Bigfoot Barleywine
6-12-2010
6# Gold Liquid Malt Extract (LME)
6# Amber LME
8 oz. Carapils Specialty grains
8 oz. Caramel 40L Specialty grains
(Steeped 30 minutes then rinsed with cold tap water)
1 oz Chinook hops (55 min)
0.5 oz. Chinook (28 min)
0.5 oz. Centennial hops(15 min)
0.5 oz. Centennial (2 min)
2 oz. Cascade hops (2 min)
American Ale Activator Wyeast ACT1056
Water bath to chill brew pots (3 small pots, because big pots don't fit under our big ass microwave). Filled to 5 gal mark with cold, non-sterile tap water (well water). Stirred with paddle for 7 minutes to oxygenate. Will age 1 year. Our tap water is generally good for drinking, so I wanted to try using it straight up.
July 5th:
Racked into secondary bucket. Pitched 1 packet of dry Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast. Did not rehydrate yeast. Did not stir in. Included minimal amount of yeast dregs from the primary. Appearance is still cloudy and somewhat darkish.
Brew 2:
“Liquid Sex” Chocolate Mead
6-13-2010
Day 1:
20-22# Walgreen's Honey
2# Hershey Cocoa Powder
1 tbsp Yeast Nutrient
1 packet Lalvin D-47
Filled to 6 gal with cold well water, from the tap.
Yeast was hydrated and started with a couple tablespoons of honey in a mug. Cocoa was dissolved in slightly warm water, broken up, and brought to a boil over low-medium heat, with frequent stirring. This was quite a lot of cocoa- I wonder if it will ever mellow out. Plan to age for 2 years, which is why I am brewing the extra gallon. I am going to add 2# of honey in the near future.
Day 2:
~1 tsp Yeast nutrient dissolved in a small amount of hot water
Opened up the fermenter and stirred for about 5 minutes to give the yeast some more oxygen. Then I poured in the nutrient and stirred for another minute. This degassed the must and incorporated more oxygen for the yeast, which are bubbling faster already.
Day 3:
~1 tsp Yeast Nutrient dissolved in a small amount of hot water
Aerated then stirred in the nutrient, as before. I licked my stir paddle. The taste was highly chocolatey. Very “Hershey's” flavor. Very sweet, lots of honey.
Day 4: Stirred.
June 30th: Added 2# honey and stirred well. Still a little bubbly, but definitely not as active. It looks like it will ferment (I was worried that the yeast may have already hit its alcohol tolerance). Taste is still good. Chocolate is huge.
The next three brews have no pictures, but here they are anyway. Brew 3:
Ginger + Star Anise Mead
6-20-2010
>1 gal batch
3# honey
½ packet 71B Yeast
Half star anise
Small piece of ginger cut into smallish bits
Ginger and star anise were covered in almost boiling water, which was allowed to cool. Then honey and water was added and shaken.
Day 3: Swirled in the bottle.
Brew 4:
Base Mead
6-20-2010
>1 gal batch
3# Honey
½ packet 71 B Yeast
The same process as the Ginger + Star Anise Mead, minus the hot water and spices. I plan to rack this onto blueberries and put in a few drops of blueberry extract.
Day 3: Swirled in the bottle.
Brew 5:
Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
6-20-2010
6 gallons
9.3# Dark Liquid Malt Extract
1# Victory (steeped 30 min)
1# Chocolate Malt (steeped 30 min)
10 cups Quick Oats (steeped 30 minutes, twice)
1 oz Goldings Hops (52 min)
.7 oz Goldings (28 min)
Tiny pinch of Irish moss
.3 oz Goldings (flamout)
Irish Ale Yeast. Wyeast 1056
This was a fuck up (edit: nah, not completely). Hopefully it will survive. It was in the microbial-danger-zone for like an hour because my wort wouldn't cool fast enough. So I stuck water bottles filled with ice in it, after spraying them with Oust. I pitched the yeast while the wort was still hot/warm and may have killed the yeast.
Day 3:
The yeast is alive, but probably produced off flavors due to the high heat. Bubbling is fine. Formed a strong tan-deer-brown head. Appears chocolate colored. Stirred for a few minutes. Taste was bitter chocolate and lots of coffee. I moved the brew bucket into a pot of water to help lower/regulate the temperature.
Day 4:
-yip
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