Big Beer

[BignJames]

In the next few weeks I'm planning on brewing a "Holiday Stout".

1# pale 2 row malt
1 # chocolate malt
.5# honey malt
.5# torr. wheat
.75# crystal 60L
4# amber dme
8# pale lme
2.5# corn sugar

I haven't decided on hops yet....I would like it to be fairly balanced. I ran the recipe through Beer Smith and it gave me an est. abv of 12.5%. Should I use a champagne yeast?

Suggestions? Comments?

[Vienna Lager]

No, try WLP001, WLP004, WLP007, WLP028, WLP051 or WLP099. The WLP001 is high alcohol tolerant and the WLP099 is verty high. The rest are medium to high tolerant.

Instead of the suger why not substitite a pound of DME and you will get less of a cider taste.

[Derekt2]

Originally posted by BignJames
In the next few weeks I'm planning on brewing a "Holiday Stout".

1# pale 2 row malt
1 # chocolate malt
.5# honey malt
.5# torr. wheat
.75# crystal 60L
4# amber dme
8# pale lme
2.5# corn sugar

I haven't decided on hops yet....I would like it to be fairly balanced. I ran the recipe through Beer Smith and it gave me an est. abv of 12.5%. Should I use a champagne yeast?

Suggestions? Comments?

No roasted barley? -- can't make a stout w/o one. You won't notice the 1/2# honey malt with that amount of extract but it won't hurt. Sugar is okay as that amount won't affect flavor but it will make the beer thinner. I'd use 1.5# or if you want complexity sub 1# clover honey or even better *unsulphured* molasses-- don't waste money on fancy stuff here as you won't notice the difference. Also, make a starter. If you can't then switch to Wyeast 1084 or 1728 Avtivators. Both are alcohol tolerant and those packs are bigger than the WL tubes. Definitely use a pinch of yeast nutrient. I prefer the Wyeast nutrient b/c it is very cheap and very effective. Others are available too. Have fun -- but add 1/2# roasted barley otherswise you are making a strong brown ale/robust porter depending on your hopping.

[Mill Rat]

Originally posted by Vienna Lager
No, try WLP001, WLP004, WLP007, WLP028, WLP051 or WLP099. The WLP001 is high alcohol tolerant and the WLP099 is verty high. The rest are medium to high tolerant.

Instead of the suger why not substitite a pound of DME and you will get less of a cider taste.

The corn sugar won't give you that cider taste like sucrose will, it'll just thin things out. I agree with the DME recommendation. WLP 007 in about a pint/half-gallon of starter (two stage) would be my preference to keep an English taste to it.

My intial hops instinct is Fuggles for a flavor addition, with maybe Target as the bittering hops.

[BrewDog]

007 will do it well.
I'd do Northern Brewer early and EKG mid/late.

[BignJames]

Thanks guys...very helpful comments. I'll drop the honey malt and the corn sugar...I'll add 1# of molasses and .5# roasted barley...when should I add the molasses?

[Mad Scientist]

No, keep the honey malt, it is good stuff. And place of the corn sugar, you might condsider another type of sugar say...dememera or turbinado to keep your fermentables up. but bear in mind no to let that sugars go over 10% or so, that is when the cidery taste will kick in. It will be easy to keep that in line with brewing sotware (congrats on beersmith, I prefer it). I might consider a bit more roast barley, considering all the fermentables you have there, so you can get better balance to the beer. You might also consider another type of dark roast barley (MAYBE black patent) in place of more roast barley.

I like bullion hops for bittering, but I think fuggles for flavor or aroma may provide too much of an earthy flavor. Never theless, being an imperial stout, hop the hell out of it.

And a last point, I hope you can do a full wort boil, since a boil that concentrated will scorch very, very easily.

[BignJames]

I decided to go with a robust porter.

1# pale 2 row malt
1 # chocolate malt
.5# carapils
.75 # molasses
.75# crystal 60L
4# amber dme
8# pale lme
WLP001
1oz Nortern Brewer @60
1oz E Kent Golding @15
Irish moss

I collected 2 gals of wort from the mash / sparge and added it to the preheated 3 gals of water already in my 5.5 gal brew pot. I thought aww hell, I've still got 12# of extract to add! I added the 4# of dme....and proceeded to have my first boilover. I got the boil under control, took the garden hose and rinsed the outside of the pot and managed to put the burner out. But, I did manage a full boil.

[BignJames]

I added about 8oz of Wild Turkey soaked for about a week w/dried orange peel, and 4 oz of vanilla extract to secondary.

I kegged this yesterday after 5 weeks in secondary, tastes very smooth and sweet, but with a pronounced alcohol bite.

I added priming sugar to the keg and purged w/15 psi co2.


Will the alcohol bite mellow w/ additional aging?

[markaberrant]

Originally posted by BignJames
I added about 8oz of Wild Turkey soaked for about a week w/dried orange peel, and 4 oz of vanilla extract to secondary.

I kegged this yesterday after 5 weeks in secondary, tastes very smooth and sweet, but with a pronounced alcohol bite.

I added priming sugar to the keg and purged w/15 psi co2.


Will the alcohol bite mellow w/ additional aging?

A lot of beers that are this big often call for 2 months in secondary, followed by 6 months of aging. I would try it again in a month... I guarantee that your patience will be rewarded with this monster if you give it some time.

And just so you know, Amber extract is just base extract with crystal. A big beer will always finish with a lot of residual sweetness, making all of that crystal quite redundant. For example, most barleywines use almost zero crystal malt; they rely on a longer boil for carmelization and ends up with lots of residual sweetness.

[BignJames]

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A lot of beers that are this big often call for 2 months in secondary, followed by 6 months of aging. I would try it again in a month... I guarantee that your patience will be rewarded with this monster if you give it some time.

And just so you know, Amber extract is just base extract with crystal. A big beer will always finish with a lot of residual sweetness, making all of that crystal quite redundant. For example, most barleywines use almost zero crystal malt; they rely on a longer boil for carmelization and ends up with lots of residual sweetness.
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I'm trying to let this age until Thanksgiving...we'll see.
I never considered that amber extract contained crystal...learn something everytime I come here...thanks!

[Otis_The_Drunk]

Brewing is an ever learning process.

Those who say they know it all are fooling themselves.

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Otis_The_Drunk
Brewing is an ever learning process.

Those who say they know it all are fooling themselves.

I do know it it all. And I also know that I have been fooling myself for quite some time.....