Old Sweaty Bitch Ale

This is the recipe for a super high gravity brew we started on 1/29/10. When I pitched the yeast (and un-rehydrated dry yeast at that!) it started bubbling within five minutes. I was amazed, I've never seen such a thing before, and I'm not sure if I will again.

UPDATE 2/24/10:
This stuff tastes incredible, even pre-carbed, at 10.65%ABV. It's ended where I expected it to end with the Safbrew S33's alcohol tolerance of 11%, and we've opted to not dry it out further with champagne yeast. We're bottling tonight, should be done in a few weeks, but no matter how awesome this killer brew is, we're holding some back for the ages...this one's definitely a keeper! Pictures soon!

2/25/10


Didn't get as much as we wanted, because I agitated the carboy a little too much when priming, causing sediment to rise. Here I am looking forlornly at the minuscule amount of wasted beer.








We also had one hell of a time bottling, siphon issues, and our racking cane even snapped!

But just get a load of that good bit of high gravity brew!

Old Sweaty Bitch

2.5 gallon batch

Actual SG:1.110

Estimated FG:1.022
Estimated ABV: 11.55%

Actual FG: 1.031
Actual ABV: 10.65%


Extracts:
3.3 lbs Muntons light LME
2.5 lbs Briess Pilsen light DME
1 lb light brown sugar

Crushed Grains:
0.5 lbs Briess Crystal 60L
0.5 lbs Briess Chocolate 350L
0.25 lbs Muntons Carapils 20L

Hops:
UK Fuggle 4.0% 60 min.
US Golding 4.9% 60 min

Yeast:
Safbrew S33, pitched directly into primary

Procedure:
Steeped grains for one hour, slowly raising temp from 140F to 157F. Removed grain bag and sparged with 155F water. Added malt extracts and hops bags and boiled for one hour. Cooled to 71F, pitched dry yeast, and fit with blow off tube.

This one started vigorously bubbling immediately, not surprising with the high SG. But I didn't realize just how vigorous it would bubble until it started overflowing my shot glass, then my butter tub, with loads of goopy foam.

So I rigged the tube into my old empty Mr. Beer barrel and, after the initial blow up, poured all the blown-off beer/ foam back into my primary and fit with an airlock (Sorry, camera had died by then). It's slowed now, bubbling every once in a while, but I still shake it every day and get a burst of bubbles. Added a tsp of yeast nutrient on 2/8/10, and if the FG is too high, I'm going to toss in a little champagne yeast.

I'm super hyped to age this one and give it to a few select friends with an affinity for strong drink!

-Myles Nestok

P.S. -- Don't forget to soap up and pour out the gunk, unless you're harvesting yeast.

beautiful