Bottling high gravity/Big Beers

[jcole0899]

Im new to home brewing only having made two 5 gallon batchs. My next adventuren in homebrew is a double ipa, my kinda beer, and I read something about how bottling a very high gravity isnt good or can go wrong. Does anyone know why this is or even if this is true.

 

[501irishred]

It has to do with the strain of yeast you use, the alcohol tolerance it has, ABV you're shooting for, length of time aging, etc. Some yeast have a relative low tolerance and actually die or go dormant even before all the fermentables are consumed. Adding priming sugar to this is only going to make a sweeter flat beer.... There are certainly IIPA's that could run this risk, but is typically a concern with brews like a barley wine that is not only super high ABV but is also aged much longer than a normal ol' ale.

Here's a list of some Wyeast strains. http://www.lugwrenchbrewing.com/2011/01/alcohol-tolerance-ranges-by-yeast.html

 

[hvjackson]

Certainly it *can* be done... virtually all commercial beer is available in bottles.

I can think of a couple possible pitfalls:

- If the alcohol % is too high the yeast may be "tired" or "stressed" and carbonate slowly or not at all. I wouldn't be too worried about this unless you're near or over the ABV limit of your yeast strain. You should be able to look up the alcohol tolerance for your yeast strain, but most are tolerant to 10% ABV or greater, so it would have to be a pretty strong beer for this to be a serious concern. The solution to this problem is probably to pitch additional yeast at bottling time.

- "Big" beers can take a longer time to ferment. If you're bottling, it's critical to wait until the fermentation has completed. This may be 2 weeks or more. If you bottle too early and primary fermentation is still (slowly) continuing in the bottle, you will have bottle bombs. I would wait until the FG readings are stable over a week. You cannot rush a big beer. Personally my typical fermentation time is 2-3 weeks, but I might go even longer for a really big beer.

 

[sweetcell]

DIPAs are typically bottled and drunk relatively young (don't age them!). as such, you shouldn't have too big a problem getting them carb'ed.

 

[hvjackson]

If you post some info about your recipe and batch (yeast strain, O.G., any F.G. readings) we can give you more specific comments on whether it's likely to be a problem or not.

 

[501irishred]

dipas are typically bottled and drunk relatively young (don't age them!). As such, you shouldn't have too big a problem getting them carb'ed.

+1!

 

[Demus]

I think it has something to do with trying it for your 3rd batch...
Sorry for the WA comment but I assume you love DIPAs which is why you want to brew one. I recommend cutting your teeth on less challenging, and expensive styles. The bottling of a DIPA is the least of your worries...

 

[jcole0899]

Ahh thank you all for the replys this has helped quite a bit. The article I read was about a guy who embarked on making a 20 ABV beer and he said when making a big beer you have to worry about bottling so I guess 10 ABV isn't going to be too much of a concern.

 

[butterpants]

I have a Rochefort 8 clone that's been sitting on bottles for 6 weeks at 70F and is not carbed yet. **** happens

 

[Beernik]

10% shouldn't be a problem. But don't be surprised if it takes 2 months or more to carb.

 

[beergolf]

so I guess 10 ABV isn't going to be too much of a concern.

Should be no problem at all. I brew a lot of Belgians in the 9-12% range and have never had a problem. Sometimes it just takes a little longer to carb up, but those brews need to age anyway so I just let them sit.