You guys are going to get me in trouble . . .

[Truble]

There is an article on barrel-aging in the recent issue of BYO. Now sure if you can extrapolate the info over to oak chips, but there is some decent info on the process and effects.

 

[Spyk'd]

Oh yeah, I'd kick the Crystal up to 4lbs, reducing the base malts and maybe kick up the LOV a few degrees, like perhaps 60-70.


The rest looks insane!!! (so why would you look at my 'sane' suggestions?)


Do it!

:rockin:

 

[dantodd]

Just found the thread doing a search on Utopias. Have you started this brew yet Pumbaa?

 

[sause]

So how much do you think yeast handle handle in the beginning. 1.150 too much for the yeast to handle? Trying to figure this one out still for you Pumbaa.

 

[Brewpastor]

Now this is an interesting thread. Big Beer. Too many hops, too much grain, way out of line alcohol. I like it. I think it must be my need to self medicate, but I am drawn to these kind of projects. So please move ahead and let us know what you end up with. And if you need some one to give you some feed back, I wil gladly add a bottle to my liver's hate list.

 

[fretman124]

Hey Pumba....

I read on another board that 1 piece 6"L x 3/4" square piece of white oak, toasted in the oven will age the, uh, liquid, quite nicely. I put two pieces in a 2.5 gallon jar. I'm also aging it for a year. I lightly char the sticks with a torch after toasting them. Carmelizes the sugars in the oak. Gives the, uh, liquid a nice carmel color.

I would imagin 4 pieces in a 5 gallon batch of beer (tho can you call this beer?) for a week or two would give it a nice flavor, especially if your aging it for two years

 

[landhoney]

Well I'm doing it. Utopia clone that is. I'm going to use a scottish ale yeast cake on a ~1.080ish wort, rack to secondary, pitch wlp099 starter and the first of 5 daily "doses" of concentrated wort to get and OG~1.190. Grain bill from Sam Adams:

2-Row
Crystal 60
Munich
2-Row Moravian(what is this?) - OK, I'm not going to get this - M.Otter instead?
Bavarian Smoked Malt
"Touch of Maple Syrup" -S.A.
Hops: They list several, I'm using Santiam and Saaz

The concentrated wort method is recommended by whitelabs to achieve 25% alcohol. I'm 'only' looking for 18-19%, I don't want to push too high as I intend to very lighlty carbonate some if not all bottles and I don't want it to get 'stuck'. The concentrated wort will be Light DME, Maple Syrup, Brown Candi Sugar, and a little Dark Candi Syrup. It's going to be a 3 gallon batch. Oak cubes soaked in cognac, bourbon, dark rum will be added(as per Sam Adams). And because I ,of course, have not had Utopia I will not know how 'close' I get. Should be fun. Still working on malt %'s. I'm not sure on IBU's either, ideas? I want to try to balance the sweetness/maltiness a little right.

 

[landhoney]

<insert cricket chirping noise here> Is this thing on? What do you guys think?

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

Well I'm doing it. Utopia clone that is. I'm going to use a scottish ale yeast cake on a ~1.080ish wort, rack to secondary, pitch wlp099 starter and the first of 5 daily "doses" of concentrated wort to get and OG~1.190. Grain bill from Sam Adams:

2-Row
Crystal 60
Munich
2-Row Moravian(what is this?) - OK, I'm not going to get this - M.Otter instead?
Bavarian Smoked Malt
"Touch of Maple Syrup" -S.A.
Hops: They list several, I'm using Santiam and Saaz

The concentrated wort method is recommended by whitelabs to achieve 25% alcohol. I'm 'only' looking for 18-19%, I don't want to push too high as I intend to very lighlty carbonate some if not all bottles and I don't want it to get 'stuck'. The concentrated wort will be Light DME, Maple Syrup, Brown Candi Sugar, and a little Dark Candi Syrup. It's going to be a 3 gallon batch. Oak cubes soaked in cognac, bourbon, dark rum will be added(as per Sam Adams). And because I ,of course, have not had Utopia I will not know how 'close' I get. Should be fun. Still working on malt %'s. I'm not sure on IBU's either, ideas? I want to try to balance the sweetness/maltiness a little right.

Both of you guys are making my liver hurt...

 

[NurseNan]

Go for it, what have you got to lose (besides your liver and your sanity)? Keep is in the loop though, I don't want to miss any of this.

 

[CBBaron]

<insert cricket chirping noise here> Is this thing on? What do you guys think?

You are attempting a beer well outside of what most people have created, and you are trying to clone a beer very few people have tasted, so I'm guessing there are very few people who could make any strong recommendations.
Your beer looks very interesting and definitely an experiment worth doing. I will be interested in the results in a couple years. Your recipe and plans look to be well thought out.
Craig

 

[landhoney]

Update: Last Friday(today is Tues) was the fifth day of 'feeding' and aerating. OG plus the five feedings put it at ~1.193-1.200. On Monday I checked the gravity and it was 1.068 so its going well, that's 60+% AA so far, less than three days after the last feeding. Hopefully, after following whitelabs guiddelines and also not pushing the yeast to ther limit, I will achieve their reported 80+% AA for wlp099 and get a beer with a low enough FG. After tasting how much hop bitterness has faded from my barleywine I also hopped the last two feedings very heavily to up the IBU's, if its going to need 1 year+ to age I think it will definitely need it. So far so good.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Obviously I'm too late, but to answer your question, Moravian malt is an undermodified pilsner malt used in Bohemian pilsner style beers (Czech pils). Marris Otter is probably a fine substitute.

Good luck with this one! I'm impressed!

 

[landhoney]

Good luck with this one! I'm impressed!

Well that's a feather in my cap. Mr."to-h*ll-with-your-conicals-I'll-make-my-own", is impressed with little ol' me. Pot calling the kettle black Yuri. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[landhoney]

Update: Gravity is down to 1.040 and its still very cloudy which usually means there's still a lot of yeast in suspension and its still working. So now its sitting at around 20% ABV and AA of 79%, I'm hoping it will finish in the 1.02-'s but might not get quite there(whitelabs says 80%+ AA so hopefully I can squeeze out a few more percentage points). All the oak is marinating in its various spirits for when fermentation is complete. So far so good.

 

[mrb]

All that I can say is WOW!!!!

I yearn to be brave enough to try such a monsterful beer!!!!

 

[Deofol]

Any update on this? Been thinking about something like that but on a smaller scale.

 

[Chriso]

Damn you guys. Now I think I want to do a monster like this too. Except I'm thinking five seperate 1 gallon batches, blended together to reach 5 gallons. Buahahaha.

I am going to go find some lunch. Then I think I'm gonna get my pen and paper and start planning.

 

[McCall St. Brewer]

The answer is 42.:rockin:

But what is the question, Deep Thought?