thread has taught me a lot about high ABV brews and also about brewing in general. Just wanted to share that with you.

Why not sum up what you learned?

 

[Cape Brewing]

Some kind words and thanks... As I've said a bunch of times, this was always supposed to be a learning experience.

The problem is I should have known better than to start a thread like this because I suffer from severe "beer ADD". "Ooooh, look at that shiny new style I haven't tried!!", am I'm off in another direction.

The update on this is... My SWMBO is ready to kill me because I have half our freezer taken over with the last batch I froze, got distracted, and just left there for two weeks. Between the ABV, the freezing temp and the fact that I sealed it, I am not concerned about infection but.. It has just sat.

The last batches I froze we're for specific time frames (about 12 hours) which froze enough where I felt I was taking out a fair amount of water/ice. Given the volume of water I was taking out, I am guessing I was damn near 30% if not over it. (no it didn't light).

Given that the current batch should be frozen solid, I'll hang it in a sanitized hop bag and see what drains out. I will then do a "fire test" on that tiny bit to see if all of this will even be possible.

The one problem is the last batch (the 30% I'm estimating)... IS getting a little thick on the palette. I am really surprised given the relatively low FG but it is a little thick.... Just shy of a liqueor. I am a but nervous about what the next batch from the "frozen solid" batch will be.

 

[bottlebomber]

Even if the FG of the sample seems low, the high concentration of alcohol which has a much lower SG than water is probably throwing off the perception of how much sugar is left.

 

[deuce40]

Sorry it's been a while since I've been on here but sure I would love to sum up what I gained from reading this entire thread.

Making 30% home brew - did not know it was possible until this tread. Always thought that the alcohol content would kill off all yeast did not know of the freeze concentration

Freeze concentration - did not know of the wonders of freezing beer to make a monster beer.

Peated malt - new ingredient that sounds interesting to me. May one say attempt using this

Boiling down your wort to get higher OG - I'm doing mostly extract brewing right now, (still new to this) but didn't know this was possible.

White labs wlp099 - DIdnt know that abv as high as 12%. Could be reached with just yeast.

Paulthenurse - I sure he will be good for hours of entertainment while oh these forums

And that guy with the lab - bad ass is all I have to say about that.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

I keep thinking about jacking up an Apfelwein to the limit. I'm thinking about starting with apple juice and frozen concentrate and then feeding with concentrate as it gets going. Of course I would freeze it.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Peated malt - new ingredient that sounds interesting to me. May one say attempt using this

I suggest using small quantities, unless you like drinking liquid smoke.

White labs wlp099 - DIdnt know that abv as high as 12%. Could be reached with just yeast.

My Barleywine reached 12.7% using Wyeast 1728. There are some yeast strains that can go much higher.

Paulthenurse - I sure he will be good for hours of entertainment while oh these forums

He's a source of entertainment alright...

 

[motobrewer]

I keep thinking about jacking up an Apfelwein to the limit. I'm thinking about starting with apple juice and frozen concentrate and then feeding with concentrate as it gets going. Of course I would freeze it.

applejack

 

[jeepinjeepin]

applejack

Yup. I threw a gallon of plain Apfelwein in the freezer this afternoon. That will give me a baseline of what to expect.

 

[Bradinator]

Yup. I threw a gallon of plain Apfelwein in the freezer this afternoon. That will give me a baseline of what to expect.

I am pretty sure the baseline is awesome sh*t-faced

Let us know how it turns out!.

And this thread is great. I have been following it since post #1. Can't wait to see the final product in a picture.

 

[bwomp313]

I've also found peat malt to have a manure esque taste

 

[jeepinjeepin]

I've also found peat malt to have a manure esque taste

It is kinda like rotted dirt...

 

[bottlebomber]

I've also found peat malt to have a manure esque taste

You're not supposed to use it as your base malt.