Long time follower, time to contribute

[Nate Wyrick]

Hello HomeBrewTalk community! I've been following this forum for a long while now, learning a lot and enjoying the conversations along the way.

First off, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this great body of knowledge!

Secondly, I want to start contributing IMMEDIATELY and have a great upcoming project to share with you guys.

Quick backstory: I'm a second generation home brewer and have gone through the whole spectrum of brews. For the last few years I've been working on my sour series, nearly all of which are barrel aged.

The project: I'm going to try and brew the highest ABV sour I possibly can. The goal is a final yield of 20% ABV fruited sour beer, or at least as high ABV I can achieve. I've put a good bit of thought into the recipe and the process, I'll share those tomorrow! Any thoughts or feedback on the project would be awesome!

 

[nDub]

Look forward to seeing that.

Welcome to your HBT membership!

 

[Nate Wyrick]

nDub, thanks for the warm welcome!

Update: just looking at my BeerSmith recipes that I've previously used and am deciding between the Flanders Red and the Belgian Strong (soured). With the high ABV, I'm not sure how the yeast is really going to survive or mutate, so I think I'll go with a high gravity trappist yeast, pitch a champagne (or similar wine yeast) after that burns out, and finish with the bugs. I'm hoping this gives me some of the Belgian character, while still achieving the massive ABV I want. I'm not sure how the bugs are going to take the higher alcohol levels, so I think I will pitch the them either at the same time as the wine yeast, or just slightly afterwards.

Recipe:

RO water, built to Belgian style requirements (TBD)
Big ass yeast starter per online calculator (TBD)

6lb 0oz Belgian Pilsner
4lb 0oz 2-row
1lb 4oz Munich Malt
2lb light DME

Old ass hops from the freezer - 1oz at 30 minutes

Boil 120 minutes. 70% efficiency. Target OG 1.150 @ 2.5 gallons post-boil yield.

1 pkg Trappist Yeast (TBD)
1 pkg High Gravity Wine Yeast (TBD)
1 pkg Belgian Sour Mix 1 + sour slurry from last batch + whatever dregs of bottles I have laying around

Fermenting schedule: 3 weeks in a glass carboy - oak barrel for 4 months - bottle and shelf for 3 months - enjoy.


Notes: I tossed around the idea of adding more body to this, knowing there is a high risk of an intolerable booziness - however, I think extra aging in the barrel (and increased lactic acid development) should hide a lot of the alcohol. I may throw in some lactic acid to the mash - although I'm a bit morally opposed to this method of creating sours.

Anyone have any thoughts on adding fruit to this one? I have cherries and pomegranates ready for a batch - but I'm leaning more along the lines of a stone fruit, or maybe just leaving the fruit out.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated as well!

 

[jcav]

Welcome and good luck with the beer!

John

 

[MaxStout]

Welcome to the forum, from Minnesota! I don't have any ideas for you on the fruit additions, but let us know what you end up doing. I'm curious to hear about this beer as it progresses. Sounds like it will be some tasty rocket fuel!

 

[Nate Wyrick]

Happy New Year - Happy Brew Year!

Well I'm glad this break came around and gave me an opportunity to brew up this monster. In fact, it was a double brew day with a Belgian Wit being brewed first and the 20%'er being brewed last. Here's the final recipe.

------------------------------------

RO water, no salt additions
2 liter yeast starter

6lb 0oz Belgian Pilsner
4lb 0oz 2-row
1lb 4oz Munich Malt
2lb Amber DME

0.5oz Huell Melon @ 30
0.5oz Huell Melon @ 15
0.5oz Northern Brewer @ 15

Boil 3.5 hours, measured OG 1.142 @ 2.5 gallons post-boil yield.

1 pkg Wyeast Trappist 3787 Yeast, currently fermenting with temperature control (BrewJacket) at 66degF.

------------------------------------

I was slightly under my target OG, which is probably from several factors. I forgot my computer (read: intentionally left it at work over the holidays) so I didn't have my Brew'n Water spreadsheets for salt additions. I decided just to raw-dog it and go plain RO water. Also, I assume that since this is such a high gravity beer, any normal inefficiencies are just exacerbated.

Anyhow, I've got the 2.5 gallons of 1.142 wort in my BrewJacket set at 66 degrees, using a blow-off tube. The BrewJacket has pretty much been on non-stop since the fermentation started, likely due to the yeast activity created a considerable amount of heat.

The plan forward is to let this ferment out, check gravity, add wine yeast (if required) to get the target FG to around 1.010. Put in a barrel and let the sour bacteria bring it sub 1.000. That should get me to the upper teens (18-19%). It's not the 20% I originally planned, but I have opportunity still to reach my target by adding a little sugar, or with a fruit addition.

 

[passedpawn]

Hey Nate, you're probably not going to draw much attention to your recipe and related posts here in the Intro forum. You should re-post that in the Brewing areas.

 

[ncbrewer]

I'm anxious to see how this turns out. Welcome.