I’ve never brewed a high gravity beer before. I brewed a barleywine once, but it wasn’t that big of a beer, and it didn’t “turn out.” So as I added 10 lbs. of LME, I was skeptical. But, there was no scortching of malt, and when I measured the OG, I was very pleased to find it right on target at 1.082. I changed the hop additions and varieties around a bit and used 3 oz. of Simcoe instead of Centennial just for the sake of experiment. I know and love Centennials, but I’d read good reports on Simcoes so I dropped a few in. The final hop bill:
- 1 oz. Simcoe @ 60 minutes
- 1 oz. Simcoe @ 45 minutes
- 1 oz. Simcoe @ 30 minutes
- 1 oz. Crystal @ 10 minutes
- 1.4 oz. Crystal @ 5 minutes
So far the aromatic qualities aren’t what I want, so I’ll probably dry hop with something when I transfer to secondary. I want a more floral aroma, and though the crystals are nice and herbal, they aren’t as bright as I remember them. We’ll see. All told, we’re looking at just shy of 100 IBU. Damn.
Still – I’m pretty stoked to see that I hit my target gravity on such a big beer. Lets hope that starter kicks in quickly and eats a lot.
now thats a biggin!