Attempting 40%+ ABV beer... "Barley Brandy"

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bottlebomber said:
Is oxidation even a factor with that high of an alcohol content? I thought alcohol would protect it from oxidizing...
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BryanThompson said:
You don't worry about a bourbon oxidixing though.
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motobrewer said:
who doesn't???

all liquors certainly do. there's this notion of scotch/whiskey/bourbon/etc that it'll keep forever once opened.

they certainly don't go south like wines do. but, they certainly oxidize. they start to lose a bit of definition, things (especially the nose) gets real muted.
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Alcohol does not protect against oxidation. The difference in susceptibility to oxidation has more to do with what else is present to oxidize. Distilled spirits have much less "stuff" left in them to oxidize, so the effect is much more subtle. As previously mentioned, in some cases (sherry, cognac, brandy, etc) oxidation is an important part of the flavor profile to begin with, so the effects of post production oxidation are also much lower.

My hunch is that this "barley brandy" will likely be characterized by some oxidation flavors (think old ales or better yet, Sam Adams triple bock) just because of age and the amount of handling.

I'll be excited to hear how this turns out!

Adam
 
Cape Brewing said:
LOL... Send me the list of those folks and it'll be in the mail.

Now I'm antsy as a mutha to start icing it to see how that works.
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Hum being the one that brought the thread back up and got you moving on it again I should be good for a bottle right :)
 
JeepDiver said:
Hum being the one that brought the thread back up and got you moving on it again I should be good for a bottle right :)
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Shoot I practically brewed it...
 
cmendo2005 said:
How long would you need this to sit to taste decent if everything is done correctly?
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I honestly have no idea. I am imagining... A while.

It tastes pretty solid right now but its going to change to say the least once I start concentrating it.

At this point I am just pysched I dont have to dump it... Yet.

As I have said a bunch of times, this was 98% meant to be an experiment and hopefully a chance to learn something, so, I will continue to play it by ear. I'll freeze concentrate it and see what it tastes like. After that, I'll decide how I want to age it (a mini oak barrel, glass with some bourbon oak chips, as-is... ). And then I'll try it in a few months and just keep going it is done or ruined.
 
Aren't we about to empty 2 sour barrels? You could put it one of them, that way your introducing at least 45 gallons of empty space and increase oxidation!
 
Nah. Them sowah barrels ah gonna get filled with more sowahs.

Actually... It'll be three barrels. The two-yr old lambic is ready and then the 100+ gallons of Consecration clone should be ready soon.

Hmmm. We should brew soon
 
WTF!?!? That's creepy. Who the eff posted that!? I'm serious.

That was the first clone.. in '09. We did 120 gallons last year.

But yeah, that is me... Pouring into the conicals.
 
Cape Brewing said:
WTF!?!? That's creepy. Who the eff posted that!? I'm serious.
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I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that Firepitbrewing posted it. How did it turn out? I haven't been able to find a recipe. I'm interested to brew some sours as that RR is killing me at $14 for 12 ounces.
 
wow... just... wow... have read about 1/3 of this thread, and am really interested to see how this turns out!
 
bottlebomber said:
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that Firepitbrewing posted it. How did it turn out? I haven't been able to find a recipe. I'm interested to brew some sours as that RR is killing me at $14 for 12 ounces.
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For 120 gallons they used:

235 lbs of Crystal 60
31 lbs if Carafa III
19.5 lbs of German Kaiser malt
19.5 lbs of heavy peated rauch malt

Hop additions are two lbs of Magnum first wort hopped. With ten minutes left in the boil, we add a half a lb of ground nutmeg.
Another two pounds of magnum at flameout.

Primary with WLP 887 around 80 degrees.


i thought it would suck with crystal as the basemalt but they claim the kaiser malt and nutmeg round it out. I havent brewed it yet since i cant find kaiser malt
 
NJstout said:
For 120 gallons they used:

235 lbs of Crystal 60
31 lbs if Carafa III
19.5 lbs of German Kaiser malt
19.5 lbs of heavy peated rauch malt

Hop additions are two lbs of Magnum first wort hopped. With ten minutes left in the boil, we add a half a lb of ground nutmeg.
Another two pounds of magnum at flameout.

Primary with WLP 887 around 80 degrees.

i thought it would suck with crystal as the basemalt but they claim the kaiser malt and nutmeg round it out. I havent brewed it yet since i cant find kaiser malt
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I'm gonna brew that, then hold you down and make you drink it.
 
i think one-a you creative massholes should come ova the border and show me how to make somma these huge beers!
 
Froze the first batch. It took an over-night freeze to get it to the point where I could take anything out.

I lined a sanitized pot with a sanitize nylon paint strainer bag and racked the beer to that. I covered it with tin foil and dropped it in the freezer at -8f.

The ice crystals were pretty light colored except for a small chunk that looked like it was more beer than water. I then pulled the bag out and hung it just barely over the top so it would really drain out any "non-water". I had it really close to the left-behind beer to avoid any splashing and oxidation.

It looks like it cut the volume almost in half once I was done.

I snapped one pic with my phone and I'll post it later.

I just put the second batch in the freezer and will probably go with a slightly shorter freeze time
 
Cape Brewing said:
I did. The best way I can describe it is that it tasted like really really cold, really watered down beer.
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Sounds like...

coorsinnovation.jpg


I'm sure you've already said, but what's the carbonation plan for this bad-boy? Carbonate normally for a little carbonic bite (help offset some of the sweetness), or serve it still a la Utopias?
 
the_bird said:
Sounds like...

I'm sure you've already said, but what's the carbonation plan for this bad-boy? Carbonate normally for a little carbonic bite (help offset some of the sweetness), or serve it still a la Utopias?
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Wow it looks like she's really enjoying that Silver Bullet
 
the_bird said:
Maybe she's enjoying this one...

... I probably better stop, probably getting a little too close to "NSFW" in a technical forum.
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Nice cigar tube. What's that button do is it a lighter or something? ;)
 
Batch two is done. When I say "batch" , I mean about a gallon of the beer. After I diluted it to get it to finish out, I ended up with about 8 gallons total. I am racking about a gallon at a time into a pot and freezing that. When it comes out of the freezer, I am letting the ice crystals drain a bit and if you let them drain a little, they'll turn pretty clear of beer. Once drained I am tossing the ice and racking what is left to a clean carboy.

Each time I freeze, it is taking almost a full day to form decent ice crystals.

It looks like I am getting about 50% concentration still. Once I get through the initial 8 gallons, I'll go through the exact same process at least on one batch to see if I can pull any more ice out. I think I will be able to pull out a bit more.
 
hows the consistency? is it getting thicker like you were afraid of?
 

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