1.220 OG RIS

[anotherbeerplease]

Awesome thread! Congrats on the successful beer!!

 

[Comfort_Zone]

Congrats on your success! 16% is nothing to scoff at, and the best part is that beers like this age wonderfully.

 

[Easycreeper]

Congrats on your success! 16% is nothing to scoff at, and the best part is that beers like this age wonderfully.

I has originally planned to leave it on oak for three months, but anticipation got the better of me and I pulled it after two. Glad I did because I can taste the beginnings of some oak derived astringency. Not much, but just enough to let you know it was in contact with wood for a period of time.

I'll bottle most of this batch from the keg once I get carb just right and continue the aging process. May even submit a few to NHC next year, depending on how they're faring.

Guess it's about time to start another batch so it'll be ready by the end of the year or early next.

 

[Rhaop]

Sorry to dig this up but any chance OP took another shot at this mega beer?

 

[Easycreeper]

Sorry to dig this up but any chance OP took another shot at this mega beer?

Haven't done another RIS, but managed a 16.6% barleywine late last year. It attenuated better than the RIS, finishing up at 1.023. It's a tad sweet from not using enough bittering hops though.

I'd like to do another big beer this year, but will probably wait until fall.

 

[Rhaop]

Haven't done another RIS, but managed a 16.6% barleywine late last year. It attenuated better than the RIS, finishing up at 1.023. It's a tad sweet from not using enough bittering hops though.

I'd like to do another big beer this year, but will probably wait until fall.

Nice, I ran into the same issue with the one barleywine I brewed I might look into those hop shots to really punch in bitterness without all the hop matter

 

[cmac62]

I once did a 14+ BW and it required more hops than most IPA's I've made, and that was an English style BW.

 

[Easycreeper]

For anyone interested, this is how the 16% imperial stout fared at NHC 2019:

Not as good as I hoped, but I still like it quite a bit. Hard to hit style when you're shooting for such a high ABV, I guess. Maybe next time...

 

[ten80]

I had a similar result entering my 18% barrel-aged imperial stout into a comp. I felt like the bottles were wasted on the judges given all the effort I put into it and the feedback from friends and even professional brewers who tried it. Some beers are just not going to do well in the context of a competition.

 

[Comfort_Zone]

A couple years ago I submitted my winter stout (19.2%, vanilla, coconut, cacao nibs) to Drunk Monk. At the suggestion of one of the judges I was drinking with at the time I entered it as an imperial stout. It scored 30 from both judges. No flaws, but definitely not to style.

 

[Easycreeper]

@ten80 and @Comfort_Zone

Based on what you've read in this thread, have either of you approached big beers any differently? Both of you have hit numbers closer to what I was initially aiming for. Would you mind outlining your processes and yeast used? Mind sharing OG and FG numbers?

Much appreciated.

 

[Comfort_Zone]

@ten80 and @Comfort_Zone

Based on what you've read in this thread, have either of you approached big beers any differently? Both of you have hit numbers closer to what I was initially aiming for. Would you mind outlining your processes and yeast used? Mind sharing OG and FG numbers?

Much appreciated.

Sure thing. A good place to start is here:
https://quaff.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/HighGravityFermentation-1.ppt

Basically, I usually plan out a beer with an estimated OG of around 1.100 although sometimes I get closer to 1.130, but don't get it too high. Pitch an appropriate amount of yeast for that gravity.

For yeast, I've been using a combination of TYB Dry Belgian and WLP099, however I don't really put that much 099 in there, it's really there as an insurance policy. I tend to go a little heavy on the rotated malts, I think the last big stout I did was almost 20% debittered roasted malts.

I tend to pitch a little on the cooler side, close to what you'd expect to do some Scottish ales at, around 55F. After that I don't touch it. Once fermentation is less than 10 points from my expected terminal gravity I start doing sugar additions twice daily. Up to 0.5lbs at a time until I'm closing in on the final abv then I'll cut it down to 0.25lbs per addition. Every other addition I add a small amount of nutrients. Something that also helps is off-gassing the CO2. FG should be under 1.020, I usually finish around 1.012-1.016

Edit: use dextrose. You don't want the yeast working any harder than they need to. If you want to add any brown sugar or anything add it in the kettle or at the very beginning of the sugar additions. I'll have to look it up but sucrose seems to increase glycerol production which in theory sounds nice, but Dry Belgian produces it like a French saison yeast and you can overdo it pretty quickly.

 

[Easycreeper]

@Comfort_Zone

Thanks! My process was similar to yours, but I'm apparently throwing too much sugar at it at one time. I'm using sucrose and mixing it with water to a planned volume, usually two pounds for a quart of total volume. I'm using the volume measurements in an attempt to better keep track of OG. Looks like I should scale back the additions to have better control over residual sweetness when the yeast quits.

 

[Comfort_Zone]

@Comfort_Zone

Thanks! My process was similar to yours, but I'm apparently throwing too much sugar at it at one time. I'm using sucrose and mixing it with water to a planned volume, usually two pounds for a quart of total volume. I'm using the volume measurements in an attempt to better keep track of OG. Looks like I should scale back the additions to have better control over residual sweetness when the yeast quits.

Yeah, I struggled a lot the first couple times I tried for high abv. I've found that sucrose just doesn't ferment the same. I was using it because it's cheaper than dextrose, but dextrose definitely works better.