I now feel comfortable enough with my latest beer to write something about it. I took a recipe found elsewhere on the Internet and slightly modified it to match what was available to me.
One difference from that recipe was an extra 1/2 lb of candi sugar because it was sold in 1 pound bags and I didn't want any extra sitting around. The other was because I could not find Amarillo hops. I semi-arbitrarily replaced them with U.K. Challenger (somewhat similar AA%) hops, which worked out fairly well.
Since I was borrowing equipment and was limited in what was available to me, I simply fermented for 3 weeks in primary (bucket). I was able to get a separate bottling bucket from Tim when the time came, but in a fit of laziness ended up not using it and instead auto-siphoned straight from the primary into our bottles. The result is a significant amount of sediment, but that has settled out nicely and with a careful pour will mostly stay in the bottle.
Finally, a note on carbonation. I added priming sugar to the batch during the bottling process, but it has not seemed to kick it up much. It remains a little flat even after 3+ weeks in the bottle. Sadly, I suspect it will stay like this. Fortunately, I have noticed very, very slight carbonation build up on the walls of the glass for the last couple bottles I have had even though no head forms.
My main theory for this issue is a lack of healthy yeast survival to this point, and the beer could have used additional yeast at some point. 3 weeks in the primary and a high ABV (estimated 10-11%, but I didn't take readings) might have tired them out.
In the end, there are things I would change, but the flavor is there. This is definitely a very hoppy, high alcohol beer. Even with its problems, it tastes good!
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