Highest ABV

[user 23602]

… That you have personally brewed?

Only reason I ask is I love my Imperial Stouts, And I'm looking at brewing an Imperial Cognac Stout and somehow boosting it 15-16% ABV!

But come on, let me know what you've done, I'm interested.

My current highest is my wonderfully named Peanut Butter Coffee Chocolate Porter at 7.8% ABV.

 

[pms67]

… That you have personally brewed?

Only reason I ask is I love my Imperial Stouts, And I'm looking at brewing an Imperial Cognac Stout and somehow boosting it 15-16% ABV!

But come on, let me know what you've done, I'm interested.

My current highest is my wonderfully named Peanut Butter Coffee Chocolate Porter at 7.8% ABV.

I made a complete **** of my last brew, ended up with 8 bottles of a Simcoe beer around 9%
They have sat at 21 degrees for a week and are now sitting at 5 degrees , they will probably take a wee while to condition properly?
Sounds an interesting brew you have made!

 

[jceg316]

I miscalculated some grains once making a DIPA and that beer came out 13%. Was a bit rich and undrinkable. I've recently made a few "barrel aged" imp stouts between 8.5%-10.5%. There is a thread on here where a forumite recently made a ~16% imperial stout.

 

[user 23602]

I made a complete a**e of my last brew, ended up with 8 bottles of a Simcoe beer around 9%
They have sat at 21 degrees for a week and are now sitting at 5 degrees , they will probably take a wee while to condition properly?
Sounds an interesting brew you have made!

I wouldn't mind a 9% Simcoe beer. The PBCCP is conditioning at the moment, I'm looking forward to giving it a go, but it seems the kit is a minimum of 3 months before drinking. I will need patience.

I miscalculated some grains once making a DIPA and that beer came out 13%. Was a bit rich and undrinkable. I've recently made a few "barrel aged" imp stouts between 8.5%-10.5%. There is a thread on here where a forumite recently made a ~16% imperial stout.

My focus will soon move towards Barrel Aged Imperial Stouts as I simply can't get enough of them and I genuinely love what you can do with Stouts in terms of pastry dessert styles. Ideally before the end of the year, I would like to move away from the Extract Kits and actually do things myself. The DIPA sounds fun though!

 

[jceg316]

My focus will soon move towards Barrel Aged Imperial Stouts as I simply can't get enough of them and I genuinely love what you can do with Stouts in terms of pastry dessert styles. Ideally before the end of the year, I would like to move away from the Extract Kits and actually do things myself. The DIPA sounds fun though!

It definitely brings more character to the beer and there's plenty to experiment with. I've tried woodchips and oak cubes, tbh I couldn't really tell a difference between the two although both batches are still considered "young" so there may still be some development going on.

Do you follow Don't Drink Beer on Facebook or Twitter at all?

 

[Sadfield]

Barleywine, Stouts and Belgians in the 10-11% range.

If you haven't already, have a look at this @strange-steve excellent thread. Going insanely big offers up some challenges.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/insanely-big-imperial-stout.81710/

 

[user 23602]

Do you follow Don't Drink Beer on Facebook or Twitter at all?

I try to avoid using either. What is it sorry?

If you haven't already, have a look at this @strange-steve excellent thread. Going insanely big offers up some challenges. https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/insanely-big-imperial-stout.81710/

Nope. But I will now.

 

[GerritT]

Mead at around 11%, tripel at around 8-ish%. Both drinkable, but not my favourites.

 

[user 23602]

Mead at around 11%, tripel at around 8-ish%. Both drinkable, but not my favourites.

I could do with some Tripels in my life.

 

[jceg316]

I try to avoid using either. What is it sorry?

He's a guy, I think based in California, who loves his imperial beers: barleywines, stouts etc and has some great memes about this sort of thing.

 

[Ghillie]

… That you have personally brewed?

Only reason I ask is I love my Imperial Stouts, And I'm looking at brewing an Imperial Cognac Stout and somehow boosting it 15-16% ABV!

But come on, let me know what you've done, I'm interested.

My current highest is my wonderfully named Peanut Butter Coffee Chocolate Porter at 7.8% ABV.

9% DIPA.

What are you brewing with?

 

[user 23602]

9% DIPA.

What are you brewing with?

Use Malt Extract Kits entirely. Then I just try my best to work out what I can use to shoot up the ABV % and make it denser. Nothing exciting I know, but desperately trying to find something that suits me. Considering chucking in a bottle of Brandy or Cognac into the next one to see what happens.

 

[Ghillie]

Use Malt Extract Kits entirely. Then I just try my best to work out what I can use to shoot up the ABV % and make it denser. Nothing exciting I know, but desperately trying to find something that suits me. Considering chucking in a bottle of Brandy or Cognac into the next one to see what happens.

Yeah guess it all depends on what your end game is. If you just want a high ABV drink and nothing more, then I guess you could dump in some high ABV booze... Not really beer, but high alcohol nonetheless.

You'll be hard pushed to break the 12% ABV mark though, just with beer yeast. There are means of going above, I've heard of folk starting with a suitable pitch of beer yeast of their choosing and then finishing up with champagne yeast. The latter is clean, neutral, tolerates a higher alcohol content and tends to finish dry which ultimately drives your ABV up.

 

[user 23602]

Yeah guess it all depends on what your end game is. If you just want a high ABV drink and nothing more, then I guess you could dump in some high ABV booze... Not really beer, but high alcohol nonetheless.

Ideally, I just want a Bourbon/Brandy tasting boozy Impy that is enjoyable and doable with Extract Kits as I cannot move to BYIB or AG until around Christmas.

 

[Clint]

Nothing much over 7% but mainly 4/5 as I get ****** off my head too quickly.
Mrs Clint instructed me to add...."and make a complete nuisance of myself."

 

[user 23602]

Nothing much over 7% but mainly 4/5 as I get ****** off my head too quickly.

Cheaper for you! Good Summer session beers then @Clint

 

[Clint]

Yeah I'd sooner half a few than two...but I do like to try other stuff. I was thinking of doing a ten litre or less impy stout for Christmas.

 

[jceg316]

Nothing much over 7% but mainly 4/5 as I get ****** off my head too quickly.
Mrs Clint instructed me to add...."and make a complete nuisance of myself."

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.

 

[user 23602]

Yeah I'd sooner half a few than two...but I do like to try other stuff. I was thinking of doing a ten litre or less impy stout for Christmas.

I'm going for a 23% Christmas Pudding Wine for Xmas. Alongside some Impys too of course.

 

[Clint]

I've settled on around 68/70 for my efficiency...it was something that was bothering me but I can't be bothered about pence I think consistency is worth more effort.