brewing with maker's mark

[Prymal]

does anyone have any idea how to figure out what kind of impact adding maker's has to the overall alcohol content? I would imagine doing standard gravity reading would tell me after i transfer to bottle? But any way to figure it out beforehand? I added 5.5oz at five minutes left in boil and another 8oz. direct to barrel post fermentation.

I did the math once before for adding whiskey to a beer.
Example based on some of the figures you have posted:
Beer
(7% of 640 oz = 44.8oz pure alcohol)
Bourbon - Some alcohol will boil off, not to sure what percentage, so to make it easy I'll pretend none of the alcohol boiled off from the 5.5 oz added with 5 min left in the boil.
(40% of 13.5 oz = 5.4oz pure alcohol)
Add the figures together
(50.2 oz of pure alcohol in 653.5 oz of total liquid)
Divide to find the Percentage
50.2 divided by 653.5 = 0.0768171385 7.6%

Side Note & Questions:
That is one of the craziest recipes I have ever seen, I understand why your gravity into secondary was so high. All of the Crystal Rye contains no Diastatic Power so doesn't convert into fermentable sugar. I also always wondered why some people split the extract into both LME and DME why not just use 100% of either especially since they are both Golden Light extracts. Also what prompted the use of the Belgian yeast? And your OG seems really high based on my calculations. Why steep the grain at 150 for 30 min then raise to 158 not sure what you were trying to accomplish? If you are going to use gypsum to treat the water it should be added during the steeping (Mashing Phase) I am not sure it does anything during the boil.

All-Grain:
I actually think you may have made a nice Rye IPA I fiddled with it a bit but I actually might use this recipe in the future.

Est Original Gravity: 1.070
Est Final Gravity: 1.014
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.3 %
Bitterness: 79.0 IBUs
Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 13.9 SRM


6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 43.6 %
4 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 29.1 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 3 10.9 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4 9.1 %
1 lbs Crystal Rye Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (80.0 SRM) Grain 5 7.3 %
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 12.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 28.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [13.00 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 8 25.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 9 6.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 10 2.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min

 

[the_sloth]

Thank you so much for those calculations. Seeing them typed out seems like it was a silly question on how to figure it out.
To answer your questions:
1- Honestly not sure why I use both LME and DME, I do not always but did this time - have no better answer than that.
2-The belgian yeast was chosen for its fruit like characteristics and tolerance to higher gravity
3-The change in temps during mash was am attempt to extract different enzymes from grain, read it in a book so thought it was something I was supposed to do?
4-I have always used gypsum in boil, not saying that is right, but I am a newbie and was told to add at start of boil. (knocking on wood) I have never had off flavors due to water so it seems to be either (a) working or (b) I have good water?

If you happen to use the recipe please let me know how you like it and how it turns out.
I use beer calculus for figuring things out, but my notes say I read my hydrometer at 1.085, would not be surprised if I am wrong.

 

[Prymal]

3-The change in temps during mash was am attempt to extract different enzymes from grain, read it in a book so thought it was something I was supposed to do?

That is true but i think that you temps are wrong, and I have never heard of this style of Mashing during an extract brew. The typical steps are around 115, 140, 150, or something like that. I think you would be safe to just steep the grains at 150 for 30 min and call it good.

4-I have always used gypsum in boil, not saying that is right, but I am a newbie and was told to add at start of boil. (knocking on wood) I have never had off flavors due to water so it seems to be either (a) working or (b) I have good water?

I dont think you are going to hurt much by adding gypsum but by adding to the boil I dont think you are really changing anything either. The point of adding minerals to the mash water is to either enhance the malt or hop characteristics or to change the mash PH/residual alkalinity to promote proper conversion. If you don't know what the profile of you water currently looks like I think it would be better not add anything rather then throw your water chemestry out of balance. If you are curious what you water profile is Ward Labs does home water tests.

I use beer calculus for figuring things out, but my notes say I read my hydrometer at 1.085, would not be surprised if I am wrong.

Unless your Hydometer has not been calibrated then I am sure your reading is correct. To calibrate use your hyrdometer in 100% distilled water. if it reads 1.000 you are correctly calibrated.

 

[the_sloth]

I am looking to add a maraschino cherry to each bottle individually when I transfer my next batch to bottles.
I ordinarily like my beers slightly under carbed, I use 2/3c dextrose to prime my usual batches. The label on the cherries say there is 2 grams of sugar per cherry, I assume that does not include the syrup. How would I figure out what kind of carbonation I will get by adding just the cherry to the bottle. I certainly do not want these to begin exploding.

 

[aseg]

When I bottle, I use ~4 oz dextrose, depending on the size and style of the batch for a moderately carbonated beer. With that in mind, you should be able to roughly calculate the impact of the cherries. The syrup is most likely going to be complex sugar, so won't contribute to carbonation.

If you can, weigh your dextrose - volume will vary depending on atmospheric changes.

 

[the_sloth]

so the wort is in the barrel, aging. about five days ago the airlock started bubbling, about once every ten seconds or so. still continues to this day. I do not think it is yeast, is this something I need to be worried about? I have tasted it and it is quite yummy, not skunky or any off favors.

 

[keesh]

so the wort is in the barrel, aging. about five days ago the airlock started bubbling, about once every ten seconds or so. still continues to this day. I do not think it is yeast, is this something I need to be worried about? I have tasted it and it is quite yummy, not skunky or any off favors.

Probably just CO2 escaping out of solution from when you transferred it to the barrel. The rule of thumb is that airlock activity is not a direct indication of fermentation, it is simply a correlation to it. The only way to truly know is through an objective measurement, i.e. hydrometer reading.

By the way, did you ever figure out what kind of sugar you'd be getting from each cherry? I think its a good call on the muddling part, that will help make the sugars available to the yeast in the bottles. If I had to guess, you'd probably want to age it for at least 2 months before opening. The cherry will probably take a while to dissolve and be broken down by the yeast.

 

[the_sloth]

after four months in the barrel, it is now ready for bottles, where it will sit for months once again

 

[the_sloth]

okay folks, update: batch has been bottled, final gravity was 1.010, leaving the wort at 9.8% before factoring in the maker's contribution. it is now sitting in 23 swing top bottles, 13 12oz., a 22oz, and a 750ml. let's see how much more restraint i can exercise as i now have to wait for the conditioning.

final stats: OG 1.085 FG 1.010 add 19.17 fl oz of 45% alcohol and by my math ABV is 11.7%

the smell was enough to get you drunk, i can not wait to drink this sweet nectar....

 

[the_sloth]

this beer is out of control! a huge fan fav! this recipe is going to be a staple brew. i want to thank everyone for their input, it was very helpful. for the record, never did add the cherries individually to the bottles, got lazy and also thought the cherry could be muddled prior to pour, that way people have the option with or without.