Wood-Aged Beer Pirate Strong Ale

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Love this stuff

image-3115145672.jpg
 
That gallon jug only had a 1/4 gallon of H2O in it before I went to work yesterday. Fermentation took about 24 hours to really take off.


image-352683991.jpg
 
I was thinking about making this but taking out the cinnamon in place of toasted coconut? Thoughts?
 
I like the idea. The only thing is - regarding coconut in my BRIEF experience with it - the flavor of coconut fades so FAST! I made a coconut porter a few months ago and while I really enjoy the porter....the coconut is all but "missing" almost entirely from the flavor profile unfortunately. Try it out and let us know if you manage to capture it!
 
The only time I have brewed with nuts wasbeen hazelnuts. I roasted I think 2#s of hazelnuts for a brown ale and still needed to add natural extract for flavoring at Kegging
 
10 days in the secondary mark is tomorrow.. gonna let it sit till Tuesday ( full day off) .. and bottle some to share and keg the rest.. out of all that I've brewed this has been the hardest to wait for LOL.... cheers
 
So almost a year after brewing this recipe as my first Partial Mash, I am revisiting it again as an All Grain with some twists and plan on making this on my first brew of 2013.

I have a batch that is coming off a Belgian cake any day and thought that this yeast would add something different and yet compliment the ingredients.
Ladies and Gents, I present to you-


The Belgian Pirate

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WY3522 Belgian Ardennes (G3 Cake)
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.25
Original Gravity: 1.088 - 1.092 est.
Final Gravity: 1.014-1.016 est.
IBU: 35.4
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 19.8 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): ~3 weeks
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 1 week


Ingredients:

10 lbs American 2-row
2 lb German Munich
0.5 lb CaraAroma
1 lbs Torrified Wheat
1.5 lbs Light Brown Sugar @ 15 min

0.75 oz Chinook (Pellets, 12.0 %AA) boiled 60 min.
1 oz Mt. Hood (Pellets, 6.0 %AA) boiled 20 min.

1 ea. Cinnamon (stick) (15 min boil) (not included in calculations)
2 lb. Pineapple (fresh) (15 min boil) (not included in calculations)
4 oz. Oak Wood Chips soaked in Cruzan Dark Rum (French Oak secondary) (not included in calculations)
1 ea. Vanilla (whole bean) (Secondary) (not included in calculations)

Yeast : WY3522 Belgian Ardennes (Cake)



Mash thin @ 150 for 90 min. Pitch on cake @ 64*, ferment @ 70*.

Soak french oak chips and split Vanilla Bean in Cruzan Dark Rum on brewday. I find the Dark Cruzan to have more spice and molasses flavor than Meyers. And is good in coffee. :) I plan to keg half to drink early, and bottle half to age.

I'll update with measured numbers. Happy brewing and happy new years! :tank:

Soup, just wondering how this turned out?
 
Brewing this for a second time. Even more fun having one while brewing . Even decided to garnish my beer with a piece of pineapple. Thanks for the recipe and I will tell ya my friends love it and will even drink it warm also.
 
Just realized I added pineapple and cinnamon at beginning of boil. Interested to see how it compares
 
I just bottled this 10 days ago.. put two in the fridge last night for today... cracked the first one and poured... zero carbonation.. I tasted it and it tasted sweet ( per the priming sugar).. not sure why it didn't Carb.. I brought up to a warmer part of the house to see if that helps but does anyone have any thoughts on this? ??... thanks
 
I haven't bottled in a few years. But, 10 days is a short conditioning time. When I was bottling my beers, I would wait approximately 3 weeks until I would test carbonation.

Others who have bottled this beer might want to add their thoughts?
 
The 2 times I bottled, the level of carb was low. I used 5 oz of priming sugar each time - probably could have upped it to 5.5 or so and may do that this summer. Was it sittin' in a place at least 68f? Perhaps a silly question on my part, but I have found that NOTHING I make will carb very well if under that temp.
 
We moved into a new house and the basement stays very cold with the air on so no it was well.under 68.. you think it'll be ok just simply moving to a warmer spot in the house
 
I do! That's pretty much how I have fixed all my probs...pending kegging. All winter I had to run a space heater ON the batch that was carbonating so I would hit at least 68. ;)
 
Just finished brewing this up. Took me forever! Well, seemed like it anyway. Its only my fourth batch of beer so it might be me being unorganized also.

My OG came out at 1.10! That's higher than all the others I have seen. Did I do something wrong?
 
I just kegged and forced carbed last night.... And it's ready to drink. This was my first AG batch of pirate and what I think the best so far. A little less sweet than I am use to.
All then flavors are blended well. With some time in the keg it can only get better.

1.1 is a huge gravity! Is your hydrometer calibrated? If that's correct you might have a monster or your hands! Enjoy!
 
So my batch that I messed up by putting pineapple in at beginning boil has a real strong alcohol taste and a off pineapple taste. Wondering what to do with it. Normally I would just keg it to get rid of it but being a high alcohol that's not a good idea. Any recommendations on what to put in to hide off taste? I haven't put in any vanilla. I was thinking some vanilla extract and some more cinnamon and make it kinda Christmas like. Need help thanks
 
2 weeks in primary and has been in secondary for 8 days now. Also skipped oak chips this time to cut down on cost of rum if that helps. Hit og and fg #s pretty close as well. Was thinking maybe bottle conditioning for a while would help but thought some vanilla and cinnamon would be beneficial to hide off flavors
 
Just brewed this up two days ago, hit OG around 1.082 or so (was hard to tell with the foam). I used two packets of Wyeast 1450, since my LHBS doesn't carry White Labs and I'm not set up to make starters yet. Hopefully these little bugs can power through.

It smelled wonderful, but the wort tasted foul! Extremely bitter and spicy, and the pineapple bits were inedible. The yeast love it, though, and my blow-off tube was bubbling vigorously this morning.

Also, I accidentally left the cinnamon stick in. Whoops!

Looking forward to this.
 
Oh, double whoops. I just realized I added a whole ounce of Galena, not the half ounce. Hmm, I hope that doesn't make this crazy undrinkably bitter.

Learning!
 
So this has been in the keg a few weeks now and it's going fast! It's a great recipe and one that I'll be making again for sure! Using Pacman yeast worked great and provides a nice, clean profile. I also fermented a 1 gal portion with Unibroue yeast and while it's not bad, I'd definitely recommend sticking with a more neutral yeast vs a Belgian strain. My wife doesn't typically care for the beers I brew but she enjoyed this one so I'd call that a win for sure. Thanks again for the great recipe!
 
Saw this recipe and fell in love. Just started a batch last night with some slight modifications as a partial mash.

10 lb 2-row
1 lb 60 crystal
2 lb brown sugar
3 lb LME
.75 oz falconer's flight 60 min
.75 oz falconer's flight 15 min

when I rack to secondary I will add 1 oz oak chips soaked in sailor jerry rum and I will add a chopped up fresh pineapple (1.5 lb?)
 
Just racked this to the secondary tonight. Gravity sample was good. Could definitely taste the brown sugar and just a hint of pineapple. I'm hoping some of the flavors come out a bit more during the conditioning. All in all I think its gonna be great. Its finished out at 11.4% abv!
 
I rarely comment on recipes but this one is out friggin standing. Potent in the best way. I did the all grain and opted for only 1lb of piloncillo so i ended up around 9.4abv, just where i wanted it. Couple notes from my experience with this recipe:

I would double the pineapple, i didnt get really any pineapple to come through, i used fresh and then added the juice from a whole can of segments in the secondary. Still no detectable pineapple. I was kinda bummed about this. Also, i would crank up the cinnamon, i didnt get anything there either. I did get a lot of vanilla from one madagascar bean, just perfect harmony using one split bean. Also i would avoid using spiced rum. I dont know what it is about the spice that dominates but it does. Go for Meyers or something similar. I used Sailor Jerry and it was a bit much. I soaked my wood chips in just enough to cover them during primary then added them minus the woody rum. I got plently rum from the chips but not really as much wood as i would like. Next time i will do more french oak, maybe a bit un-rummed.

Hope my tasting notes help someone out. thanks again for the recipe, its a keeper for sure!
 
Just racked to secondary as well, only got 8.6% ABV which is fine. I didn't taste, but it had <i>all</i> the aromas. The pineapple and cinnamon were strong, and the citra hops aroma was powerful. Can't wait to see what the oak does to it.
 
One thing I noticed is that I shorted myself on oak chips. I am making 2 batches, and each will have 2oz of oak chips that have been soaking for a week and a half in sailor jerry, but when the rum disappeared due to absorption, I just topped it off with a little water so they were completely saturated. I am going to go with either 12oz or 16oz pineapple chunks in the hopes that the pineapple will be a tasty treat when all is done. Going to rack to the secondary this weekend and cant wait.
 
Had to come back and let everyone know that this is a killer recipe. Everyone should try this one at least once. Everyone who tastes it is in love.
 
So the batch that I screwed up and boiled the pineapple the whole hour has been bottled for a week. I added 2 cinnamon sticks and some vanilla extract to the secondary for a week. It's finally drinkable and think I'm gonna leave it till Christmas and hope it turns into a nice Christmas ale
 
Just like the pic I posted last summer. Minus the smoker and giant Duvel glass. I think a 10oz pour is appropriate for this beer


image-2879846355.jpg

Q
 
Ahh....I really need to get my next batch of this going! I need the base grains and yeast and I'll be good to go. After finally movin' and getting mostly settled, I now have 2 beers with North Jersey water going - both are saisons because the temps are in the 80s even in my basement :/

What do you think of using a saison yeast for this stuff, J? That just struck me....I have a couple "Belle Saisons" - that new dry saison yeast that came out people are using. May have to give it a go!
 
Back
Top