Experimental Ale

[justinakajuice]

With the leftovers from various brews we brewed a batch. Here's what we did:

1. Brew up about 3 gallons of water.
2. Steeping temp is 165*
3. Grains are Belgium Special 4.5 oz 140L, 8 oz Briess Crystal Malt 40L, 1.8 oz Briess Munich 20L.
4. Steep grains for 30 minutes.
5. Remove grain bag and bring to a boil.
6. Add 6.6 lbs of Briess Sparkling Amber LME.
7. 45 min, Cascade Loose Hops .5 oz.
8. 30 min addition of 1 cup of corn sugar.
9. 17 min left, .5 oz Hallertaur 2007 Loose Raw Hops.
10. 3.5 oz of Honey at 11 minutes left of boil.
11. Teaspoon of Irish Moss at 8 minutes.
12. Chill down to ~75* and fill to 5.5 gallons.
13. Pitch WLP 051 yeast.


I don't really know what to expect, but the sample was pretty good. I'll let everyone know how it tastes in about 6-8 weeks!

 

[eschatz]

I've got your rough gravity at 1.093!
Your IBU's are 16.
Color is 19 SRM (I had to estimate for 140L)
If you get it down to 1.020 you'll be around 9%ABV

I'd say this thing is going to need some help to get it down that far. Keep swirling the fermenter every day or so until it finishes to help the yeast stay active. Sounds pretty interesting thought for a scrap together brew.

 

[ArcaneXor]

It'll be an extremely sweet & malty beer. You've got a massive grain bill with virtually no hops to balance it. See how it tastes after it ferments out. If it's too cloying, you can always add additional hop bitterness, flavor and aroma through various methods, from extracts to hop teas.

 

[justinakajuice]

Yeah, I thought 1/2 American Ale 1/2 Hefeweizen ingredients should turn out well as I like both. With all of that malt, honey and sugar, it IS being set up as a sweet beer, with some high levels of fun juice. 9% sounds awesome, but I don't know if my yeast will survive to that point of fermentation. It is rated Medium-High Alcohol Tolerance, so I would imagine it will be okay.

Any advice on how long to leave in the Primary? I was thinking 3 weeks in the primary, syphon it over to the sterile bottling bucket and bottle. I was also going to try washing yeast to see how it works. I read through over 250 replies on that big ass yeast washing post so I feel comfortable in doing so now.

Search twice, read once!

 

[ArcaneXor]

The yeast should handle 9% if you treat it well, i.e. pitch a large, well-oxygenated starter, aerate the wort well, provide yeast nutrients, keep temperatures constant during the first two-thirds of fermentation and then slowly begin ramping them up to room temperature to prevent a stuck fermentation. However, washing yeasts from high gravity beers isn't necessarily a good idea because they will be very stressed and will require lots of tender and loving care to return to prime condition.

 

[beerjunky828]

Have you thought about dry-hopping. I know that it will not raise the IBU's. But there ain't nothin' wrong with a little experaahh-mentaaaaytion. YEAH! (fling your arms around when you say that and then put open hands in the air on YEAH!)

 

[justinakajuice]

I was actually thinking of trying this out on this batch. My current hop selection is limited to 1.5 Hallertau Domestic 2007, and .5 Cascade Loose Hops. I've seen pictures of carboys with two inches of hops floating at the top. I know I don't have that much, but do you think this would work? Dump them all in there? I hadn't originally taken the high amount of sugar into consideration on hop planning.

What would give better returns, dry hopping or tossing in some hop tea? Could I boil the priming sugar and hops at the same time to cut down on additional water or do I have enough sugar in there to take it?