BA Mebier -- Whiskey Barrel Aged Adambier Recipe

This is beer #2 for my two gallon whiskey barrel after a seemingly successful imperial stout made its way into the barrel. The imperial stout just made its way into the barrel yesterday so I wanted to brew this adambier to get into the barrel as soon as the stout is ready to get out. This adambier recipe is based upon my non-barrel aged adambier recipe which itself closely tracks the early Hair of the Dog Adam recipe found in the Barleywine book. In my opinion it's not too close to HOTD Adam mostly because it lacks the peat malt. It's more of an amorphous strong ale with some German-ish ingredients. I liked the first rendition and felt like it would be a good candidate for another clean run through the barrel.

For the barrel version I dropped the gravity slightly but otherwise maintained the recipe. I want to avoid a beer that is too boozy but at the same time has enough heft to avoid turning thin and hot after extracting whiskey from the barrel. I know high gravity BBA beers are still all the rage but I'll take a well executed barrel aged beer at 8% over 18% almost any day. Additionally, I expect I'll need this beer ready to go into the barrel in a couple weeks and don't want to worry about coddling a double digit OG beer along and have to decide between too much whiskey in the stout and racking the adambier too early. Otherwise the only other meaningful change is subbing out the yeast for London Ale III which did a nice job with the stout.

Whiskey Barrel Aged Adambier Recipe

Details
Batch Size: 2.25 gallons
Est. ABV: 8.4%
Est. IBU: 42
Est. OG: 1.088
Est. FG: 1.025
Est. SRM: 12.6
Expected Efficiency: 65%
Grain Bill	Pounds		Ounces		SRM		Pct. Grist
Pale malt	6		12		2		80.90%
Munich malt	0		5		9		3.70%
Roasted barley			0.7		300		0.50%
Caramunich II			9		34		6.70%
White wheat malt			11		2		8.20%
Water Profile	ppm
Bru'n Water Amber Malty Profile
PH: 5.5
Calcium	56
Magnesium	5
Sodium	10
Sulfate	57
Chloride	67
Bicarbonate	18
Water Additions					Mash		Sparge
Gypsum					0.9g		0.2g
Epsom Salt					0.7g	0	0.1g
Canning Salt					0.3g		0.1g
Baking Soda
Calcium Chloride					1.4g		0.2g
Chalk					0.4g
Pickling Lime
Lactic Acid					0.3ml
Mash Schedule	Step Temp.				Step Time
Single infusion mash
Mash volume: 3.4 gal
Sparge volume: 0.42 gal
Infuse 3.4 gallons at 169F	156F				75
Sparge 0.41 gal at 190F
Boil Schedule	Volume		Unit		Time		IBU
90 minute boil
Belma [12%]	0.37		oz		60		30.5
Opal [6.5%]	0.42		oz		20		12.3
Irish moss	0.5		tsp		15		0
Opal [6.5%]	1.13		oz		0		0
Fermentation Schedule	# Days		Temp.
Yeast: WY1318
Pitch 1 cup slurry from imperial stout
Pitch at 70F	20		70F
Age in barrel until flavor is right
Bottle to 2.3 vol CO2 with 1.3 oz table sugar

Brewday & Fermentation Notes

Brewed 2.9.17

First runnings: 1.077
Preboil gravity: 1.075
Preboil volume: 3 gal
Mash efficiency: 73%

Postboil gravity: 1.083
Postboil volume: 2.25 gal
Efficiency: 61%

Sent to the barrel on 2.24.17. FG ? The beer is murky from movement and my refractometer reading says the beer is stalled at 3.5%. Impossible because it doesn't taste sweet and the alcohol is definitely present.

Bottled on 4.2.17 with 2 oz table sugar.