My first High Gravity brew - any advice?

[car421]

So I have been brewing extract kits for about 2 yrs now and have made many enjoyable brews. I decided that I wanted to try a high gravity beer and I know that it can present some challenges. I plan to brew next weekend after I keg up my Scottish ale and my Pale ale.


It is a double IPA that has a OG of 1.1 and a FG expected to fall between 1.014-1.024 with an alcohol content of ~8%

Here are the ingredients:
10 lbs Light DME
1 lb 10 loviband crystal malt
11 oz 120 loviband crystal malt
2 oz Summit hop pellets
1 oz German Tettnang raw hops
1 oz Sterling raw hops
1 oz German N Brewer raw hops
1 oz Cascade raw hops

Here is the recipe - I can only do partial boils (3 gal in pot):
Steep grains in 3 gal 150 deg water for 20 min. Remove grain bag and squeeze bag to get out what I can.
Add 5 lbs of DME and bring to a boil
Add 2 oz Summit hop pellets
After 35 min add 1 oz German Tettnang hops
After 45 min add 1 oz Sterling hops
After 58 min add 1 oz German N Brewer hops

At flame out add remaining 5 lbs of DME

Cool wort and transfer to 6 1/2 gal carboy with topoff water to bring total to 5 gal. Add T-05 yeast that has been rehydrated, insert blowoff tube and put in temp controlled fridge for 3 weeks. After 3 weeks move to secondary, add champagne dry yeast to finish. After 2 more weeks dry hop for 1 week with 1 oz Cascade hops. Keg and enjoy.

This is also my first time putting into secondary and dry hopping. I usually just leave everything in the primary for 3 weeks and then Keg.

Anything that I need to watch out for? Any issues with the recipe?

 

[hbtasdfg]

I got an alcohol content of 10-11.25 % based on those gravities from a homebrew calculator.

The rule of thumb I remember is Old English 800 HG is named that because it starts at 1.080 Gravity and ends up pretty damn strong (8% abv). Not that I am a fan of that product.

My experience with champagne yeast was with cider and was that it really powers through and gets the gravity reduced more than you might think (Lalvin EC-1118). Not sure how this is applicable to beer though I think champagne yeast is a typical method for big beers.

 

[JonM]

Looks good!

My only suggestion is: Mr. Malty says you'll need 1.6 11.5 g packs of dry yeast to get the job done for a big beer like that, so you should grab another pack.

 

[Cyclman]

Oxygen injection is very important for high gravity beers. It's worth the $50 investment.

 

[car421]

I got an alcohol content of 10-11.25 % based on those gravities from a homebrew calculator.

The rule of thumb I remember is Old English 800 HG is named that because it starts at 1.080 Gravity and ends up pretty damn strong (8% abv). Not that I am a fan of that product.

My experience with champagne yeast was with cider and was that it really powers through and gets the gravity reduced more than you might think (Lalvin EC-1118). Not sure how this is applicable to beer though I think champagne yeast is a typical method for big beers.

Yea, I just plugged the #'s in and come up with the same. The instructions state 8.0 alcohol so that is off. That is higher than I was hoping. Should I be concerned about an alcohol taste when it is done? I guess I could bring the total volume up to 5 1/2 gallons to help reduce it slightly, but not sure how much that would help.

 

[car421]

Looks good!

My only suggestion is: Mr. Malty says you'll need 1.6 11.5 g packs of dry yeast to get the job done for a big beer like that, so you should grab another pack.

I asked the guy at my LHBS where I purchased the kit about additional yeast and he said the 1 pack of t-05 followed up with the champagne yeast in the secondary would be fine. Now I'm not so sure.

 

[TylerAI]

You need more yeast. Have you considered a starter beer? Ferment a low gravity beer and use the yeast cake as a starter.

 

[Calder]

My comments. Take them for what they are worth.

Looks like a lot of Crystal. I'd keep it to about a pound max. An IPA (or IIPA) really needs to end up dry.

Add a pound of 2-row to the crystal. Maybe replace some of the C10 with some aromatic, or Victory, and steep (mash) in 1 gallon of water at 150 F instead of the 3 gallons. Rinse the grains in some additional water at 170 F (dunk in another gallon), and then let drain off to the side. It will add a lot more flavor and complexity to the beer.

Replace a pound of the DME with plain table sugar. It will help bring down the FG (dry it out).

I assume it is S-05 yeast. If you rehydrate it, it should do the job fine.

Forget the Champagne yeast. It only works on simple sugars. Might be useful for carbonating in bottles, but pretty useless for finishing the beer. You are kegging, so not necessary.

make sure you aerate well. Might want to try a second aeration after 12 hours to help the yeast along.

Keep the temps in the mid 60s. maybe raise it to 70 as fermentation slows down.

1.100 to 1.020 is about 10.5%. If it ends up at 1.020, I think you might feel it is on the sweet side. I think you want to try and get it down to 1.015 or lower. Subbing in sugar, mashing grains at 150, and aerating well will all help in getting the FG down.

Good luck!

 

[JonM]

I asked the guy at my LHBS where I purchased the kit about additional yeast and he said the 1 pack of t-05 followed up with the champagne yeast in the secondary would be fine. Now I'm not so sure.

I'd go with 1.6 to 2 packs of rehydrated 05 in the primary and skip the business with the champagne yeast.

 

[car421]

My comments. Take them for what they are worth.

Looks like a lot of Crystal. I'd keep it to about a pound max. An IPA (or IIPA) really needs to end up dry.

Add a pound of 2-row to the crystal. Maybe replace some of the C10 with some aromatic, or Victory, and steep (mash) in 1 gallon of water at 150 F instead of the 3 gallons. Rinse the grains in some additional water at 170 F (dunk in another gallon), and then let drain off to the side. It will add a lot more flavor and complexity to the beer.

Replace a pound of the DME with plain table sugar. It will help bring down the FG (dry it out).

I assume it is S-05 yeast. If you rehydrate it, it should do the job fine.

Forget the Champagne yeast. It only works on simple sugars. Might be useful for carbonating in bottles, but pretty useless for finishing the beer. You are kegging, so not necessary.

make sure you aerate well. Might want to try a second aeration after 12 hours to help the yeast along.

Keep the temps in the mid 60s. maybe raise it to 70 as fermentation slows down.

1.100 to 1.020 is about 10.5%. If it ends up at 1.020, I think you might feel it is on the sweet side. I think you want to try and get it down to 1.015 or lower. Subbing in sugar, mashing grains at 150, and aerating well will all help in getting the FG down.

Good luck!

It is a kit and the grains are mixed together.

With the grains - seep in one pot with 1 gal at 150 and when done move to another pot with 1 gal at 170 and rinse then combine the 2 pots to one and bring add 1 gal to bring volume up to 3 gal? Then bring to boil and continue with recipe?

 

[car421]

You need more yeast. Have you considered a starter beer? Ferment a low gravity beer and use the yeast cake as a starter.

I am kegging a pale ale today that used sf04 yeast, Would that work? Could I just leave a little beer in the carboy and put back in my fermentation chamber till this weekend when I plan on brewing?