Abstract Bastage to Secondary

Moved the ale to secondary, dry-hopped it and re-pitched with High Gravity yeast. As I moved it, I took a sample for gravity measurement. The intermediate stage came out as follows:

Seconday gravity: 1.030
Adjustment for 74 degree wort: + 0.001
Adjusted starting gravity: 1.031
Alcohol content at secondary: 9.28%

Wowza.. That's pretty high already. Seems too high for a week. Wonder what the secondary with more yeast is going to do to it.

Starting gravity

I just aerated the fermenter and added the British Ale yeast.

Starting gravity: 1.100
Adjustment for 77 degree wort: + 0.002
Adjusted starting gravity: 1.102

The wort was really thick with all those sugars. Made it hard to pre-filter.

One more note on the recipe. Since i made it up based on a full grain recipe, I had 2-row in there. It wasn't until i had mixed my steeping grains that I realized that 2-row isn't really meant for steeping. We'll see if that turns out to be a problem.

Abstract Bastage Ale

Ok, this is an experiment i'm looking forward to. I've conjured up the recipe by combining several recipes for Arrogant Bastard Ale, Double Bastard Ale and various Barley wine to create a extract based recipe for a nice, strong ale.

Ingredients:
Coopers Light Malt Extract -- 10#
Wheat DME -- 1#
Dark Brown Sugar -- 1# 2#
DME -- 1# (didn't have enough brown sugar)

2-Row -- 1#
Crystal 40L -- 1#
Dark Munich Malt -- 0.75#
Special B -- 0.25#
Biscuit -- 0.25#
Aromatic -- 0.25#

Magnum (Bittering - 60 min.) -- 1 oz.
Columbus (Bittering - 50 min.) -- 0.5 oz.
Cascade (Flavoring - 60 min.) -- 0.5 oz.
Irish Moss (Clear - 15 min.) -- 2 tbsp
Cascade (Dry Hop) -- 1.5 oz.

White Labs British Ale yeast
White Labs High Gravity Ale yeast

Procedure (planned):

1. Steep the grains in 2 gallons for 30 minutes


2. Add extract, DME and sugar, bring to boil


3. Begin 90 minute boil


4. Add Magnum w/ 60 minutes remaining


5. Add Columbus w/ 50 minutes remaining


6. Add Cascade w/ 30 minutes remaining


7. Add Irish Moss w/ 15 minutes remaining


8. Let cool, then aerate and pitch with British Ale yeast


9. 4-5 days later, move to secondary fermenter and re-pitch with High Gravity Ale yeast


10. 2 weeks later move to keg and refrigerate, check once a week to see how it develops

Avery Hog Heaven

So, I've been talking about making a barleywine style ale for a while. That desire has been based mostly on liking the process required. I finally decided to go out and try a barley wine to make sure i'd like the result.

I picked up Hog Heaven from Avery. Fantastic brew, reminds me of Double Bastard. So that affirms my plans for the double bastard clone.

IPA again, Abstract Bastage next

After the Red, I went back for another IPA. Makes me hoppy.

But now i'm prepping for a bit of a stronger ale. No, not doing a barley wine yet after all. I want something in a keg a bit faster. So i'm doing something that's inspired by Stone Double Bastard, a nice rich, strong English Ale. Pulling my favorite bits from Double Bastard and Arrogant Bastard recipes and making it up as I go along. We'll see how that serves me.