One for laying down and avoiding

[Jambo]

Hi folks

I'm getting the urge to brew something "big" that will benefit from ageing. I'm thinking along the lines of Brewdog's Abstrakt (AB) series. Had a bottle of the AB:24 (https://www.brewdog.com/abstrakt-ab-24) a few nights ago and it was lovely.

I might very well try to clone AB24 from DIY dog as I think I'll struggle to better it, but wondering if anyone has any other go-to recipes for this sort of thing. As a beekeeper something that includes honey would be a plus, I note AB:08 and AB:09 contain honey but haven't tried them.

Also yeast... Brewdog say they use WY1272 in most of their Abstrakt series, but Wyeast's website says max ABV of 10%, and these are higher, so I'm doubtful. Any suggestions? Wine yeast to finish?

Thanks.

[Rookie]

Most yeasts can handle warmer, cooler, and higher gravity than what the yeast company selling them says. It depends a LOT on the wort.
I'd use a beer yeast like Wyeast 1056 before a wine yeast.

[Robwalkeragain]

I made a standard bitter and dumped 500g of local honey in there to make around 11%. Google Braggot, it’s a medieval style that’s basically a mix of mead and beer, and it’s perfect for laying down for a long time.
Wine yeast won’t finish a beer as it can only really handle simple sugars and it’s probably the complex ones you need to ferment. You want a beer yeast with a high alcohol tolerance. Us-05 will get you to 11% and it’s a great restarting yeast.

[Rookie]

I made a standard bitter and dumped 500g of local honey in there to make around 11%. Google Braggot, it’s a medieval style that’s basically a mix of mead and beer, and it’s perfect for laying down for a long time.
Wine yeast won’t finish a beer as it can only really handle simple sugars and it’s probably the complex ones you need to ferment. You want a beer yeast with a high alcohol tolerance. Us-05 will get you to 11% and it’s a great restarting yeast.

I've gotten 12% easy with the liquid version of 05.

[Jambo]

Thanks chaps, did you double up the yeast quantity for the high gravity wort?

[Robwalkeragain]

Thanks chaps, did you double up the yeast quantity for the high gravity wort?

Yep

[wilfh]

I've used 3 packets of nottingham for a 13% stout without any issues. Fermented well with no off flavours. Make sure you have some oxygen in there as well and you should be good to go.

Personally I've found the AB series that I've tried to be heavy on the oxidised flavours.(15-18) but an interesting concept nonetheless

My favorite big beer so far was the simplest one I've done. Basically 90% pale malt 10% sugar (but you could use honey) to 12% and 300g golding in the boil for 2 hours. It was undrinkably bitter to start off with but a year in the bottle was pure nectar.

good luck.

Wilf

[Jambo]

I've used 3 packets of nottingham for a 13% stout without any issues. Fermented well with no off flavours. Make sure you have some oxygen in there as well and you should be good to go.
...
My favorite big beer so far was the simplest one I've done. Basically 90% pale malt 10% sugar (but you could use honey) to 12% and 300g golding in the boil for 2 hours. It was undrinkably bitter to start off with but a year in the bottle was pure nectar.

Thanks both for the responses -wilfh what was the rationale for the two hour boil, hop utilisation? Or reducing to hit your OG?

[Jambo]

AB22 tonight, a good fighting beer but not inclined to replicate this one, too much like unfermented wort.

[wilfh]

Mainly to hit the numbers. There was so much malt that i sparged a lot to hit the targets and improve efficiency
.
The wort was amazingly bitter and with foam like marshmallow

[Jambo]

Thanks Wilfh. Must admit I never check OG until my wort is all cooled and in the fermenter, but is obviously a bit more demanding so will need to change my method a bit!

[wilfh]

It was based in th young no1 durden park book recipe and called for a bit of caramelisation in the kettle with a long boil