Help?!?! And not sure where I should post this. Wee HEAVY very Heavy

[CantWinThisGame]

OK, so I know there's probably a better place for me to post this. Maybe a remediation section? Let me know after reading if there would be a more appropriate section.

What I have is a situation of too much alcohol. I know, seriously?

I brewed a Wee Heavy Scottish Ale, and it turned out to be around 10.2% alcohol using 20.4# of grain with WPL005 British Ale Yeast. Well holy Frankenstein! This is a monster monster beer. Think Chimay Blue "Grande Reserve" levels. It tastes great, but maybe 3 beers and it's nap time. Also most of my friends are terrified of it!

How can I thin this out without making it seem "watery"? Is it as simple as boiling some water for a while, cooling it down and then just mixing my beer with the sanitized water and re-carbonating? I have half a mind of mixing it with Bad Light 1/2 and 1/2.

That's the other problem - carbonating presents somewhat of a challenge with such a high alc.

Here's the INGREDIENTS

18 lbs. Maris Otter

1 lb crystal malt (40 °L)

14 oz. Munich malt (10 °L)

7 oz. crystal malt (120°L)

2 oz. roasted barley (500 °L)

6.5 AAU Kent Goldings hops (60 min.) (1.3 oz at 5% alpha acids)

2 AAU Kent Goldings hops (10 min.) (0.4 oz. at 5% alpha acids)

White Labs Ale 005 British Ale

Here's my hydrometer readings:

OG 4/4​	Rack1 4/11​	Keg 4/25​
1.092​	1.017​	1.014​

 

[VikeMan]

How can I thin this out without making it seem "watery"? Is it as simple as boiling some water for a while, cooling it down and then just mixing my beer with the sanitized water and re-carbonating?

Do you have a way to keep oxygen from dissolving into your water, post-boil? If not, I wouldn't even consider trying to water this beer down.

That's the other problem - carbonating presents somewhat of a challenge with such a high alc.

Why? You're not bottle conditioning, are you? If so, really don't even think about trying to pour out bottles and diluting with water. You'd have an oxidized mess.

 

[day_trippr]

I'm leery of beer fixing schemes in general, but with bottled beer? That's really just ~1% ABV over the top of the style?
Forgetaboutit! Make notes on the recipe and "fix it" next batch.
In the meantime enjoy what you brewed for what it is - which sounds like a great beer to wind the evening down

Cheers!

 

[CantWinThisGame]

Do you have a way to keep oxygen from dissolving into your water, post-boil? If not, I wouldn't even consider trying to water this beer down.



Why? You're not bottle conditioning, are you? If so, really don't even think about trying to pour out bottles and diluting with water. You'd have an oxidized mess.

It's currently in keg. I could boil water and carbonate it separately in another keg and then combine them. That would eliminate the oxygen problem right?

 

[Qhrumphf]

Boiling water will reduce it's oxygen content but it won't eliminate it. The best way to do it is via gas sparging (though boiling first will give you a head start there). With a carbonation stone and a spunding valve (or at least a ball valve gas blowoff), push CO2 through the stone at while bleeding pressure off the vessel. The incoming CO2 will scrub out the O2 into the headspace and then blow it off. Simply carbonating the water via head pressure won't scrub out the O2.

Of course to actually verify the level is low enough you need a sensitive enough meter to read the DO of the water that it's financially unattainable for many smaller craft breweries, let alone a home brewer.

A much safer option is blending with beer, not water.

 

[VikeMan]

It's currently in keg. I could boil water and carbonate it separately in another keg and then combine them. That would eliminate the oxygen problem right?

Only if you can keep O2 out of the boiled water. If it's exposed, O2 will start to dissolve as soon as it starts to cool.

 

[pdxal]

Why not mix a little water into the beer after you pour a (slightly smaller) glass? Drink right away.
Agree, though, with just leaving it as is and enjoying.

 

[CantWinThisGame]

I'm going to let it age for a bit, as is, and see if it mellows out some. But yeah, in the meantime, I could pour half glass of lighter beer and put the wee heavy on top. Or better a weeheavy ice cream float? LOL kidding!

 

[VikeMan]

Or better a weeheavy ice cream float? LOL kidding!

That's not necessarily crazy. A couple months ago, our homebrew club poured at a Brewfest. One of my beers was an imperial sweet stout, served (optionally) with a mini scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was a pretty big hit.

 

[Jag75]

Your doing better then me . I'd get 1 maybe 2 and it be nighty night for me lol.

 

[bracconiere]

What I have is a situation of too much alcohol. I know, seriously?

i love it here! lol

i'd have to say buy a set of new glasses? pour it into something that doesn't intimidate your wuss friends?


edit: (that's how i control my drinking, i have all kinds of different sized glasses to fit the ABV%)

 

[day_trippr]

Everyone should have an "anchor beer" handy to knock ones ass into a sound sleep.
For the last decade+ mine has been an 11% chocolate stout.
A short pour of that to end the evening and in 30 minutes I'm a log that a nuke couldn't wake

Cheers!

 

[CantWinThisGame]

Ha! You guys are funny! Yeah, this is definitely insomnia medicine!

 

[day_trippr]

We are also smart, erudite, handsome - "and really know how to treat a female impersonator"*

Cheers!

* John Cleese

 

[jrgtr42]

Stupid question time: What did you expect with 20+ lbs of grain in a 5 gallon batch?
Of course you're going to end up with a high-test beer.
Do you use brewing software or anything? What was the predicted ABV on this? Were you way over your expected SG? Under your expected FG?
Anyways, what's done is done - So what exactly is the issue? Just that it's higher alcohol than expected? How's the flavors? Do you have alcohol burn? Any sort of off-flavors?
But I would probably give it some more time - maybe things will mellow out some. Obviously the ABV won't change. But use it as a smaller serving, nightcap sort of thing - and don't plan to have a lot of it.

 

[CantWinThisGame]

Just a little heavier than I got from this recipe the last time I made it. It was only like 8.5% - I must have gotten a lot better conversion in mash this time. It is a little burny, almost like straight bourbon. As far as off flavors, a touch astringent. Fermentation was very fast. Maybe a cooling jacket would have helped, but primary fermentation room is usually around 66F.

 

[VikeMan]

As far as off flavors, a touch astringent. Fermentation was very fast. Maybe a cooling jacket would have helped, but primary fermentation room is usually around 66F.

Astringency can be caused by a few different things, but AFAIK, fermentation temp isn't one of them.

Just a little heavier than I got from this recipe the last time I made it. It was only like 8.5% - I must have gotten a lot better conversion in mash this time.

Did you measure the cooled post-boil volume of your wort?

 

[CantWinThisGame]

Astringency can be caused by a few different things, but AFAIK, fermentation temp isn't one of them.

Did you measure the cooled post-boil volume of your wort?

6 Gallons. Normally 5.

Last time gravities:

OG		Rack1		Keg
1.110​		1.028​		1.028​

 

[Miraculix]

If you can take it, just mix it with carbonated water when pouring. I wouldn't mess with it if it's already bottled, but mixing it with water when drinking is no problem at all.

 

[_BullDog_]

Brew a light Scottish ale (3 abv). Keg it then do 50/50 pours, should be around 7.5% abv then and not water your beer down. Ive had Scottish ales ready in 10 days.

 

[_BullDog_]

Vary the mix based on the strength you want

 

[CantWinThisGame]

Yeah, I like that idea. Also I'll try a weeheavy icecream float. Why not?

 

[Miraculix]

It is common practice in German wheat beer production to produce a high gravity beer to enhance ester production and to water it down after fermentation finished. Nothing wrong with that, the result is certainly not watery.

 

[bleme]

I brewed a barleywine a few years ago and it was phenomenal on it's own, just not something I wanted with dinner every night. I try a lot of different beers and a lot of them are blah - nothing bad about them, just too 'safe'. I found that most of those beers were much more enjoyable after topping off with 2-4oz of my barleywine. That keg still lasted me a year...

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I'd bottle it. Then you can age some and sample a bottle periodically. It will mellow with age.

that also frees up the keg for a batch of something a little more tame. In general, I don't plan to serve all of any beer that boozy from the keg. I always plan to bottle (from the keg) so that I can sample over time. The stuff I keep on tap is a little more quaffable as a general rule.

 

[kevin58]

I would keep it as is. No need to adulterate a perfectly good beer.

 

[bkboiler]

I agree with @_BullDog_ , just brew a Scottish /-60 and mix it at different proportions until it suits your taste.

I was also just reading in the thread here on HBT that Beamish Irish Dry stout is brewed strong and then diluted at packaging (not sure if that means with water or how). Apparently also, Guinness adds a small portion of sour beer at packaging for complexity (according to Radical Brewing and I think also the Stout book by Brewers Publications talks about that too)...

If you were feeling adventurous I'd go conservative and blend half the beer with the lighter ale and take the other half to experiment.
I would bet medium oak, some peat malt tea and brett would add some delicious character...honestly I can't see myself diluting though...just wait, it'll get better I bet!

 

[Jim R]

Most of the brewpubs I go into have higher alcohol beers including double IPA's, etc.. They just serve it in a smaller glass, same as a glass of wine. There is no rule that you have to drink 12-16 oz with every serving.

 

[CantWinThisGame]

Oh, I thought it was a pint or nothing... J/k, i've been mixing it with some other beers, and it's nice because I can adjust it. It's like having a beer concentrate on tap. If I want it light, I just tap a little into plain old sparkling water.