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.
I just racked 6 gal to secondary on top of 4 oz dark roasted oak (soaked in dark rum) and a vanilla bean I split in two. I actually found a bottle in the pantry a few days ago from the first batch, and I could taste more vanilla and cinnamon after it had aged some. It was delicious!

Jupapabear
 
Bottling this in the next few days. I was wondering what would be a good carb level to shoot for? In past batches, I've either used what came with the kit, or used a calculator for 2.0-2.3 volumes, and it came out a little flat. I want to shoot for about 3 volumes this time.

Had a taste when I threw in the chips, very good beer. Thanks for the recipe!

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Home Brew mobile app
 
I'm horrible with volumes so far. My typical method has been 1 oz per gallon and it comes out right where I want it. My serving pressure in the keg is 13 though...whatever that translates into for a total volume of CO2.
 
Brewing today for my buddy's wedding in June. I've been doing some research on grains and their attributes and realized I should have gone to the brew store to pickup some supplies. I've been using Marris Otter because I picked up a 55 lb bag last year. I didn't realize the different taste factors (ah, the voice of inexperience) existed and just thought of it as 2-row. My last batch was AG with that. This time around though, I'm using the following because the LHBS was closed; I hope the flavors all make sense.

Grains below mashed at ~ 155 for nearly 2 hours
10 lbs Pilsner
4 lbs Marris Otter
1 lb Torrified Red Wheat
.5 lbs Cara Aroma - my last batch was .5 lbs of C120 provided by LHBS...based on the scent, these are WAY different and I will not sub in the future.

During sparge, I'll toss in the 1 lb light brown sugar so it will dissolve a bit in the pot pre boil
13 oz Pineapple (last 15 mins)
1 Cinnamon Stick (last 15 mins)

I thought I had the right hops, but apparently did not :/ So I have to sub
.5 oz Nugget (in place of the Galena) @ 60
1 oz Simcoe (in place of the Citra) @ 5

I'm not sure I've ever made this recipe the same each time but I'm happy with all the differences (mango is it's own beer)

I'll also use Hungarian Oak shavings in the dark rum this time around.

Brix was ~19 or 1.079 with 5.25 gallons of wort. I managed to break my hydrometer somehow when holding it....literally. My thumb and index finger shattered it and this was right as I was about to take the gravity reading. So I used a refractometer.

I pitched a decanted 1.5l starter of the WLP060 @ ~ 75*

Looking forward to the results!
 
Brewing this weekend. Lets see how it goes. I went for the all grain and used

13lb of 2-Row
0.5 lb Weyermann CaraAroma®; Weyermann
1 lbs Torrified Wheat
1 lbs Light Brown Sugar
0.5 oz Galena (Pellets, 14.1 %AA) boiled 60 min.
1 oz Citra™ (Pellets, 14.0 %AA) boiled 5 min.
1 ea. Cinnamon (stick) (15 min boil) (not included in calculations)
10 oz. Pineapple (fresh) (15 min boil) (not included in calculations)
1 tbsp. Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) (15 min boil) (not included in calculations)
4 oz. Oak Wood Chips soaked in Myers Dark Rum (French Oak secondary) (not included in calculations)
1 ea. Vanilla (whole bean) (Secondary) (not included in calculations)
Yeast : White Labs WLP060 American Ale Yeast Blend info

Brewers Friend calculations

pfyxszd.png
 
Sooo I totally forgot to add the brown sugar. I ran into a hot water heater issue during my brewing today and the sugar totally slipped my mind.

Would of never noticed if wife had not asked "why is this sugar sitting here"

So question is can I boil it now, chill it then add to the wort. I just finished brewing so no yeast has been pitched yet.
 
No guarantee that the result will be exactly same but it won't hurt anything and is probably better than leaving it out. Just my 2 cents...take it for what it's worth
 
Yes you can totally still add it. Some people intentionally hold off on adding simple sugars until after fermentation kicks off so that yeast start on the maltose before going after the easier to digest simple sugars. It helps with attenuation.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Yes you can totally still add it. Some people intentionally hold off on adding simple sugars until after fermentation kicks off so that yeast start on the maltose before going after the easier to digest simple sugars. It helps with attenuation.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Cool thanks. I just boiled it in 1.5L like I do my starters. Got it cooling now. I knew it would kick off fermentation seeing the yeast are going to attack it quickly.

Really appreciate it folks
 
Update to my buddy's wedding brew - kegged today at 1.012 for a 9.2% abv. Strongest I have made to date of this stuff and all relatively correctly. I will be looking forward to seeing how all mellows over the course of the next 5 weeks. Think I may want to sample it prior to the wedding just to see how it ended up.
 
Joined HBT in January and have been watching/reading through this particular thread for awhile now. Finally got around to it and made my starter and brewed 'The Pirate' two weeks ago and man did it smell great!

OG rating was......1.100! Initial thinking was that this was off with water mix-in, but man, that's high!

Took a sample last night, and it shot down to 1.010ish. Loved the taste, had that 'strong ale' taste to it, but did not pick up on the pineapple. Plan to throw in the oak chips next week, but this could bottle w/o it at this point.

Great recipe!
 
Well, my OG was no where near that high as most but that is fine because I wanted this to be a lighter beer for the wife and friends to drink on. I did all grain and used something like 13lbs of 2-Row where I see other say they used 15lbs. So that is where my extra alc % went which I am fine with.

I believe my OG was around 1.077 and it is roughly 1.018 which is still on the stronger than Bud list at around 7.7%.

NOW the issue(or sort of issue) - The wife likes beer to be a little sweater so I decided to up the aroma and sweetness and used 2 vanilla beans. I purchased these Madagascar beans off Amazon that came in vacuum sealed package so they weren't dry. They were thick and sort of juicy. Anyways, I split them open, scraped out the insides and sliced the hull in 1 inch sections. Tossed it all in a dab of Svedka vodka and let it sit over night.

Next morning, tossed it all in with the 4oz of wood. BOY IS THAT VANILLA STRONG. Can smell it but can definitely taste it for sure(almost over powering but she liked it).

Wondering does the aroma and taste die off any or will it continue to get more vibrant as time goes on. I plan to stir it up a little bit tomorrow to get that wood evenly distributed then cold crash tomorrow and bottle on Sunday. Oh yea....and can I add some of the Myers that I drained off the wood during the bottling phase when I add my priming sugar?
 
I suggest leaving the rum out. As for the vanilla, it won't really go away........but it will Mature nicely. That's my opinion. I also used the 2 beans but didn't process them that much; split dunked in star san, tossed into the beer. But, I like that level of vanilla in this beer. :D Cheers!
 
I suggest leaving the rum out. As for the vanilla, it won't really go away........but it will Mature nicely. That's my opinion. I also used the 2 beans but didn't process them that much; split dunked in star san, tossed into the beer. But, I like that level of vanilla in this beer. :D Cheers!

Hmmm sounds good. I may or may not add anymore Myers. If I did it would only be something like a shot worth. I need to swirl that wood around and see what tastes come from it today.
 
Do you add the wood chips to the primary at 3 weeks or rack to a secondary with the wood chips?
 
I used to rack...The last 3 times I have made this I kept in the primary. Now, I pretty much dry hop and have oaked other beers all in primary. If I am using a bunch of fruit, like a strawberry beer I just made with 6 lbs in secondary, I racked. Otherwise I do all same vessel if I can now.
 
Jason, this beer was a hit at the wedding. I brought a keg of jasmine wedding beer (from hbt) and a the keg of this I brewed on 3/30. Pirate kicked first and I received a lot of compliments! First time to showcase home brew in "public" and it went great. Great recipe man! Well received and well liked!
 
This should be called Shipwreck ale! That's how a few of my guests have been after a couple of glasses! Will brew this bad boy again, great beer!
 
Mmlipps...I am trying to pronounce that lol.

OG can be anywhere from 1.076 to 1.084....or higher if you have awesome efficiency and you do AG. Should finish up at 1.014 ish.

Make this beer.
 
Mmlipps...I am trying to pronounce that lol.

OG can be anywhere from 1.076 to 1.084....or higher if you have awesome efficiency and you do AG. Should finish up at 1.014 ish.

Make this beer.


Ingredients are in the mail! Considering picking up the yeast from lhbs even though I ordered it as well. Then when it shows up my starters already done and I can get going


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Been following this one for a while, and I finally got my ingredients to brew it on Wednesday - really looking forward to it!
 
I just made my first batch of semi-all grain (minus brown sugar)

I used 15# of 2 row, 1 lb of 60L crystal, and 4# of brown sugar.

I also used 2oz of falconer's flight hops, 1 at 60min and 1 at 20 min.

My batches are a little funky because I try to fudge my numbers to account for trub for my final 5 gal. This will also be my very first kegged beer.

IG of 1.097, but im not sure if that because of my number fudging or my efficiency is that bad. Additionally, I am going to try Nottingham Ale Yeast (dry) as that has worked well in the past for my strong scotch ales and the like.

Time to soak my oak chips in sailor jerry!
 
I am going to brew this tomorrow. I have been reading about this recipe for a while now and can't wait to sample it down the road.
 
Long thread so I apologize if this has already been covered... but what is your process for adding the pineapple. Do you freeze it, sanitize it (vodka or star san), boil it, puree it, etc...?
 
Goes into the boil during last 15 minutes

Wow.... I kinda feel dumb, that was right there in the open, haha. Is it being racked to the primary as well or no? Pureed or just chopped into chunks?
 
Chunk it up. I used what amounts to medium sized triangles. I did cut them a little thin though for more flavor extraction. Oh and only boil then filter it out
 
My brew day went great. I did notice some cinnamon but did not get any smell of the pineapple after the boil. I hope it comes though in the end
 
This recipe is awesome, after I brew my Red Rye IPA I'm totally going to brew this one. Might use some Captain Morgans Private Stock to soak the oak chips. Might split the Citra with Galaxy or Mosaic, if I decide to make any changes.

Thanks for the recipe!
 
This one is in the fermenter! Soaking the chips in Kraken Rum now. This was my first TRUE all grain brew, and my 16th batch overall. I'm pretty happy with how smooth brew day went, looking forward to this one for sure!
 
The smell coming off the boil of this amazing. Wish I could bottle it up and sell it as air freshener. You could call it "Straight from the Caribbean" and it wouldn't be a lie. It smells of summer!
 
Oak is soaking in Kraken spiced rum now, are you guys throwing the rum in the secondary as well, or just the oak?
 
Most people just add the chips and reuse the rum, but I think it is just a personal preference, maybe based on the rum used. I just add the rum because I drink rum and don't want a secondary non-drinkable bottle ;p . It wont add any significant flavor or alcohol, but that is subjective as people's taste buds are different.
 
Kegged this one up yesterday - really looking forward to Thursday. I of course tried a bit of it non-carbonated and it tasted really good - stronger rum taste with less of the cinnamon and pineapple, but after reading through the thread it sounds like those come through more after a couple weeks.
 
Back
Top