What's the most extreme beer you've ever made?

[TheOsprey]

What was the recipe? And did it work?

I was thinking about bread, and the time I made a sourdough loaf with 100% wholemeal flour (Shipton Mill 3 malts and sunflower) and it came out very heavy but so tasty. Then afterwards I found out you're only supposed to use it for like 20% of your flour...

Best tasting one I've made, not bad for a cock up.

So uh, anyway, beer...

 

[Drunkula]

When I read the title I thought I've never done anything extreme, really. Then I looked at my recipe log and I suppose some people might think some is. Ok, three and it's up to you if any qualify.

* Elderflower wheat with CML Kristalweizen fermented at 39c and it's absolutely stonking. That yeast has zero problems at that temp.

* 1.5kg of Fruit n Fibre in a beer, which was 46% of the grain bill. You could taste a really good beer in the background and then.... yihhhh - iron filings. FnF is fericiously ferrically fortified. About a day after I'd put it on to brew, I heard John Palmer on a podcast saying avoid fortified grains as they cause problems. He's right.

* Bird Seed Beer - Beer made with a bag of bird feed mix from Poundland. I was sniggering like hell when I saw it in the shop and did it partially to troll the forum. It was a split with CML Kristalweizen and Belgian and I expected it to be bloody rubbish and when it wasn't that made it even funnier for me. The weizen yeast made it very, very much like a lager and you could drink it by the gallon. My first use of a Belgian yeast and it's so, so different. Mad layers of flavour that were almost too much for me. First glug and I thought uryuhhrlll - no likey! Then half way down the pint and I thought it's not completely horrible. By the time I opened the second bottle I was ready and it all started to click - it was like the beer was teaching me something. As an experiment it did succseed.

That beer was brewed at 19.5c and I can't imagine what the Belgian's going to taste like in the 9 way split of yeasts brewed at 35c experiment coming next. It's going to be some powerful ju-ju. I should be testing the new CML weissen yeast as part of that which apparently can go hot but isn't a kveik.

 

[TheOsprey]

When I read the title I thought I've never done anything extreme, really. Then I looked at my recipe log and I suppose some people might think some is. Ok, three and it's up to you if any qualify.

* Elderflower wheat with CML Kristalweizen fermented at 39c and it's absolutely stonking. That yeast has zero problems at that temp.

Weird. 39 degrees is crazy warm - what effect does that have? I do love me some elderflower, so I'd likely be sold.

* 1.5kg of Fruit n Fibre in a beer, which was 46% of the grain bill. You could taste a really good beer in the background and then.... yihhhh - iron filings. FnF is fericiously ferrically fortified. About a day after I'd put it on to brew, I heard John Palmer on a podcast saying avoid fortified grains as they cause problems. He's right.

Uh, weirder. I love the idea of just bunging a box of cereal in though!

* Bird Seed Beer - Beer made with a bag of bird feed mix from Poundland. I was sniggering like hell when I saw it in the shop and did it partially to troll the forum. It was a split with CML Kristalweizen and Belgian and I expected it to be bloody rubbish and when it wasn't that made it even funnier for me. The weizen yeast made it very, very much like a lager and you could drink it by the gallon. My first use of a Belgian yeast and it's so, so different. Mad layers of flavour that were almost too much for me. First glug and I thought uryuhhrlll - no likey! Then half way down the pint and I thought it's not completely horrible. By the time I opened the second bottle I was ready and it all started to click - it was like the beer was teaching me something. As an experiment it did succseed.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Is bird seed even fit for human consumption??

You're a braver man than me - I was expecting a "I added a kilo of hops" recipe, rather than "I added a kellogs selection box multipack and some fish food"

 

[Drunkula]

Weird. 39 degrees is crazy warm - what effect does that have?

On the kristalweizen yeast - nothing. It tastes no different than at 20c. CML said they'd taken it to 35c.

The elderflower was a 3 way split, the kw and voss at 39c and voss at 20c. First of all I thought the 20c and 39c voss were quite different but after 2 weeks in the bottle they're almost the same. The 39c has slightly more crispness and I like that. Very early doors the 39c tasted far too orangey; buried to the malt to the level where it was almost like it was a fermented juice and I really thought it was a waste. That's changing. You wouldn't think it was a wheat beer at all with the voss. The kristalweizen is, though, and it's my fave of the batch.

Is bird seed even fit for human consumption??

I give zero shites! When I hear anybody whining about sell by dates and wihhhh, wihhhh - it might upset my tummmyyyyyy! I think STFU you baby. I made a curry from packet of diced beef that was in the fridge and it was exactly a month out of date. It was a wee bit gamey but no bad belly.

Camping last year Cat' was going to throw out 4 chicken portions because the ice had melted in the cool box and she didn't like the smell. I said I'm eating it. She said "Won't you get sick?" I said "No, I refuse to." And she absolutely loved that.

 

[Doive]

When I hear anybody whining about sell by dates and wihhhh, wihhhh - it might upset my tummmyyyyyy! I think STFU you baby.

I've just kegged a brew that used grains, hops and yeast that were six years past their recommended best before dates. Tastes fine and I haven't expired yet. I too am more than willing to ignore use by dates & eat anything, so long as it's not actually growing something it shouldn't be.

As for extreme beers, I did have a go with one of my very first all grain recipes to make a 11+% stout, by adding a truckload of brewing sugar & various extracts. It almost blew the lid off the FV, came out somewhere north of 10%, but tasted foul. It settled down somewhat after six months, but I haven't brewed it again.