Messages

241

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Imperial Stout brewing questions

« on: April 04, 2012, 07:17:27 AM »

on the specialty malts, if I got rid of the rye malt, what could I replace it with which would keep the body and head good?  Here are some considerations I was thinking of for the specialty grain bill...

Briess 2 Row Caramel 120    
Crisp Chocolate Malt
Special B    
Weyermann De-Husked Carafa III
Briess Black Barley    

I definitely want to make sure that the body is thick and chewy, with good head and retention!  Now by the time I brew this I will certainly have the capability of doing a mash (not just steeping) with at least batch sparge capability.

I think I will cut the extracts as suggested and adjust amounts until I reach an ABV of about 10.0. 

And yes, I am going to make sure my fermentation temperatures are carefully controlled for this beer.  As I said, it won't be brewed for a while.  I'll brew it during the winter and use a heater blanket if it's too cold.  There is no way I could keep the temperatures low enough during the summer with my current circumstances and equipment.

I'm also working on a bigfoot barleywine clone, so I hope I can learn some things here that will also help there! 

242

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Imperial Stout brewing questions

« on: April 04, 2012, 04:36:30 AM »

Hey thanks Thomas for yet another great answer to a long and detailed question! 

The reason this one won't be brewed soon is multi-fold. 

1.  I'm too new at this.  I need to increase my skills, improve my techniques, and upgrade my equipment a little.  I'm ordering an eight gallon bucket, which is what I'll undoubtedly brew my RIS (and upcoming barleywine) in.

2. Temperature control.  I don't have any right now.  Therefore I'm at the mercy of the temperature I can keep my closet, which is pretty steadily 68-70F.  This will change though, as I'll only be where I'm at until January, when I'll have a better place to brew.  I will probably try an imperial stout when I can better control the temperatures AND keep things cooler.

3. I hope to have a keg setup next year (hopefully two or three kegs).  The bottling questions were asked as a knowledge increasing measure, but I'm hoping not to have to bottle when I get to this beer.

I am keeping a bookmark to this thread however, and will tweak the recipe and run it past you guys again before it gets brewed!  Thanks man!

243

Ingredients / Re: elderberries / juniper berries

« on: April 04, 2012, 04:28:21 AM »

Haha, great answer!  Love your blog, BTW, everyone should read BKyeast.wordpress.com 

oh and yes, DFH Sah'tea is one of my favorite beers!

244

Ingredients / Re: Barleywine question.

« on: April 01, 2012, 05:22:16 PM »

After reading the OP post, i'm wondering if a Barleywine is what he's after. He mentioned liking it fresh like it was a IIPA. Why not make it and drink it like a IIPA?

kind of like bigfoot barleywine perhaps?  I bought a couple of sixers of this year's batch of SN bigfoot and I thought it was somewhat along the lines of a IIPA.  I also thought it was downright DELICIOUS!  Great body and awesome hops flavors, not quite like any other barleywines I've had before (and I do like barleywine). 

Anybody got a clone?

Haha I just saw Hop's post about bigfoot 

245

Ingredients / elderberries / juniper berries

« on: April 01, 2012, 04:36:33 PM »

has anyone worked with these?  I've had elderberry wine and loved it.  I've also had a couple of juniper berry beers that were delicious.  Can you make a good homebrew fruit beer from them, and if so, how would you go about it?  I'd be doing partial mash.  I see dried berries of both types available on homebrew websites.

246

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Imperial Stout brewing questions

« on: April 01, 2012, 03:13:56 PM »

Thanks for the answers so quickly! 

Yeah I think I'm going to just get an eight gallon bucket anyway, because I need another bucket and for the price I might as well go with eight gallons.  That way any krausen issues are covered.

The stir bar looks great! 

I'm working my way up to RIS brewing territory...

247

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Imperial Stout brewing questions

« on: April 01, 2012, 10:51:31 AM »

You guys are so great in helping with recipes, I've got another one for ya, with questions about the process too.

Here is a sample recipe from brew builders for an imperial stout.  I'd like to try one sometime in the future (after proper recipe modifications, and also proper equipment upgrades).

Briess Traditional Dark Liquid Extract 15 lbs, 4.8 oz
Weyermann Rye Malt 1 lbs, 4 oz
Crisp Chocolate Malt 1 lbs, 0 oz
Briess 2 Row Caramel 120 1 lbs, 0 oz
Special B    0 lbs, 12 oz
Centennial Pellets 3 oz @ 60 mins
Centennial Pellets 2 oz @ 30 mins
Cascade Pellets    2 oz @ 15 mins
Oak Chips, Untoasted 1 ea
White Labs Super High Gravity Ale

targets:

OG 1.134 FG 1.027 IBU 67.9 SRM 60.51 ABV 14.02

I know dark extract isn't popular on this forum, but hopefully someone can 'splain me better why.  Which extracts should I use, how should I modify the specialty grains, should I use different grains, etc?

Also, I am assuming I would need at least a 6.5 gallon bucket with a blowoff tube, but would you recommend something different?  How do you handle beers like this that will have a lot of krausen?  Having an exploding bucket is definitely NOT an option!

Primary and secondary fermentations - how would you approach these?

Bottling and conditioning - what's the recommendation as to how to approach this?  Besides the obvious effects of aging, what considerations should I think about when it comes to aging a beer like this in bottles?  I tend to use 22oz bomber bottles, BTW, although I sometimes use 25oz and 12oz bottles too.  The main reason I use 22oz bottles is because you need fewer of them than 12oz, and I drink a lot of beers that come in bombers.

Oxygenation for such a strong beer - how to do it?

Also, what other changes to make in a recipe like this one in order to optimize my results?

I'd probably like the final ABV to be a bit lower, although not below 11.  Can I just use less extract?

I also want to assure maximum body and color.  I'd hate to brew an imperial stout with an ABV > 10 that wasn't thick and chewy, or didn't come out of the bottle looking like used diesel oil.    However, the target of 60.51 SRM on the sample recipe... how does that compare with your RIS recipes?

BTW there is no chance of my attempting to brew this one anytime soon, I have five or six others in the queue before this one could be attempted. 

Thanks for all insights!

248

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: All citra IPA: specialty grains and hopping schedule

« on: March 28, 2012, 04:47:12 AM »

Heady topper IS definitely nectar of the gods...

OK thanks everybody I think I have my recipe down.  I cut back a little on the specialty grains, upped the malt extracts a little so the ABV will be 6.5, and bumped the 20 minute addition forward to 15 minutes.  I think I'll go with that and let you know how it comes out!

Unfortunately, I have almost 5 weeks left working in the desert before I can actually brew any of these recipes...  but hey, you gotta dream, right?  It will taste SO very good when I get back and finally dig into the batch that's waiting for me now....

249

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: All citra IPA: specialty grains and hopping schedule

« on: March 27, 2012, 06:52:36 PM »

Thanks for the replies.  Been crunching numbers and checking ingredients...  how about this?

Briess Golden Light Dry Extract    
3 lbs, 0 oz
Briess Golden Light Liquid Extract    
3 lbs, 0 oz
Briess 2 Row Caramel 10    
1 lbs, 0 oz
Caramel Munich    
1 lbs, 0 oz
Citra Pellets    
0.5 oz @ FWH
Citra Pellets    
0.5 oz @ 60 mins
Citra Pellets
0.5 oz @ 20 mins
Citra Pellets    
1 oz @ 5 mins
Citra Pellets    
1 oz @ Dry
Wyeast Labs American Ale

OG 1.060    FG 1.015    IBU 58.6    SRM 10.83    ABV 5.90

I'd like to perfect a base recipe that I can use in the future to showcase a specific hop variety (albeit with different hop schedules, depending on the variety).

I do love hops and I'm willing to take a chance on an all-citra IPA.  If it comes out horrible, I'll let you know, and if it totally rocks of course you'll be hearing about that too. 

250

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: All citra IPA: specialty grains and hopping schedule

« on: March 27, 2012, 06:54:54 AM »

I've had some suceess lately with a single hop IPA using just a bittering charge and dry hopping at the end.  Had a Nelson Sauvin IPA (11.2) 2 oz @ 60 gave me 66 IBU, 2 oz dry hop.  Grains were 2 row, Carapils, 80 L. for 1.066 OG.

Simple & let the hop shine through.

Yeah I'm plugging those ideas into the software right now, except with citra hops.  How about a pound and a half of 2-row and a pound of carapils.  How's that for grains?

Hops wise I was probably going to use an ounce each of citra at 60, 15, 5, 0 and dry for five ounces total, although I would consider two ounces of dry for six ounces total, or perhaps something else.  I haven't used citra before though so any suggestions on that particular hop welcome! 

Hmmm... switching out the grains and leaving everything else the same,  it would have these targets:

OG 1.062    FG 1.016    IBU 64.8    SRM 5.67    ABV 6.03

Briess Golden Light Liquid Extract    
3 lbs, 0 oz
Briess Golden Light Dry Extract    
3 lbs, 0 oz
Briess 2-Row Brewer's Malt    
1 lbs, 8 oz
Caramel Pils       
1 lbs, 0 oz
Citra Pellets        
1 oz @ 60 mins
Citra Pellets    
1 oz @ 15 mins
Citra Pellets       
1 oz @ 5 mins
Citra Pellets
1 oz @ 0 mins
Citra Pellets    
1 oz @ Dry
Wyeast Labs American Ale

I note that the SRM is quite low, although I would not be opposed to a very light colored IPA.  Comments?

251

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / All citra IPA: specialty grains and hopping schedule

« on: March 27, 2012, 04:46:36 AM »

I'm thinking of making an all-citra IPA.  Curious about recommendations for hopping schedule.  Shooting for 60-70 IBUs.  Mainly curious how much to use for dry hopping.

Also, what specialty grains would you use?  I'm thinking up to about 3 lbs of grains and the rest extract for an ABV of about 6.5-7.

Thanks!

252

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Questions on recipes before I order ingredients

« on: March 26, 2012, 07:52:51 PM »

maybe I'll just go with the original recipe then. 

too many people on crappy internet connection... gonna stick with original recipe and reconsider tomorrow.  I'm not ordering this stuff for at least three weeks (perhaps four) so I can ponder at my leisure.

253

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Questions on recipes before I order ingredients

« on: March 26, 2012, 07:32:54 PM »

yeah I think I will go ahead and secondary the oatmeal stout after the coffee addition, same as you did.

************

As for the ESB, I was thinking of changing the recipe slightly per the suggestion of adding some crystal malt, and adding a pound of 15L crystal malt, and subtracting a pound of extract. 

Briess Golden Light Liquid Extract
6 lbs, 0 oz
Crisp Crystal Malt 15L    
1 lbs, 0 oz
Briess 2 Row Caramel 60    
1 lbs, 0 oz
Briess 2 Row Carapils    
0 lbs, 8 oz
Fuggles Pellets, UK
1 oz @ 60 mins
Fuggles Pellets, UK    
1 oz @ 30 mins
Kent Goldings, UK Pellets
1 oz @ 25 mins
SAFALE S-04

OG 1.058 FG 1.015 IBU 31.2 SRM 11.64 ABV 5.63

254

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Questions on recipes before I order ingredients

« on: March 26, 2012, 07:11:27 PM »

Next the oatmeal / coffee stout. 

Deepsouth, I think I will try your coffee addition technique from the link.  Thanks! 

I will also up the oatmeal and consider roasting it, although I might skip the roasting just because I don't want to overwhelm myself with trying too many new techniques at once.  We shall see.

OK how about this, I'm just going to exchange the dark extracts for light in equal amounts, add a half pound extra of oatmeal, and add a half pound of roasted barley:

Briess Golden Light Liquid Extract       
3 lbs, 3 oz
Crisp Maris Otter
2 lbs, 8 oz
Briess Golden Light Dry Extract       
1 lbs, 0 oz
Briess Flaked Oats       
1 lbs, 0 oz
Crisp Roasted Barley    
0 lbs, 8 oz
Crisp Black Malt    
0 lbs, 8 oz
Crisp Crystal Malt 120L    
0 lbs, 8 oz
Fuggles Pellets, UK
2 oz @ 60 mins
Tettnang, German Pellets
.5 oz @ 60 mins
White Labs Burton Ale

OG 1.061 FG  1.017 IBU 30.5 SRM 41.49 ABV 5.76

Coffee added according to deepsouth's link:

cold brewed (36 hours) about 5.5 cups of water with about 7 ounces of coarsely crushed ... coffee

Type of coffee to be determined.  I'm thinking of perhaps a breakfast blend or other mild but flavorful coffee addition that would compliment the roasted barley without adding too much extra bitterness or roasty flavors.  Any suggestions?

And I have not considered trying all dry instead of some liquid, some dry, but I would consider it if there were a good reason to do so.

255

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Questions on recipes before I order ingredients

« on: March 26, 2012, 06:17:30 PM »

Thanks everybody, these are exactly the responses I needed.  I'm going to post some responses and altered recipes separately.  I'm on work for six weeks right now and I'm in a rather cheesy hotel with crappy internet, so I need to break things up into small batches. 

On the black IPA: I agree on the increased bitterness.  Added nugget and columbus and ditched the magnum, plus added some more of the malt.  Here's the adjusted recipe:

Briess Golden Light Liquid Extract    
6 lbs, 10 oz
Briess Pale Ale Malt
2 lbs, 8 oz
Weyermann De-Husked Carafa II ®       
1 lbs, 0 oz
Aromatic    
0 lbs, 12 oz
Crisp Crystal Malt 60L    
0 lbs, 10 oz
De-Bittered Black    
0 lbs, 4 oz
Nugget Pellets    
1 oz @ 60 mins
Columbus Pellets       
1 oz @ 30 mins
Columbus Pellets       
0.5 oz @ 20 mins
Columbus Pellets    
0.5 oz @ 10 mins
Columbus Pellets    
.5 oz @ 0 mins
Nugget Pellets    
1 oz @ Dry
Glacier Pellets    
1 oz @ Dry
Wyeast Labs American Ale

OG 1.078 FG 1.020 IBU  78.5 SRM 41.62    ABV 7.60

And yes, I'm doing mini-mashes.

I kind of intentionally did not simplify the yeasts because the first brew is likely to be the ESB (and I might just pitch it dry, I've had good luck with that yeast pitching dry), but the following ones I intend to begin making starters.  I still need to order the stir plate and magnet and flasks tho.  And perfect the techniques, obviously.