Anyone want a whiskey barrel?

[Saruman (Reuben Gray)]

Anyone else starting to think Saruman has forgotten? 

Not forgotten as such, I wasn't able to brew in the end.

If I brew tomorrow,  is it too late?

[imark]

Hi imark. Was wonderin re temperature. Does anyone esle ferment a little warmer and is notty likely to add some fruitiness?

There's the trade off between the flavour v attention to consider. Notty has a pretty good attenuation. My concern at the moment is that it'll attenuate down too dry for the style. Yours looks good though.

[Dodge]

Anyone else starting to think Saruman has forgotten? 

Not forgotten as such, I wasn't able to brew in the end.

If I brew tomorrow,  is it too late?

Hi Saruman. It's not too late. I just brewed yesterday

[Dodge]

The little thing to remember with big beers is that if you ferment too warm it causes the yeast to produce more fusel alcohols. This will make the beer have a more solventy flavour. That's why it's better to start low and allow the beer to warm say from 18/19c over a couple of days to about 21/22 by the end of the week. Again allowing the beer to ferment fully.

[brenmurph]

The little thing to remember with big beers is that if you ferment too warm it causes the yeast to produce more fusel alcohols. This will make the beer have a more solventy flavour. That's why it's better to start low and allow the beer to warm say from 18/19c over a couple of days to about 21/22 by the end of the week. Again allowing the beer to ferment fully.

so after a week at 18c would it b beneficial to secondary at 20 r 21?

[Dodge]

Yes that's fine. No problem there. The yeast would of done nearly all it's work by then. Having it a little higher just ensures that the beer ferments out. Dont want to have a beer that didn't ferment out and end up too sweet. I think this is one of the key areas in brewing big beers. Smaller beers you wouldn't need to worry since the yeast wouldn't be working as hard

[brenmurph]

its down to 1026 at the moment its not very sweet so fermenting well id say, still a little action goin on so will go lower. Beersmith predicts 1020 giving 8.2%, it may go a littler lower.

my earlier querie re frutyness was would higher tem give more fruit flavour or aroma as beersmith description suggests Imperial stout.

bjcp style:
An intensely flavored, big, dark ale. Roasty, fruity, and bittersweet, with a noticeable alcohol presence. Dark fruit flavors meld with roasty, burnt, or almost tarlike sensations.

im gettin roasty, bittersweet and alcohol and a hint of tarlike (very rich) but no fruit. based on our ingredients what should produce the fruit hint? Yeast type or yeast temp I thought most likely?

[imark]

I don't expect much fruitiness from my nottingham yeast. I had hoped to use Irish Ale yeast but I'd forgotten I gave it away so reverted to notty I had to hand.

Some of the fruitiness might come during the barrel conditioning. No?

[Dodge]

I always use liquid yeast so using Notty  was only my second time. We may not get any fruitiness with our recipe. With regards to fermentation temp, you may of got some other notes if you fermented warmer. That's the fun with homebrewing

I really think that the barrel will add its only magic to our brews.

[brenmurph]

ye great I'm happy so my brew seems on track and ready for 3 weeks time hopefully we can taste them all 

[Saruman (Reuben Gray)]

Balls, haven't been keeping an eye on my grain. Don't have the darker malts I need.
I might get to brew next weekend.

[imark]

What's the process for the beer when it comes time to bottle up? Is it a case of force carbing?

[imark]

I'm getting way ahead of myself talking about the bottling but I did see this on The Mad Fermentationst Blog. It might be useful come the time.

A bigger issue than the lack of bottling yeast (although that may be part of the story) is the lower residual/dissolved carbonation in barrel-aged beers. Priming calculators assume that there is already a fair amount of CO2 in a beer even before priming (~.8 volumes, depending on the temperature). In the case of barrel aged beers that amount is often much lower, say .4 volumes. As a result we over-prime barrel-aged beers targeting a level of carbonation about .4 volumes higher than we actually want. You probably want CO2 in the low-2s for a big beer like that, but you'll need to add enough sugar for mid-2s to get there. Pro-brewers have meters that allow them to measure the amount of CO2 in a fermented beer, and many will force in some carbonation to get the young beer part way before getting the last bit from bottle conditioning.

It doesn't take much yeast to adequately repitch, just a gram or two in five gallons, rehydrated in warm/sterile water, and then stirred in with the priming sugar. Luckily wine yeast isn't good at fermenting complex sugars, so as long as primary fermentation finished as a result of nothing for the ale yeast to eat and not too much alcohol, you'll be fine.

[CARA]

After a week G now 1.020

[imark]

Basic Brewing podcast on a barrel project. Interesting debate on bottling. http://traffic.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbr05-02-13andybarrelfollow.mp3