Been on a BCBS kick and I don't think my bank account can sustain the pace at which I'm inhaling the BCBS so I've been wanting to brew my own. I may scale it down to a 1 gallon recipe to test it out first though. So this is the recipe I've been working on in hopville- it's a 5gal partial mash. And I'm looking at using bourbon soaked oak chips in secondary to impart the bourbon barrel characteristics. Looking for any useful feedback or any recipes that BAs may have used in the past or words of wisdom to impart. OG 1.128 FG 1.032 72° SRM Efficiency 75 % 40.2 IBU 12.8% ABV 421 cal 12# Pale Liquid Extract 4# Briess 2-row Pale Malt 3# Briess Munich Malt 20L 2.5# Briess Crystal 80L 2# Briess Chocolate 350L 1# Briess Crystal 120L 1# Briess Roasted Barley 2oz Northern Brewer @ 60 min 1oz Willamette @ 10 min 1oz Willamette @ 1 min 1 pack Wyeast American Ale #1056 Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions.
Regarding the chips- use cubes. Surface area issue. I just brewed a BCBS inspired beer last week, although mine is much bigger and includes rye. I also used 30% Munich which is definitely not the case with BCBS. My OG was 1.140 on the dot after a 3 hour boil. With beers this huge I always brew a smaller beer and feed it fermentables throughout the fermentation cycle. With this one I decided to see what will happen if I just pitch a massive starter of WLP099 Super High Gravity into it. It'll either ferment out nicely, throw off some crazy stressed yeast flavors, or under attenuate. I'm fine with any of those in a beer this huge. It's an experiment. Also going to split up the batch. Age half on Willett Single Barrel 4 year Rye soaked cubes and the other half on Sherry soaked cubes. Your grainbill looks about right. I can't imagine the 10 or 1 minute hop additions will do much. Isn't BCBS just Willamette? I may be wrong about that. (going off memory) I'd be concerned about 1056 as well. You may start off with 1056 and perhaps finish off with WLP099 or something similar. Let us know how it goes! I'd be interested in tasting it. Cheers! -Tyler
1056 should get you there. I've brewed north of 14% multiple times with it. Pitch the appropriate amount of yeast. Even if you don't need it, I'd make a starter to ensure vitality/viability. Just pitch what you need. Oxygen. Lots of it. Start your fermentation on the low end and slowly ramp up as the gravity drops. If you can get it to 70-72F for the last few points, it'll help get to your FG. That much extract could work against you. I agree with tylermains on the cubes. Much better. Remember to go small on the amount and give it time on them. A big part of barrel aging is the aging itself. Time.
