Mona Lisa (2020)

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5/25/2020
FG 1.036 (cold sample)
appears the starter wasnt necessary and didnt do anything anyway. Hit an official 10%
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5/11/2020
SG 1.036 - made a 2x starter from a new hothead pack and tossed half of it into the batch.
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5/2/2020
SG 1.041
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4/27/2020
SG 1.045 fermented like crazy the first couple days just off the kveik pack no starter.
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4/16/2020
brew day. Idk what just happened I hit 1.112 and high volume really, couldnt tell exact because of the foam but maybe it was only 5. I guess eff prob goes up if u add a lot of DME. This could be disaster or awesome
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4/15/2020
just changing the batch size from 6.5 down to 5.5 and taking the 2row down from 15lb to 12lb to still arrive at 10%. considering using kviek yeast for this....

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3/24/2020
revamping this for another attempt. shamefully adding dme and predicting over 70 eff to land at 10%. other than that no real changes. worried it might be too bitter hoppy? would like to NOT split the batch and just do 2 vanilla beans. bourbon oak would be nice but i feel that the failure of the last batch was from trying to do too much at once.
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9/30/19
brewed this on the road, came out with more than 6 gallons at 1.080 which was a mistake shouldve boiled longer. also used some old hops which may be putting off strange flavors.

9/23/19
base recipe is Stone RIS clone found in byo magazine. recipe is scant, and doesnt really add up : https://byo.com/recipe/stone-imperial-russian-stout-clone/ . posted recipe is for 65% efficiency so actually less efficient than my system but i added a pound more base malt anyway to try to get over 10%abv. yeast is a little unclear wlp002 listed 65-70% attenuation so we will have to be perfect and hit 70% to get over 10%abv. but then this amounts to 1030 FG, recipe is listed at 1020. could use wlp007 english dry ale if hittin FG was a concern but i think extra sweetness in this beer is going to be ok.

==========MISC NOTES=============
mona lisa stout

ORANGE
austin homebrew
http://austinhomebrew.com/assets/images/RCPPDF/09611.pdf
1/4oz bitter
1/2oz sweet

https://brewgr.com/recipe/59297/chocolate-orange-stout-oatmeal-stout-recipe
fresh orange peel and juice
(essentially a whole orange)

mrbeer
https://www.mrbeer.com/barleys-brew-chocolate-orange-stout
4oz bakers unsweetened chocolate
2 medium oranges
take off the skins but not too much pith
they soak skins in 1/2 cup vodka, adding allof it
maybe use a thin glass so the vodka covers more

final thoughts
use the brewers peel sweet and bitter, soak in vodka with vanilla bean
use thin glass
add the whole thing
optional : plus the orange juice


CHERRY
austin homebrew
http://austinhomebrew.com/assets/images/RCPPDF/02071.pdf
cherry flavoring

AHA
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/choc-full-o-cherry-porter/
frozen sour cherries

HBT
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/chocolate-cherry-stout.326884/
cherry juice concentrate
might be better in reducing sugar and other flavors....

final stand
a) i guess prob just use frozen cherries. not sour! sweet/dark any other kind than sour
b) cherry juice concentrate? how sour?
Dark cherries. Aha recipe calls for 5 to 10 lb per 10 gal batch. I think I will go with 5. For split batch 3.333