UPDATE: Bolshevik Imperial Stout

I bottled the Bolshevik Imperial Stout tonight and all I have to say is WOW that is one amazing beer.  I began the process of waking the beer up from it's 6 week slumber with a little bit of brown sugar water last night, primed and bottled it tonight. 

Final "Stats"
OG 1.099
FG 1.020
ABV 10.4
Calories/Pint 463

Strawberry Pear Hard Apple Cider

So the other day I got this crazy notion while walking through the grocery store.  I'll make a hard cider.  Knowing the basic premise behind doing this I grabbed me some apple cider.  Then I noticed the price and wow maybe I'll just make 2 gallons to start with I thought to myself.

A gallon of cider later and a few hours of research on good recipes and what yeast to use I have it down I know what I want to do. 

Here's my recipe:

1 gallon apple cider (I would prefer unpasteurized but it is March not going to happen)
1 lb brown sugar
1 lb frozen strawberries
1 large fresh pear cubed

Mix the brown sugar with 1/2 gallon of water and heat to 150 degrees.
Steep the fruit in the brown sugar water mixture for 20 minutes
Add the cider to the fermenter and add 1/2 gallon of water.

Add fruit and water to fermenter; pitch with Red Star Champagne yeast. 

I'll let it ferment in the primary for about 4 days and then transfer to secondary and remove the fruit.  (And yes I plan on eating it.)

Let fermentation finish and store in the basement at 55ish degrees for 7 days then add .3 oz of priming sugar

This should be a nice little experiment. 

My Brew Day Equipment

So Super Bowl Sunday was a great day for me not only because the Packers won and the rapist lost, but I got my new keg to turn into a brew kettle.  Now for the mega extra bonus, the keg was full of Stone's Arrogant Bastard.  So not only do I score a keg but a full keg on a Sunday in a state that doesn't sell on Sundays!!!!!!!!!  I know after landing the score of the century the Packers will win and I need to buy a powerball ticket.

I just finished cutting the top off my new keg and thought I would take the time now to snap a few photos of my brew day equipment.

Mash Tun - a 42qt chest cooler from Target

 

The Inside: Total cost for cooler and parts approx $40

The Hot Liquor Tank: a turkey fryer pot

And now the latest pride and joy the 15.5 g keggle:  I am going to add an elbow with a volume gauge and a 1/2" bulkhead with a ball valve.

Bolshevik Imperial Stout

This is my most ambitious brew to date.  An all-grain, high gravity, full bodied beast of a beer.  I created it to have a complexity of flavors.  Some of the ingredients were de-bittered black malt, coffee malt and I used two separate yeast strains for fermentation and the aging: oak chips for 8 weeks and bottle conditioning for 9 months. 

Here is a photo of me sterilizing the oak chips over steam for 15 minutes.

I transferred from my primary to secondary fermenter today 2/4/2011 after five days in the primary.  After five days we are already at a staggering 9.7% alcohol.  This isn't going to be for the faint of heart.

Beer Stats
5.5 gallon post boil volume for 5 gallons of bottled bliss
24lbs of grains.
6oz of hops
2 yeast strains
3oz of medium char American Oak Cubes
and well over 9 months to finish.

OG 1.099 
Gravity at transfer 1.026


As time goes on I will update the status of this beauty.