Collaboration BigBatch #5: Oak Barrel Project: This Saturday

[Bill Lawrence]

Well as noted I can't play but I see a couple other things you guys might think about. First of all, I would caution you not to use yeast that has fermented a 1.074 beer, that yeast is a bit beat up and you are going to ask it to ferment a very big beer. I would recommend starting with new yeast and grow a very big starter (what I like to do is brew an Abbey Single to get a really big yeast cake then go for the heavy stuff). Secondly, you really don't want to try and ferment a Belgian Strong at 60 degrees. Most of the abbey strains will do poorly until you get up to about 65F or so (and they might just stall out causing an under attenuation problem). On the other hand of course, if you let it get too hot you'll end up with a phenolic soup which will produce hangovers like you won't believe (try judging Belgians at the Bluebonnet, you'll see what I mean). Most brewing but especially Belgian brewing is all about fermentation control.

By the way, I am surprised there is not Special B in your formulation, are you not going for the "dried fruit" flavor in the beer? I look at Belgian Strong Dark as basicly a Belgian Dubbel on steroids so I am looking for a rummy, dried fruit, plumb/raisin flavor. Depending on exactly what you mean by "invert sugar" I don't see how you will get that with the grist you propose. The recipe I am currently using for my Dubbel has Special B, Dark liquid Belgian candi sugar and I actually add some raisins, I would think that for a Strong Dark you would want all that in spades. If I make it over to the brewday I'll try to remember to bring a very special abbey brewed beer which will cause you to want to give up sex and join a monistary plus it should give you some inspiration.

[TheMacheteMasher]

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Shares are closed for this project. Thanks for working with me to realize this dream!

Yeast:
After the NTHBA club meeting last night I prepared an all grain hopped starter. The grain bill was a scaled down version the recipe at full gravity then diluted for the yeast stater. I wanted to test for color and gauge efficiency. The batch will be fermented with two Abbey Strands from White Labs WLP540 and WLP530. The blend should provide well balanced fruitiness. Fermentation will start in the low 60 and ramp up.

Grist Change:
Thanks for your comments on the grist. The grain bill will be adjusted for color using very little Carafa II and 2% Special B. We are keeping the Secondary grist the same.

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[TheMacheteMasher]

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Produced volume doubling starter wort last night. The primary grist with the addition of Special B is on the left. The secondary with a dark sugar addition is on the right. The color will thin post fermentation but is otherwise looking good. Things are chugging along with a blow off tube. We will be set to ferment batch with no shortage of yeast.



On Saturday we will share the following roles so that things run smoothly. Working together we should be able to brew efficiently.

Prop Directors: Equipment setup & Take Down
Cereal Crusher: Mill the Grains (Chuck's Motorized Monster Mill)
Water Technician: Prep & Fill the mash tun/Lauter Tun
Agitator: Stir in the mash
Dragon Flies: Skim protein from the mash
Ice Skaters: Two Runners for Bulk Ice @ 30 to Flame Out
-- large grey trash can needed
Doctor Suds: Prep & Sanitize 4 Sanke Fermentors (Orlando's CIP -clean in place system)
Lab Mouse: Oxygen & Yeast Pitcher
Flowmaster: Fermentation Filler
Close Out Crew: Take Down & Clean Up
Flowmaster: Fermentation Fill and Transport
Ridding Buddy: Transport to controlled environment

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[BonsaiBrewa]

I'm up for just about any of the helping. I'll go ahead a raise my hand for the grinding and maybe some agitating if others' arms are getting tired.

[RyanD]

So what OG did we end up with? I know were around 1.078 pre-boil. I was sad to have to leave a little before we were done but I really had a blast helping out.

Thank you Barrett for organizing this and pulling it all together!

I think I can make it out now for October 6th, I'll just be late if we get together early, I can probably be somewhere by noonish.

[TheMacheteMasher]

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The brewday was a success on Saturday. We produced 1.081 wort. The 2 gallons of kettle dregs & hop turb pulled off at the end resulted in 1/2 gallon. The small batch is starting to drop clear. The larger fermentations are starting to slow. The barrel is ready for beer. The staves swelled and the seams sealed within 4 hours. I've purchased the sugar in preparation for the secondary brew.



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