[denny]

I NEVER use distillers yeast and I brew much bigger beers than this.

+1 Distiller's yeast is not for beer.

[euge]

Which book is this recipe from? My suspicion is that this recipe was just thrown together by the author but never actually brewed.

[jivetyrant]

This is in Extreme Brewing by Sam Calagione.  There were several recipe contributors, I'm not sure who wrote the recipe in question.

[Kit B]

Bwahahahahahaha!!!!

I love it.

He does actually have a great sense of humor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYO76bVuITw

See 6:18...And, again at 14:38.

I'd recommend starting with something a little lighter.
Also...See if your water needs the gypsum addition, before tossing it in.

[colinhayes]

Do you really want a beer that strong at a wedding?  I've got a 4.5% alt and a 8.5% strong golden w/ raspberries on deck for mine in 6 weeks, and I think even the 8.5 is way too strong.  You don't really want people getting drunk at a wedding... I've seen it plenty of times while working a photobooth at weddings, and it's just not pretty.  Plus it's in July... nobody is going to want heavy beers.

Now what would be awesome, is to have your sister and her husband over and you all brew the beer together, and they can crack some open each year around their anniversary.  A beer that strong would age for a long time.  I think we're planning on doing something like that after we get back from the honeymoon.

[skyler]

If I wanted to brew a giant beer like that for a wedding, I would instead just brew a barleywine or a Belgian Dark Strong or a Belgian Golden Strong. Since I think a barleywine would probably be the easiest to pull off with extract, I would probably just brew a big American barleywine. I suspect you could find plenty of great recipes at the homebrewopedia recipe wiki or by google search. I've heard good things about Denny's Old Stoner. Also my 2¢ - I like American Barleywines best when they are just lightly aged but still pretty fresh. I don't really understand aging strong beers, since so many taste better fresh (according to my mouth, anyway). Now sour beers... that's a different story.

[astrivian]

This is NOT that big of a beer, I brewed a 1.146 OG beer on Sunday.

Nice.

[gymrat]

If you want a good reliable recipe you might consider a kit from Northern Brewer or Midwest Supplies. I did the Scottish Wee Heavy from Northern Brewer. It weighed in at 9% ABV. You would never know it was that strong by tasting it. It is delicious and was already pretty darn good a month into the bottle.