Avery Tweak Extract Recipe (No Coffee)

Update 7/26/20 - Brewed on 2/9/20. Brewday went very well. OG was 1.144. Not quite what the recipe calculated but pretty good. Primary fermentation had good activity at first and needed blowoff tube. (FG at 1.078 after 1 week, 1.076 after 2 weeks, 1.075 after 3 weeks. Would not get any lower than that. Tried stirring, shaking, aerating, and temp increase. Repitched yeast at this point. FG leveled off at 1.060 and 11% ABV after another month. Better but not as low as I wanted. All through the fermenting process samples always tasted sweet. Transferred to secondary with Bourbon cubes and left for 3 weeks. Transferred to keg and aged 2 months. Tapped last week. It turned out a little sticky and sweet like a pastry beer but holy crap what a fantastic taste. Very roasty, a bit boozy, and an excellent strong Bourbon Barrel flavor. Very happy with it.

I need to learn the best procedures for fermenting such a high ABV beer.

Here were my brew day instructions.

Prepare a yeast starter in advance. Warm yeast packets to room temperature.

Steep grains in 3 gal of water at 155F for 45 minutes.
Sparge grains with 1 gal of 170F water.
Heat water to boiling then remove from heat.
Add all LME mixing well until dissolved.
Heat and return to boil.
Add hops and set timer to 60 minutes.
Add Candi Syrup, Whirlloc, and Yeast Nutrient with 15 minutes left in boil.
Remove from heat and cool wort to 65-70 degrees.

Rack to primary and add water to 5.25 gal.
Mix and aerate well. Take OG.
Pitch yeast and yeast starter. Gently stir.

2 weeks minimum in primary (ended up being 2 months)

Rack to secondary over
3oz of Bourbon soaked Heavy Toast Oak Cubes
12oz of Bourbon (I used Elijah Craig Small Batch Straight Bourbon)
3 weeks in secondary

Rack to keg and age for 2-3 months