Challenge: Can this be done in 40 days?

[Reno_eNVy]

So I want a special holiday beer ready by Christmas day when SWMBO and I go into the mountains to celebrate with her family.

The challenge I'm looking at is making a high OG, spiced, adjuncted beer not only drinkable but excellent in 40 days (i.e. Christmas.) Even more interesting is that it will be bottled, the first bottling I've done in about two years... this will also shorten my time-frame seeing as bottle conditioning will need the full three weeks (most likely.)

So below is the recipe. It was written to satisfy three needs:

1) to brew a seasonal beer (check)
2) to brew a beer that beer geeks and newbies will both enjoy (I hope)
3) to brew an uncommon beer with ingredients I've never used (peppermint, cocoa powder and lactose)

I plan on giving it 14 days in primary and then straight to bottling. Carb volumes will be low (~2.0) so it will be finished quicker.

Chocolate Peppermint Sweet Stout
3.5 gallon batch size
1.073 OG
Single infusion mash @ 154*F, no mash-out, single batch sparge

7.5# US 2-row
0.5# Chocolate malt
0.5# Crystal 120L
0.25# Roasted barley
0.25# Flaked barley

1.5oz Fuggles (4.5%) @ 60min
0.25# Milk sugar (lactose) @ 15min
2oz cocoa powder @ 10min
6 Peppermint tea bags @ 5min

1 pkg Nottingham dry yeast

SWMBO and I will be brewing this up tomorrow morning... first morning brew in a looooong time. It'll be weird drinking coffee instead of beer. I'll keep track of the progress along the way and report my final (and hopefully delicious) findings before we leave for the mountains.



Special thanks to modernlifeisANDY for steering me in the right direction with the peppermint and cocoa. Check out his Andes Mint Chocolate Stout

 

[step]

I would say pitch high if at all possible and ferment on the high side if possible as well. Good luck and let us know how it turns out

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Yeah I may try over-pitching a little bit. Mr Malty calls for 0.8 pkg of dry yeast, so I'll just put the whole thing in.

Also, starting fermentation at 60 to keep the yeast profile minimal and raising it 2* each day to make sure the yeasties are warmer while they're cleaning up after themselves.

 

[bovineblitz]

I say your chances of this beer peaking 40 days from brewday are slim.

 

[DannPM]

What TG are you looking for? If it is over 8% I say iffy, if under I think you're 100% good to go!

 

[kenlock]

There is no need to bottle condition, unless you are desiring this quality. Keg and carb as normal. When you are ready to travel turn the pressure down low and fill bottles. Carb levels will be good for a couple of weeks.

 

[bwomp313]

I think you should pitch two packets of yeast and make sure it ferments nice and cool. Also, I'd go with at 3 weeks in the primary for this bad boy if I were you. Either way, I don't think it'll be ready by then but hey you never know. Worth a shot.

 

[PseudoChef]

It's perfectly doable. Advice about fermenting warm is downright terrible.

I wish people would begin abandoning the idea that all beers need to age until eternity to be good. Craft a good recipe, pitch a healthy dose of the appropriate amount of yeast cells, and ferment at the correct temperature (cool, more than likely).

Doing those things prevents off-flavors in the first place - those flavors that everyone else appears to have to age out over the course of a month.

Also, I don't think bottle conditioning takes as long as many people want to believe. Sierra Nevada bottle conditions their beers for 1 week and in my experience, they hit the shelves fully carbed.

 

[Piratwolf]

It's perfectly doable. Advice about fermenting warm is downright terrible.

Craft a good recipe, pitch a healthy dose of the appropriate amount of yeast cells, and ferment at the correct temperature (cool, more than likely).

Doing those things prevents off-flavors in the first place ...

Also, I don't think bottle conditioning takes as long as many people want to believe.

This, this, this, and This! :rockin:

How do I know?

My DFH recipePunkin Porter came out at almost 1.09 with a full lb of lactose. It fermented in temp controlled primary @ 65 for a week, then at 70-ish in the closet for two more weeks, bottled ten days when I had the first (official) pouring. It was complex, had fantastic flavors (my best according to most of our beer club), great head retention, and was fully carbed.

I think that with your plan it should be in great shape in 40 days! I look forward to reading about the process & outcome

p.s. Thanks for the recipe... may steal it soon!

 

[Monkey55]

I ageee that it's enough time.

20 days in the primary and 20 days in the bottle should be good.

E

 

[HopIowa]

I'd figure a way to add the peppermint later, maybe a tea at bottling. that peppermint oil is very volitile, and it may not be there when you want it during the long primary. may want to add some extract to taste at bottling time? and you'll have to add some peppermint sticks to the boil just to say you did.

 

[MachineShopBrewing]

It's perfectly doable. Advice about fermenting warm is downright terrible.

I wish people would begin abandoning the idea that all beers need to age until eternity to be good. Craft a good recipe, pitch a healthy dose of the appropriate amount of yeast cells, and ferment at the correct temperature (cool, more than likely).

Doing those things prevents off-flavors in the first place - those flavors that everyone else appears to have to age out over the course of a month.

Also, I don't think bottle conditioning takes as long as many people want to believe. Sierra Nevada bottle conditions their beers for 1 week and in my experience, they hit the shelves fully carbed.

Keep fighting the good fight even though guys like us get flamed and scorned by the establishment intelligentsia.

If all the aging that people do was really necessary, there would not be a single brewpub in business.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Thanks for the input! I'm leaving to get ingredients in just a few minutes. I'll take pictures and post everything along the way (I love the HBT app!) I'm feeling really good about this one :rockin:

In response to the "just keg it" comments, that's not a possibility as I have two kegs (both with amazing beer in them) so bottling is going to be the way to go. I also want to get into the habit of making 3 gallon batches between my kegged batches to bottle so I can brew more without having to wait for a keg to open up. I'd just buy another keg but I'm on a college budget and $40-50 for a keg is the same as 2-3 batches.

As far as the peppermint flavor, I'm going with the late-boil tea addition because I don't really want a ton of aroma smacking my in the face and overwhelming the actual stout flavor. I'm going for a more well-rounded flavor/aroma profile so I'm okay with some peppermint being scrubbed out by fermentation.

 

[MachineShopBrewing]

I also want to get into the habit of making 3 gallon batches between my kegged batches to bottle so I can brew more without having to wait for a keg to open up

Simple solution to this problem. Drink faster...

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Well one is a Marzen that we actually brewed in March and lagered until October in keeping with tradition.... I'm taking my time finishing that one. The other is 7.5% and I have a lot of school work to do.... so I don't have the luxury to getting bombed every night

 

[jfr1111]

It's perfectly doable. Advice about fermenting warm is downright terrible.

I wish people would begin abandoning the idea that all beers need to age until eternity to be good. Craft a good recipe, pitch a healthy dose of the appropriate amount of yeast cells, and ferment at the correct temperature (cool, more than likely).

Doing those things prevents off-flavors in the first place - those flavors that everyone else appears to have to age out over the course of a month.

Also, I don't think bottle conditioning takes as long as many people want to believe. Sierra Nevada bottle conditions their beers for 1 week and in my experience, they hit the shelves fully carbed.

+1. Some yeast do carb faster than others in the bottle though. The American Ale yeast family (wlp001, 1056, US-05) can have a beer carbed up in 7 days since they work well under bottle pressure and don't flocc out too fast. Windsor too. Some other strains, not so much: they flocculate too fast or they don't like the pressure and work slowly. Some English strains even need rousing in the bottle in my experience. Lazy buggers.

If you are careful about your spice amounts, the speciality malts you are using and yeast management, there's no reason you couldn't have this beer ready in 40 days. Yes it's fun to age big beers and see how they change over time, but a carefully planned and executed beer doesn't need to age for a gazillion years to "mellow out" or "get rid of green flavours".

 

[paulster2626]

DO IT - perhaps you'll succeed and you can call it "Christmas Miracle"!!

Also I'll never ferment at a warm temp again after tasting my latest banana beer (the Arctic Amber in my sig). So disappointing.

 

[azscoob]

It's perfectly doable. Advice about fermenting warm is downright terrible.

I wish people would begin abandoning the idea that all beers need to age until eternity to be good. Craft a good recipe, pitch a healthy dose of the appropriate amount of yeast cells, and ferment at the correct temperature (cool, more than likely).

Doing those things prevents off-flavors in the first place - those flavors that everyone else appears to have to age out over the course of a month.

Also, I don't think bottle conditioning takes as long as many people want to believe. Sierra Nevada bottle conditions their beers for 1 week and in my experience, they hit the shelves fully carbed.

Well said, I have been trying to explain to people that beer if brewed with quality ingredients, good technique, and enough yeast shouldn't have off flavors that need to age out because they were never there in the first place.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Just doughed-in. It smells amazing.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

First runnings

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Second runnings and FWH

 

[insubordinateK]

SWMBO and I will be brewing this up tomorrow morning... first morning brew in a looooong time. It'll be weird drinking coffee instead of beer.Check out his Andes Mint Chocolate Stout

So why are we drinking coffee instead of beer?

 

[bengerman]

Just doughed-in. It smells amazing.

good to see the mash is well-guarded.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Final pictures. It's been in the fermentation freezer for a couple hours now. OG was 1.070, putting it at 75% efficiency. Peppermint profile is exactly how I wanted it pre-fermentation.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I'm assuming the majority of primary fermentation has occured. It's been four days since brewing and that's usually how fast Nottingham works for me.

As I don't have a heat belt, I couldn't really do the super-accurate temperature control I was hoping for... it's just too cold in Reno right now. But luckily I was able to keep it at 60* for two days and then turned it up to 62* and even without insulation in my freezer collar it stays constant (even when it's 18* outside and probably 40* in my garage)

Luckily Nottingham works well in the low-60's so they will be able to clean everything up quickly. If I have to I'll do a "D-rest" by bringing it inside for a day... but I really don't think that will ne necessary. It would appear I'm still on schedule :rockin:

 

[Reno_eNVy]

UPDATE:

After cold-crashing for a couple days I kegged that sucker up just now. FG is just where I wanted (and expected) with added lactose: 1.020, putting the ABV at 6.6%

We've decided to keg and bottle instead of bottle conditioning. Here's why:
1) Allowed for an extra week in the bucket which resulted in a clear beer with a nice tight yeast cake on the bottom
2) We won't be needing to take the entire batch to SWMBO's family for Christmas
3) Bottling an entire batch sucks
4) Our kegs of Punkin' ale and Marzen kicked so we have space

I'll post a picture of the first pint when it's all carbed up!

40 days... no problem.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

After hitting it with 30psi at 35°F for 24 hours, I turned it to 8psi at 42°F for another 24 hours and plan to leave it there. It's almost completely carbed and there is only the slightest "green" flavor to it.

There's a great malt backbone, medium-full mouthfeel, the cocoa is slightly bitter (that'll fade) and there is a subdued peppermint aroma with a little peppermint flavor at the end of the sip.

Overall great beer that should be stellar by Christmas.

 

[azscoob]

Good work! And a great looking brew you have there

 

[paulster2626]

It's a Christmas Miracle!!!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

It's a Christmas Miracle!!!

And it only happens if you reeeeaaally believe.