Good God, 14.7% Imperial Stout?

[coyotlgw]

So I brewed an Imperial Stout today, mostly as an excuse to use the leftover 5.5 lbs of Weyermann's Munich Amber LME.

I wanted to hit about 1.100 for the OG, so I kept adding extracts to Beer Smith until it hit the right OG at 1.102

When I measured OG just before pitching, I got 1.134! Assuming this still fermented down to 1.024 as planned, I would be looking at 14.7% ABV.

Obviously my two activator packs of Wyeast American Ale #1056 will crap out at 10%, so the big question is should I leave it at is and have a really syrupy 10% Imperial Stout or should I go for broke and pitch Champagne yeast when it hits 1.060 (10% ABV) and see if I can hit that 14.5%?

Full recipe at http://www.coyotl.net/beer/recipe_11.html if interested, but the grain and extract bill was as follows:

3 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract
2 lbs Dark Dry Extract
1 lbs Amber Dry Extract
5 lbs 9 5/8 oz Munich Amber (Weyermann)
1 lbs Brown Sugar, Dark

(steeped grains)
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L
1 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.5 lbs Roasted Barley

 

[Poindexter]

Do it! Do eeet!! Let the ale yeast finish, taste yuor hydrometer sample to be sure and go for it.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Get some high gravity ale yeast from white labs. Ferments up to 20%, they say...

 

[FlyingHorse]

Are you sure you got the OG measurement right? With that grain/extract, 1.134 seems almost impossible (in ProMash) if your batch size is 5 gallons.

I doubt you'll get anywhere near 80% attenuation (which is what your projected 1.024 FG would require, if that OG is right) in an extract brew, regardless of what ale yeast you use (the WLP099 high grav yeast requires some special handling to effectively reach high ABV levels; just dumping it into a beer that's already fermented to 10% probably won't be too effective). Most extracts just have too many unfermentables for that to happen.

Champagne yeast might work as far as reducing the FG, but I don't think the result would be very stoutlike.

I'd wait to see what your original yeast does...I suspect (if you aerated well and baby it through the fermentation) you'll have a pretty good brew on your hands.

 

[david_42]

I'd say bad reading & your original intent of 1.102 is probably closer. 10% is what you are likely to end up with. With 1/2 lb of roasted barley, you want a high FG.

 

[coyotlgw]

Has been gurgling away for four days now. Still only gas in blowoff tube, but wow, it is fermenting like crazy!

 

[Brewing Clamper]

I consistently get around 80% or higher attenuation with extract/steep and mini-mash brews. Even with a couple of extract only recipes too. I normally use WLP001 & WLP002.

 

[TexLaw]

I could see you coming close to that 80% attenuation under the right conditions, especially with a bunch of extract in there. However, if you didn't, I strongly recommend against pitching champagne or some other high attenuating yeast in there.

Sure, pitching such a yeast will get your ABV up there and get you good and effed up in a hurry. That'll come in handy when you need to drown your misery about what you've done to what would have been a beautiful beer.


TL

 

[coyotlgw]

I think the next plan would be to remove a gallon when I rack to secondary and pitch a quarter bag of champagne yeast into the mini. That way I can let the other four gallons ferment out regularly to 10% while still experiementing with the extreme version.

My question is, though, will I be able to bottle either version? I would think that the regular will hit the max alcohol tolerance and not have anything to eat the priming sugar, leaving be with a flat, sugary beer.

 

[Evan!]

see here.

It was difficult to reach 15% even with the wlp099...and bottle carbing has been a problem so far. Good luck getting there without employing the techniques that I used...

 

[coyotlgw]

Finally stopped bubbling, racked to secondary at 1.030.

That's 13% so far. Yowza.

 

[steve123]

just be sure to let it cook as long as you can wait. Don't expect to hit the higher ABV quickly

 

[shafferpilot]

Sounds like it's truckin right along nicely. What temp is it at right now? has it started to clear?

 

[coyotlgw]

still holding at 68 degrees F. Has not cleared.... more like the color of Guinness but more syrupy in consistancy

 

[shafferpilot]

Cool. That's gonna be a heck of a stout......... in about 6 months

 

[coyotlgw]

On 20 DEC I racked four gallons to secondary, reading 1.029 SPGR at 69°F for an ABV of 13% so far. The other gallon was racked to a single gallon jug and i pitched a quarter packet of dry champagne yeast.

I now see the following on that single gallon:

Has anybody used dry champagne yeast and if so, is that normal trub or did I infect the high-octane batch?

 

[MikeFlynn74]

That looks normal

 

[Liquidicem]

It would be pretty tough to get an infection in a beer that is already at 13%. I can't comment on whether or not that looks normal but I would doubt that it is an infection.

 

[GloHoppa]

could you try any type of the freezing methods to get a higher ABV?

 

[sirsloop]

Warm it up a little and let it go. This beer is going to need like 6-12 months aging anyways... lots of time for those diehard yeasties to finish off the fermentables.

 

[cheezydemon]

I bottle carbed my "Dave's" (12.3% abv) by boiling my priming mixture, cooling it, and then adding a vial of the original yeast (White labs irish ale) to the cooled sugar water.
I let that sit for an hour or so at warm temps. I then put the slop in the bottling bucket, racked onto it and bottled quickly.
It had good carbs after 2 months.

(I got that yeast to get so high with multiple step fermentation, something you probably should have done)

 

[sirsloop]

I'm worried about this latest Pistoles batch I just made... it was was 1.092. It *could hit 10-10.5 ABV if it ferments down around 1.016-1.014. I don't think at all out of the question letting it sit for 6 months to age. I bet when I rack it, it'll be sitting at 1.020. That was brewed Dec 13th and still in primary. You need patience with these big brews. That may seen abnormally high attenuation, but you also have to consider that there is 2# worth of highly fermentable sugars belgian candi and lyles golden honey)

FYI, my last batch started at 1.06 and kegged at 1.012 17 days later. I'm sure it dropped at least a few more points before drinking 4 months down the road.

 

[RLinNH]

Gooda Thread!!!

 

[kaptain_karma]

I always use dry champagne yeast to finish my imperial stout. Mine looks just like your pic after I pitch. It ends up at about 12.5% abv. The champagne yeast takes a long time to fully attenuate, so be ready to age it for a while. I find that a beer that big has enough unfermentables to keep a thick body and good maltiness even after the champagne yeast has dried it out.

 

[BeerPirate]

I had a holiday spiced barley wine that I added champaign yeast to after it had mostly quit. I let it sit in the closet for about three months with absolutly no activity. I was about to give up on it when one day I opened the closet and it had a healthy 2 inch krausen on it. It probably didn't hit the 13.5% it was supposed to but the champaign certainly did eventually work.

My advice is if you use the champaign yeast give it at least 3 to 4 months.

Sounds tasty