Tips For Brewing A Really Big Beer?

[ScrewyBrewer]

A friend of mine gave me a case of empty Belgian beer bottles, the large ones that require a cork and metal wire cap to seal them up. I thought why not kill two birds with one stone and brew a really big beer to fill them up with and let the beer condition until next December. It's been a while since I've brewed a really big beer with an ABV over 8%, any tips or suggestions by anyone here who's familiar with big beer brewing are really appreciated.

I'll be doing an all grain eBIAB five gallon batch, the grain bill I'm currently still working on and I plan on pitching a four liter starter of S-04 yeast that's said to top out at 10% alcohol. I'm not opposed to adding some sugar three or four days into the fermentation and expect the alcohol bite to mellow out after a year in the bottle.

[Inkleg]

I brewed a RIS on National Homebrew Day last May. Don't have my notes with me, but it was around 24
lbs of grain and an additional 3lbs of DME to get there and that was straight BIAB. I pitched a BIG starter of WLP002 and it finished at 1.026.
Had a glass with a friend last night and it has really turned out great. Planning of brewing it again this May and going to enter it in the Suwannee beer fest in a few months. If you'd like I'll post the recipe when I get home.

[swenocha]

What I've found worked for me in my first go-round (YMMV) was...

- WLP099 (super hi-grav) yeast (if your S-04 gets stuck, I'd recommend re-pitching with this... it is a workhorse that will go up to 25% supposedly)
- Build a big starter
- With my setup, I had to supplement with extract. My setup would not handle the amount of grain required to go full AG.
- Feed candi sugar in steps. I think my base beer was 10%ish, but I got over 18 with several candi sugar additions. If memory serves, my FG was 0.998ish (at each addition, it seemed to end up between 1.0 and 0.997). Pretty wild...

EDIT:
- Oh, I also used Servomyces yeast nutrient

[ScrewyBrewer]

I came up with a 22 pound recipe to be brewed in my 15 gallon eBIAB kettle using about nine gallons of brewing water for a 1.25 lbs/gallon mash thickness. This will be my first 5 gallon batch using this system, to date I've managed to brew up to a maximum of 6.7% using 24 pounds of grain in an IPA that's cold crashing now. The S-04 took the 1.058 OG down to 1.008 FG in just under two weeks for an apparent attenuation of 84%!

Technically I'll be brewing a Scottish Strong Ale, some might refer to it as a Wee Heavy, but the BJCP site descriptions for the 9E. Strong Scotch Ale seem to be a closer match. The S-04 settles out quickly, it's been spinning on a stirplate since last night. I'll turn the stirplate off at noon and allow the yeast to settle out by the time I pitch it late tomorrow afternoon. I like to decant my starters especially the four liter ones. I know I'll be cutting it close but Sunday brewing won't work out for me this weekend like I had hoped so it's gotta happen tomorrow.

Estimated OG=1.100, IBU=34, SRM=13, FG=1.025, ABV= 9.7%
20.000 pounds Pale Malt - 91.43%
01.750 pounds Melanoidin Malt - 8.00%
00.125 pounds Roasted Barley - 0.57%
----------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
22.000 pounds total

4.00 ounces East Kent Golding (UK) pellets @ 20 minutes
------
4.00 ounces Total Hop bill

It's going to be a long brewday with a 90 minute mash followed by a 120 minute boil but the beer produced will be adjunct free so hopefully it'll go easier on the yeast. I plan to oxygenate the wort for 2 to 3 minutes, add yeast nutrient to the boil and ferment the batch at 66F using a temperature controller. I'm always excited to brew something new for the first time and I'm thinking this beer with it's high ABV should condition well for long periods.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Aside from my Chugger pump seizing up yesterday's big brewday went really well. The 15 gallon kettle easily handled 22 pounds of grain and 9 gallons of water. I was a bit disappointed that the original gravity was only 1.082 but it didn't come unexpected. I read a few articles that warned that the efficiency of big beers will suffer and steps should be taken to compensate for it by adding adjuncts or increasing the grain bill.

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I was really happy with the color and clarity of the hydrometer sample though, the addition of only two ounces of Roasted Barley seems to have given my the nice bright shade of red I was hoping for. The beer's fermenting at 67F now and this morning there were bubbles coming out of the airlock too. Another thing I did differently was to oxygenate for 3 full minutes, which created a layer of foam several inches thick on top of the beer in the fermentor. Later in the week I still have the option to add some sugar to the fermentor to bump up the gravity. But for this first big beer brew I think I'm going to just let the all grain batch ride and settle for a nice 8.5% beer.

[BlackDuck]

That's a great looking sample. Wow. That's a great color, I've been after that in a few of my beers too and just can't seem to get it. I'll have to remember the addition of just a couple ounces or so of roasted barley.

[braukasper]

- WLP099 (super hi-grav) yeast I have found that it is best to add this yeast after you have done your primary fermentation. I generally add it with the first sugar feeding.

[mashani]

If you want to bump the gravity I'm going to agree with others here - some clear candi syrup / invert sugar added as a feeding later is perfectly fine in that beer.

It is not uncommon at all for there to be sugar in real beers brewed across the pond. And you've got plenty of "chew" going on there.

[ScrewyBrewer]

If you want to bump the gravity I'm going to agree with others here - some clear candi syrup / invert sugar added as a feeding later is perfectly fine in that beer.

It is not uncommon at all for there to be sugar in real beers brewed across the pond. And you've got plenty of "chew" going on there.

If it weren't so cold in the brew room, with outside temperatures in the teens it was near 40 inside, I might have added sugar this time.

I pitched the yeast 8 days ago and I will take a final gravity sample in a few days. I really like malty beers and this batch was boiled for 2 hours, so caramelized flavors could be produced in the kettle too. I've never knowingly tasted any beer boiled for that long but I'm interested in tasting it to see if I can notice a difference.

[braukasper]

Screwy, meant to ask earlier, which model pump? The Chugger pump I have has the inlet on the same line as the motor's shaft and it is stainless steel.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Screwy, meant to ask earlier, which model pump? The Chugger pump I have has the inlet on the same line as the motor's shaft and it is stainless steel.

I have this one with the stainless steel head, I rotated the head though to keep the inlet below the outlet of my kettle , the pump is mounted on the table the kettle sits on.

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[braukasper]

Thanks Screwy. Like I said mine is a different design, it is the Chugger SS Center one

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[ScrewyBrewer]

Thanks Screwy. Like I said mine is a different design, it is the Chugger SS Center one

@braukasper have you had the same binding issues with this design as I and others have had?

[ScrewyBrewer]

Today I'll take another final gravity sample but I'm pretty sure it'll be the same 1.018 it was a few days ago. This beer will finish up at 8.5% alcohol with the S-04 reaching 76% apparent attenuation. The sample I tasted put a nice warm feeling inside my stomach as it went down too. This is definitely not a session beer by no means, but it is a great beer for special occasions, or if you just want to enjoy it whenever.

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I plan to bottle it this weekend, but I'm still not sure it should condition before it'll reach it's peak flavors. I'm thinking three to six months with sneaking a bottle every once in a while to see how it's coming along.

[braukasper]

Not yet. I have not brewed in a while due to health issues. I have both a March & Chugger, both are center inlet. I will be taking everything a part for a good cleaning before starting again. The chugger is used mainly to recirculate the wort during the hop whirlpool, then to transfer the wort to fermenter