Mash Tun Maxout IIIPA / Yule Fuel

[Kyle]

For 10 gallons.

29# 2-row
10.75# Vienna
0.25# Melanoidin Malt

Mash 13.5 gal at 151F, 90 min
Sparge 1: 11.5 gal at 170F 15 min
Sparge 2: 11.5 gal at 170F 15 min

Boil first runnings down to 4.5 gal to kettle carmelize.
Keep very strong boil and continue adding runnings as space in kettle becomes available.
Once total volume is 14 gallons, proceed to adding hops:

6 oz   Chinook (Pellets, 12.8 %AA) boiled 120min
4 oz   Amarillo® (Pellets, 8.9 %AA) boiled 15min
4 oz   Centennial (Pellets, 10.00 %AA) boiled 15 min
2oz   Amarillo boiled 1 min.
   
Yeast :    Fermentis US-05 x 4

DryHop   2oz Cascade, 1oz Chinook, 1oz Amarillo

[JohnQ]

Holy Crap Kyle,
you just going to burn it for heat, or shut off the electric heat in there?

JQ

[Richard]

+1 / Like - hard to see it being ready for xmas day though, unfortunately.

[Kyle]

This is really more like a barley wine / IIIPA.

Ended up yielding 10.5 gallons at O.G. of 1086 from a 6 hour boil
Split into two carboys, will do a different dry-hop combination in each.

[Kyle]

Fermentation is done, dry-hopped today as follows:

Carboy 1: 2oz Chinook + 1.5oz Amarillo
Carboy2: 1.5oz Amarillo + 2oz Centennial

[Brian_S]

Ok, this brings up an interesting question I've got (sorry for the thread jack).  With this much grain why did the gravity come in so low? I notice the same issues with my high grav. brews, the efficiency drops off dramatically.

I can see that perhaps maxing out your tun might do this but I cut my volume back to a 5 gallon batch and still see the drop.

Any insight?

B

[Richard]

Sparge more, preferably multiple times. Seems to help.

[Chris Craig]

Yeah.  Richard's right.  The more grain, the more sparging required to rinse the sugars out of the mash.  The problem with that is Kyle's 6 hour boil.  Most people will just adjust their process for a lower efficiency.  However, this could mean you need a larger mash tun to fit all the grain in.

[Richard]

Yup - this is where DME or just plain old sucrose can come in real handy. I tend to boost my big IPA's with some sucrose so they get more ABV without having to boil (and all the caramelisation/maillard that comes with the latter). Adds alcohol without messing with the flavour profile too much. Of course many like the fuller-bodied flavour from the mega-boil, but after about 3 hours you're always going to get that barleywine flavour.

[Kyle]

yeah, this is really a barleywine Tri-PA hybrid at this point. With a lot of grain, I need to sparge twice to get good efficiency since the amount of sugars stored after the first sparge (read: rinse) is still significant due to there being less sparge water than I'd normally use, as the MLT was full to the brim as it was.

[Kyle]

I've got 2oz of medium toast American oak chips sitting in a 375mL of Grant's whiskey that will be ready to add to 5 gallons of the beer in a few days. According to the blending calculator, the beer will be 10.5% abv.
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/blending.asp

[Richard]

That's rather a lot of both oak and whisky. I used 1oz oak with 4oz whisky and it was really overpowering for about a month.

[Kyle]

hmm, good to know, I've used 4oz of oak for 5 gallons in the past, which was too much, 2-3 oz has worked for me previously, however, I have not steeped the oak in booze previously (steamed cubes instead.) I'll proceed with caution, adding a smaller amount to start

[JohnQ]

The BB Clone in the barrel was primed with 700 ml of Talisker over 40 gallons, and was not overpowering, but quite noticeable.  There was of course, also whatever was still in the wood after all that time filled with Glen Breton, so not a direct correlation.
JQ

[Chris Craig]

The BB Clone in the barrel was primed with 700 ml of Talisker over 40 gallons, and was not overpowering, but quite noticeable.  There was of course, also whatever was still in the wood after all that time filled with Glen Breton, so not a direct correlation.
JQ

I disagree John.  It was a bit much, at least for my taste .  The Winter Warmer is spot on though