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

[CS223]

One it would have to be around -15, not 32. Two, holy oxidation batman.

Didn't give it much thought, but you have a point.

 

[Akavango]

I have been on this site for a year and never came across this thread. This thread is epic and really entertaining, read it all.

I'm going very soon for a high ABV beer. Shooting for only a touch over 20%. I don't have the capacity to freeze it but after reading this, I wish i did. I will also boil it for a long time to reduce about 80 liters into 25. Then add it little by little to the fermenter. Will see if I get better luck to bring down the gravity.

 

[paulster2626]

I have been on this site for a year and never came across this thread. This thread is epic and really entertaining, read it all.

I'm going very soon for a high ABV beer. Shooting for only a touch over 20%. I don't have the capacity to freeze it but after reading this, I wish i did. I will also boil it for a long time to reduce about 80 liters into 25. Then add it little by little to the fermenter. Will see if I get better luck to bring down the gravity.

Really? This thread will kill more brain cells than a keg o' beer!

 

[Akavango]

Don't worry I have started my own thread for this one.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Don't worry I have started my own thread for this one.

Link?

 

[Akavango]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/21-all-grain-brew-344130/

 

[Dr1nkBeer]

Subscribed! Being a fan of penguin's "Sink The Bismarck"... I have a few bottles.... I've had many of discussions of "partial freezing" over some home brew.

Good luck!.. and Sink the BIZmark..

 

[JeepDiver]

Very cool! No, I didn't know they were doing that. That's cool! I am going to have to look into it.

So have you ever finished this project, or you too busy playing with your stinky finger?

 

[Cape Brewing]

I think I've taken the beer as far as its going to go and it is currently aging. My best guess is that it ended up in the low 30's in terms of ABV but I really should get off my butt and have it tested to confirm.

It developed a lot of "soy sauce" flavor and I'm not 100% positive on how that developed (open to feedback on that).

i have dropped some oak chips into it to see if i can fight off some of the soy sauce flavor and we'll see.

It's funny you bumped the thread because I have been seriously thinking about trying it again given some of the things I learned with the first go around.

What I would do differently is;

- first and foremost... I wouldn't go crazy trying to hit the hightest OG possible out of the gates. Since I am going to freeze concentrate it anyway, there was no reason to shoot that high out of the gates.
- I would probably add at least some candy sugar to the grain bill as the current beer is a bit think and syrupy on the palate.
- I would still come out of the gates with a large cake of US-05, and then go 099... and then still probably go with a distiller's turbo yeast to try to get it to dry out as much as possible.
- i would cut WAY back on the oxygen shots I was giving it and probably not add any oxygen at all after the US-05 had chooped through a good chunk of what it will eat
- still would mash really low for a really long mash

 

[bottlebomber]

I think I've taken the beer as far as its going to go

The toilet? Ahh well, at least it was cheap to brew.

 

[Cape Brewing]

It's ok. I make that kinda cash

 

[iaefebs]

Cape, I'm proud of you for following this effort through to the end. I was one of the doubters that thought this was going to be a few early posts, with no results. I'm glad that I was able to follow it in real time. Great effort thanks.
Soy sauce flavor? After the zillions of yeast cells that passed through this you [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]think something other than autolysis?
[/FONT]

 

[bottlebomber]

Cape, I also want let you know that even though this beer took 2 years, cost hundreds of dollars and many hours of time and in the end it sucked, I am also proud of you. Have you ever tried brewing just an IPA though? I heard that's a pretty good kind of beer.

 

[2BeerSpeer]

Damn

 

[bob1852]

At least you have something to sprinkle on your Chinese food.

Sounds like autolysis (where you aging on the yeast cake?) as I'm sure that yeast was already hella stressed.

 

[forstmeister]

Cape, I also want let you know that even though this beer took 2 years, cost hundreds of dollars and many hours of time and in the end it sucked, I am also proud of you. Have you ever tried brewing just an IPA though? I heard that's a pretty good kind of beer.

I laughed out loud a little...

 

[user 108580]

It developed a lot of "soy sauce" flavor and I'm not 100% positive on how that developed (open to feedback on that).

I have a bottle of tactical nuclear penguin and it has hints of soy sauce as well. Only on the nose though.

 

[bluemoose]

God, I forgot about this.

Bwahahahahahahaha!

 

[Cape Brewing]

What's the funny part?

 

[motobrewer]

What's the funny part?

Your stupid face.

 

[paulthenurse]

You two should get a room. Maybe invite Hoppy along for a threesome. Fueled by barley brandy.

 

[bluemoose]

Can't help wondering how much pork fried rice you would need to consume that much soy sauce.

 

[unionrdr]

Gee, I hope he's not busy for about a month?

 

[paulthenurse]

Confucius say"You eat that much rice you end up with more chins than a Chinese phone book.""

 

[bluemoose]

Cape, I'm doing Chinese food for the first patriots game. Can I get some of this for the pork fried rice?

 

[Cape Brewing]

Oh hey... How 'bout you blow me?

 

[Cape Brewing]

I'm gonna give this a second go some day and you'll all have to cram it up your cram hole

 

[paulshe]

a three year later bump of my fave thread on hbt......i suck

 

[bob1852]

i suck

Not as much as Cape's "40+% ABV" barley brandy.

 

[unionrdr]

Confucius say"You eat that much rice you end up with more chins than a Chinese phone book.""

I know this is an old one, but being old myself, I had to lol. Maybe try going for less ABV to get it to finish/carb properly? In a home brew setting, that might be more realistic? Unless you distilled part of it, then added it back?