Highest ABV

[stuartmclu]

I brewed an 11% abv Stout 9 months ago using a Whitelabs Scottish Ale yeast. This is near the limit for this yeast. It's tasting great but is rather overwhelming. A few more years in the bottle should calm it down.

 

[Clint]

You need buckets in wardrobes for these types of beers ..

 

[user 23602]

I brewed an 11% abv Stout 9 months ago using a Whitelabs Scottish Ale yeast. This is near the limit for this yeast. It's tasting great but is rather overwhelming. A few more years in the bottle should calm it down.

That sounds good!

 

[kelper]

My Woodforde's Head Cracker kit, a barley wine, came out at 7.3%. But, somehow, I think I'll stick to lower ABV's in future. I think 3-4% is good. I used to like Titbread Wankard when I was a student in Southampton, but it was served 'from the wood'. Mind you, I cut my teeth, aged 17, on M&B Brew XI, specially brewed for The Men Of The Midlands! I often drank Horndean's HSB at lunch and it was a struggle to stay awake during afternoon classes! Courage Director's in the evenings, of course.

 

[DavieC]

You need buckets in wardrobes for these types of beers ..

Hee hee, made me laugh @Clint

 

[stz]

12.4% imperial stout w/ cocao nibs, lactose, vanilla and sour cherries. I gave it some time on bourbon soaked wood chips to emulate BB ageing. It was the proof of concept for the beer in the picture. It is really nice. Can't drink more than two though.

I've just finished brewing two more big stouts today. Both cacao nibs, lactose and vanilla again, except one is getting tonka beans and the other dried and poblano/ancho chillies. These are bit more reasonable with an SG of 84 and an anticipated FG of 23. Count the slight bump from the cacao nibs and some priming sugar and they'll be 7.9-8%

I do brew a lot of session beer as well! If anything I prefer session beer and when it comes to pale ale I'm all about making them refreshing and drinkable. I kegged two sours, one apricot amarillo, other passion fruit and motueka. 34 down to 6? 3.6%? Refreshing for the summer. Ideal pale ale is 3.6-4.4% for me, IPA no higher than 5.5% usually.

 

[Clint]

That's not nearly enough!

 

[MrRook]

12% barleywine and 18% mead.
I used the chico yeast on the barleywine and I've read posts claiming 15% with it.

 

[Lawrence22]

Most of my beers float around the 6% mark, but so far I have brewed from a 3.8% light summer ale to an 8% double IPA. I am looking to do a strong stout soon for Xmas though but will probably still be in single figures%.

 

[Gulpitdarn]

12.4% imperial stout w/ cocao nibs, lactose, vanilla and sour cherries. I gave it some time on bourbon soaked wood chips to emulate BB ageing. It was the proof of concept for the beer in the picture. It is really nice. Can't drink more than two though.

This sounds really nice! I'm just wondering what those sour cherries taste like in a stout. I don't think I'd like the chillies, I had a failure using them in a beer, as much as I love them in curries.

 

[stz]

I'm just wondering what those sour cherries taste like in a stout.

I've done a few dark beers with cherries. A lot depends on what the taste of the fruit product is like in the first place. I've used freeze dried power (good flavour, very tart, clearly cherry, easy to work with, low losses, expensive unless you bulk buy, expect to use at least 200-300g in 20L) dried unsulphured unsweetened whole fruit (plummy, vinous, deep, not very clear cherry flavour, hard to work with, takes up loads of space in the FV, have used 1kg in 20L) sweet and sour cherry aseptic concentrate (at least 3kg in 20L required for the sweet, 1.5-2.5kg in 20L for the sour, tastes like cherry, sour gives more bang for buck) sour cherry puree (dilutes the beer somewhat, at least 3-4kg required in 20L, can be hard to tell that it is cherry).

A lot depends also on how you build your stouts. If you make them dry, full of roast character and bitter them appropriately then you are on a losing streak in regards to other flavours from the get go. If you build them to be dessert beers, balance them towards sweet, keep them full and heavy, let chocolate malt, dark crystal (a touch) be your only nod towards that roast character then you are in a much better position to play with other flavours imo. With the fruit you are also trying to balance sharp/sour/tart which balances against sweet/full/creamy/heavy much better than bitter/thin/dry/astringent.

These things can quickly become an expensive game. I am lucky that a lot of my home brewing is pilot brewing with commercial samples. I've used 900g of that powder in a beer before and it is something like £5.99/100g retail. It costs a bomb. If you call the parent manufacturing company rather than the brand and get the mobile number of the local rep you'll get it down to £18-21/kg or so which makes it a much more realistic ingredient to use. I've paid about £15-18/kg for dried fruit retail as well which isn't that bad, but I'd not use whole fruit again personally as the flavour is ... weird. Puree is typically £5.50/kg retail, £2.20/kg commercially and gives an ... ok result, it isn't punchy enough if you want it to scream cherry at you. Concentrate can be impossible to find retail, generally £3.50/kg commercially. The problem for home brewing is taking a half or full pallet!

On the subject of concentrates/purees. Generally fruit is either very noticeable, especially the sharp ones (passion fruit, lemon, lime, raspberry) in which case puree will often get you there. Or it is quite subtle (apricot, strawberry, blueberry, cherry, mango) in which case concentrates are often the only way to get the flavour to punch you in the face. When I say concentrates I mean fruit puree with water removed. Commercially you get into this whole weird world of concentrates where the aroma has been compromised during processing, removed, or added back, or is available separately as an aroma/ester/distillate. This is why I say a lot depends on what the fruit component tastes like in the first place. Some are crap.

 

[stz]

I don't think I'd like the chillies, I had a failure using them in a beer, as much as I love them in curries.

Forgot to ask ... why didn't you get on with the chillies? I've done a couple of chilli beers and they've been ... ok? The problem is they've been an afterthought. Here though I've a lot of complimentary flavours and the peppers themselves are almost without heat. By themselves they taste less like chilli and more like a complex fruit. Smoky, fruity, hints of strawberry and cherry, plummy and sweet with only a hint of heat. I'm hoping to balance the fruit forward flavours of them against the dark chocolate notes in the stout and cacao with the sweetness of the malts, lactose and vanilla with only background hints of heat/spice.

 

[Gulpitdarn]

... blimey! Interesting read, you know your stuff about cherries, thanks for that long reply. Don't think I'll be making any though, I'm not that particularly fond of cherries although a hint of them is nice.

About the chillies.... I guess I've just generally blamed my first and only try in having used them, they were a bit too strong and overpowering. I should really try other varieties and in lesser quantities. Next time maybe.

 

[user 23602]

12.4% imperial stout w/ cocao nibs, lactose, vanilla and sour cherries. I gave it some time on bourbon soaked wood chips to emulate BB ageing. It was the proof of concept for the beer in the picture. It is really nice. Can't drink more than two though.

I've just finished brewing two more big stouts today. Both cacao nibs, lactose and vanilla again, except one is getting tonka beans and the other dried and poblano/ancho chillies. These are bit more reasonable with an SG of 84 and an anticipated FG of 23. Count the slight bump from the cacao nibs and some priming sugar and they'll be 7.9-8%

I do brew a lot of session beer as well! If anything I prefer session beer and when it comes to pale ale I'm all about making them refreshing and drinkable. I kegged two sours, one apricot amarillo, other passion fruit and motueka. 34 down to 6? 3.6%? Refreshing for the summer. Ideal pale ale is 3.6-4.4% for me, IPA no higher than 5.5% usually.

I'm jealous of your work sir!

 

[GerritT]

I've been having this battle with myself, I want to make more good tasting sessionable beers, but at the same time I've been working to improve efficiency, so every batch gets a bit more efficient and ends up being slightly stronger.

Just add more water.

 

[GerritT]

Just checked my inventory and there should be 100 grams of Citra flowers in the back of the fridge, bbd Oct '19. Looks like an IIPA is coming up :)

 

[Zephyr259]

18% Mead (13% for the actually drinkable ones), 10.5% Braggot, 9.3% Belgian Dark Strong and 8.1% barleywine (only one without a simple sugar boosting the abv).

 

[AlDaviz]

Glenfarclas 105 cask strength imperial stout 9.6%
I added oak chunks that had been aged in 350ml of the above whisky, then added for 2x weeks in secondary before bottling.
It was 9.6% before I added the little whisky

 

[Gerryjo]

My Woodforde's Head Cracker kit, a barley wine, came out at 7.3%. But, somehow, I think I'll stick to lower ABV's in future. I think 3-4% is good. I used to like Titbread Wankard when I was a student in Southampton, but it was served 'from the wood'. Mind you, I cut my teeth, aged 17, on M&B Brew XI, specially brewed for The Men Of The Midlands! I often drank Horndean's HSB at lunch and it was a struggle to stay awake during afternoon classes! Courage Director's in the evenings, of course.

Is there a progression in the names of beers you have drank
TITbread WANKard,HORNdean???

 

[prog99]

12% imperial stout is pretty easy to do. Thats with us05 too. I don't quite have the mashing capacity so bump things up with dme to reach my target og.
Finished with maturation on vanilla. Absolutely brilliant stuff and really easy to make. The dark colour, high alcohol and vanilla masks all sorts of cockups!