Ladies and gentlemen,
My best friend is turning 40 on Nov, 4.
I must make a killer beer - not for the party, but as a present to be relished away from other people's eyes.
I've brewed since last summer and feel somewhat confident I can handle it but of course my recipe database is quite limited and I simply don't know what to brew for him, except that it has to be extra extra strong. Let's say I hope to brew something in the neighborhood of 15% abv but the more the better.
OK as I don't know what style of beer I want, let me tell you what I want to see in this brew.
This special beer may not be sweet - not even a hint of sweetness and/or fruitiness, so out go all Belgians. At the same time it must have some body however without too much maltiness (so barleywines are out, too). It might be bready but not too malty, as sweetness is an absolute taboo.
He loves stouts - before he tried my stout he used to think Guinness was the best beer in creation
He loved a few IPAs he tasted but I am not particularly happy to brew IPA as I have very limited access to hops. Saaz and Cascade is more or less all I have in reasonable quantities, plus some local Chinese hops used for domestic lagers (they might be interesting but not known to you).
He didn't really enjoy reds because the reds he tried were bit too malty to his taste.
APA with a bit more hops than the regular recipe calls for would be a good choice but afaik APA does not get to the desired strength.
And yes, the beer must be _just_ beer, i.e., no coffee/cocoa/vanilla/juices/pumpkins. Some coriander, black/pink pepper, star anise OK though but that is it.
I can procure many different malts except probably rye and Maris Otter. I can _not_ get decent wood chips.
Yeasts I have in smackpacks and on slants:
WY1388 | WY1318 | WY1272
WY3463 | WY1084 | WY1217
WY3711 | WY1728 |
WY1214 |
OYL-057 |
Plus of course dryed US04 and 05, and Nottingham, plus I can probably find wine or champagne yeast if the high alcohol level demands it.
The beer will be bottled. It should be in drinkable condition by November. However as I will make a 7-8 gallon batch this will afford me about 50 0.5L bottles, and I want it to have long storage life, so he could still enjoy it a few years later.
I searched the forum for Extra Strong but most of the results were irrelevant.
Please guys help me and share some recipes.
Thanks a lot!
My best friend is turning 40 on Nov, 4.
I must make a killer beer - not for the party, but as a present to be relished away from other people's eyes.
I've brewed since last summer and feel somewhat confident I can handle it but of course my recipe database is quite limited and I simply don't know what to brew for him, except that it has to be extra extra strong. Let's say I hope to brew something in the neighborhood of 15% abv but the more the better.
OK as I don't know what style of beer I want, let me tell you what I want to see in this brew.
This special beer may not be sweet - not even a hint of sweetness and/or fruitiness, so out go all Belgians. At the same time it must have some body however without too much maltiness (so barleywines are out, too). It might be bready but not too malty, as sweetness is an absolute taboo.
He loves stouts - before he tried my stout he used to think Guinness was the best beer in creation
He loved a few IPAs he tasted but I am not particularly happy to brew IPA as I have very limited access to hops. Saaz and Cascade is more or less all I have in reasonable quantities, plus some local Chinese hops used for domestic lagers (they might be interesting but not known to you).
He didn't really enjoy reds because the reds he tried were bit too malty to his taste.
APA with a bit more hops than the regular recipe calls for would be a good choice but afaik APA does not get to the desired strength.
And yes, the beer must be _just_ beer, i.e., no coffee/cocoa/vanilla/juices/pumpkins. Some coriander, black/pink pepper, star anise OK though but that is it.
I can procure many different malts except probably rye and Maris Otter. I can _not_ get decent wood chips.
Yeasts I have in smackpacks and on slants:
WY1388 | WY1318 | WY1272
WY3463 | WY1084 | WY1217
WY3711 | WY1728 |
WY1214 |
OYL-057 |
Plus of course dryed US04 and 05, and Nottingham, plus I can probably find wine or champagne yeast if the high alcohol level demands it.
The beer will be bottled. It should be in drinkable condition by November. However as I will make a 7-8 gallon batch this will afford me about 50 0.5L bottles, and I want it to have long storage life, so he could still enjoy it a few years later.
I searched the forum for Extra Strong but most of the results were irrelevant.
Please guys help me and share some recipes.
Thanks a lot!