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FastEddie · 09-08-2009, 11:48 PM

Has anyone started working on a clone recipe for Deschute's newest birthday brew? I have a few ideas but wanted to check around first.

GC89 · 09-09-2009, 01:41 AM

Cant help you but Im in to see what you come up with. Loved this beer when I tried it, but $12 a bottle is a bit much

**apparatus** · 09-09-2009, 02:03 AM

They just did a clone of Black Butte Porter on Jamil's "Can you Brew it" show. It was evidently a spot on clone. Listen to the episode and they talk with the head brewer from Deschutes about XXI. It is basically a doubled version of the original with some subtle changes which they discuss. Can't remember what they were right now, but if you check it out, it should get you pretty close.

Good luck,

FastEddie · 09-09-2009, 10:51 PM

Okay, here's a silly question then. Would the "doubled-up version of Black Butte Porter," as Deschute's describes XXI, really be made by doubling everything (except of course the water)? Or, would there need to be some adjustments? Looks like BBP is 5.2% ABV and 30 IBU's while XXI is 11% ABV and 55 IBU's. Pretty close to double but not exactly. Any thoughts on that? Thanks again.

D

**apparatus** · 09-10-2009, 10:44 PM

Doubling the recipe will get you close. Then you can make your adjustments if desired. If you wnat the exact same ABV and IBU's I would adjust up on my base malt and up the first hop addition to come in line with the amounts they list.

McKBrew · 09-10-2009, 10:48 PM

Black Butte XXI is also blended with some oak aged XXI. (30% I think). You'd have to duplicate that with oak chips or a separate oaked batch.

FastEddie · 09-11-2009, 12:18 AM

I'm looking for some constructive feedback on this preliminary recipe. First, two disclaimers: 1) I am probably at the point in my brewing when I could start doing some full mash brews but lack the equipment right now. As such, this is an extract recipe with a specialty grain steep. 2) This recipe (or a slightly altered one if it turns out that way) is intended to provide a benchmark to be fine tuned to a respectable clone. I'll probably age it considerably longer (as well as substitute oak cubes for the chips) once I get good working start. With that said, here is what I have so far...

Batch Size: 5 gallons

Steep the following at 165*F for 30 mins then strain and sparge:

12 oz Chocolate Malt
12 oz Black Patent Malt
16 oz Honey Malt
16 oz Crystal Malt (10L)
8 oz Toasted Barley

Add to:

11 lbs Light LME
2 lbs Light DME

Top off with water to 4 gallons for 60 minute boil. (I have only a 20 qt pot so I max out at 4 gals to avoid boil-overs. Top off with 5 gals if your equipment allows.)

Hop bill/schedule:

2.5 oz Galena (60 mins)
1.25 oz Cascade (30 mins)
1.25 oz Tettnanger (5 mins)

Yeast: Wyeast 1338 - Euro Ale

Ferment in glass for 10-12 days.

Transfer to glass for an additional 12-14 days with the following additions:

8 oz cocao nibs
1.5 oz each Sumatra / Ethiopia Sidamo - Course Grind
0.5 oz Med Roast American Oak Chips soaked in premium bourbon (Woodford Reserve, Blanton's, Basil Hayden's, etc.) during initial fermentation.

Prime, bottle, and condition for an additional 10+ days.

This recipe calculates out to about 56 IBU's and just a shade over 11% ABV which is close to the 55 IBU / 11% ABV of the actual XXI. Like I said, any constructive insight would be great! Thanks again.

D

McKBrew · 09-11-2009, 01:00 AM

Way too much on all of your specialty malts.

I can't offer much more, but if you follow your specialty bill, you'll have a rough beer. As a rough guess, I'd say cut everything in half malt wise.

Also, even with that, if you are using a lot of specialty grains consider steeping in multiple sacks. When I made a beer with a ton of specialty grains, the grain "ball" was so big that the inner grains never really benefited from the steep.

McKBrew · 09-11-2009, 01:02 AM

I wish I could be more helpful, but I have one heck of a buzz right now. I can only point out what my beer induced stupor allows me too.

I still have a bottle of XXI, and I'm almost in the mood to drink it, which would probably only make things worse.

FastEddie · 09-11-2009, 08:40 PM

The specialty malts were simply doubled from an original recipe clone as were the base fermentables. If I cut the specialty malt bill in half I would be back to the original recipe. At that ratio, will they be prominent with the increase in malt / abv? As far as the LME and DME (which were nearly doubled from the original BBP recipe), should I sub some of that out for dextrose? Worrying a bit about the sweetness. BBP is not exactly dry, but don't want to over do it.

D