Dogfish Head Burton Baton Clone

Here's my attempt at cloning what I think is one of the best, most balanced, and complex beer in the world today. Here's my philosophy on this one...

Burton Baton is a 10% beer with 70 IBUs. Additionally, according to Dogfish Head, Burton Baton is a blended brew consisting of a 50/50 blend of their 90 Minute IPA and an English Barley Wine.

DFH 90 Minute IPA is a 9% beer with 90 IBUs, so to achieve the profile necessary, the English Barley Wine needs to hit 12% with 50 IBUs.

So here's the recipe I've come up with for a 10 gallon batch.

90 Minute IPA

16# Pilsner Malt
1.5# Amber Malt
Mash at 150 for 60 minutes
90 Minute Boil
2 oz Amarillo (90)
1/2 oz Simcoe (30)
1/2 oz Warrior (30)
1 oz Amarillo (dry for 7 days)
1/2 oz Simcoe (dry for 7 days)
1/2 oz Warrior (dry for 7 days)
Wyeast 1099

2 weeks Primary
2 weeks Secondary

English Barley Wine

22# Pale Malt UK
1# Cara Pils Dext
3/4# Cara 60L
1/2# 80L
1/2# Special B
150 Mash for 60 Minutes
Boil - 90 Minutes
2 oz Norther Brewer (60)
1 oz Fuggles (30)
1 oz Challenger (30)
Wyeast 1099 or Wyeast 1056

Primary 2 Weeks
Secondary 2 Weeks

At 4 weeks these beers are then blended and aged on oak for 7 days.

What are your thoughts??

Hmmm... I wonder if you can add the barleywine that early without time mellowing it out. More often than not you need BW to age out for a while, but then again at 50/50 that might not be that much of an issue. I'd stick to the 1099 for the BW though as the 1056 might be too clean for the remainder that you don't blend (if that's your plan). The recipes look good though. Also, I would suggest adding the oak only after you're sure about the blend (but I'm assuming you've already figured that).

I can't find the website, but listed on it was the recipe of the 'barleywine' from DFH. I recall that It is 97% Pilsner malt, I think the remaining 3% was a crystal - can't remember what lovibond though. It was also hopped exclusively with glacier hops. I will do some searching and see if I can find that webpage.

You might want a half pound of Carastan on the Barleywine recipe. It is typical in the original British Burton ales. I'm going to try brewing a Burton Ale, it's 3rd on my pipeline.

No luck so far but I have found this description on several websites:

The elusive brew is made from pilsner malt and amber malt with an original gravity of 26.5?P, yielding an 11% abv. It's hopped with Warrior and Glacier varieties. Primary fermentation takes place in open vessels using two yeast strains, one American and one English. For added complexity, the beer is conditioned on barrel staves of French Oak for four months before being dry hopped with Glacier at the rate of a half-pound per barrel. This elixir is then blended 50/50 with 90 Minute IPA. After blending, the beer will measure 80 IBU and 10% abv.

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Also, this video of Sam of DFH talking about it might be insightful!
Burton Baton | Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales

EDIT
Aha! Found it - I was a bit off with the percentages/ingredients in the previous post...
http://rarebeerclub.beveragebistro.com/rbcbeer_11.html

So what changes, if any do you suggest? I

Maybe try...

6 Gallon Batch
75% Eff

OG: 1.112 (26.5P)
FG: 1.028
ABV: 11.05%
IBU: 70.1

22# 14 oz Pilsner - 95%
12 oz Crystal 40L - 3%
8 oz Amber malt - 2%

75 minute boil

1.6 oz Warrior (15.1aa) @ 75 min
1 oz Glacier (5.6aa) @ 45
1 oz Glacier (5.6aa) @ 30
1 oz Glacier (5.6aa) @ 15
1 oz Glacier (5.6aa) @ 5
1.55 oz Glacier Dry-hopped

In the article Sam mentions they continuous hop it, so I mimicked that somewhat in this hopping schedule. Also, as mentioned they dry-hop with half a LB per BBL, so I just scaled this down for a 6 gallon batch size.

Now, they age it in French oak barrels for 4-5 months. As a home brewer, your oaking process will have to be different. I recommend as the fermentation nears its end, secondary the beer and add 1-2oz of French oak cubes. Age to taste, i.e. let the beer sit on the oak cubes for 5 or so days then taste the beer daily until you get the right amount of oak flavor in your beer - remember that his beer will be blended so you may lean on a stronger oak character in order for a good amount of it to carry over after blending. I would probably dry hop when I put the beer into secondary, but you may want to wait until a week or two before blending (for a brighter hop presence). If I were brewing this, I may up the dry hop to 2 oz and put it in with the oak. Then, after the right amount of oak flavor is achieved, I would take out the oak cubes and let the beer age for a few months before brewing up the 90 Minute clone, and then blend the two (giving the barley wine some time to mellow).

Hope this helps!

Did this ever get brewed? I am thinking of trying a clone, that is one delicious beer

The barelywine portion of this is next up for me once I have a fermenter open in a month.

I had BB on tap at a local place and was blown away

Hey Adam, did you ever get around to trying the barleywine? Would this barleywine be DFH's Olde School? That's the only barleywine I know of from DFH. However, I believe with Olde School they use an old technique of adding figs after fermentation has settled down to reinvigorate it & kick up the ABV a bit. Either way, I'm dying to try a barlywine if this is a good recipe.

Did anyone ever try this recipe? I really like this beer and would even consider doing the 2 batch blend!

I believe in the new IPA book by Mitch Steele, he gives you the DFH recipe for Burton Baton. Just FYI.

gbarron said:

I believe in the new IPA book by Mitch Steele, he gives you the DFH recipe for Burton Baton. Just FYI.

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Great! I will have to check it out..

JJPicardo said:

So what changes, if any do you suggest? I

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I'd strongly suggest extending the primary and secondary times of those. A 9% abv and a 12% abv need more than 4 weeks total. I'd do at least 3-4 weeks primary and than the same in secondary.

I looked at the book again when I got home from work tonight. Steele gives you the DFH recipes for both the Old Ale and Imperial IPA. He then gives you instructions on blending the two. If you are serious about recreating the beer, I recommend you pick up the book. It is very valuable in other ways as well.

Hey guys, so I went out and bought my ingredients for my Old Ale to get started this week. Quick question in regards to the oaking in secondary, as I have never done this with a beer before. How much Oak Chips do I add to a 2.5 gallon batch of Old Ale? I saw some posts for other beers to add only 1-2oz of oak chips to a 5.5 gallon batch. So I am guessing I will only need .5-1 oz of chips for a 2.5 gallon batch. I want the oak to be there when I blend in the other 2.5 gallons of IIPA to make the 5 gallons of Burton Baton clone, so I am leaning more to 1 ounce side of things. Can anyone confirm this? Also, how do I sanitize the chips? Soak in some whiskey for a day or two?

Also, I believe I am going to let this Old Ale (barleywine) age for a little longer than 2 weeks before blending it. I think I'll let it sit in primary for 3 weeks, secondary for 2 weeks, and then oak chip and dry hops for 7 days right before I blend it with the IIPA. What are everyone's thoughts? I don't think anyone has attempted to make this beer yet.

The best thing to do with oak is to pull the oak when it has given you the character you're looking for. It's perfectly fine to use more than enough chips with this method, it will just add the oak character faster. As far as sanitation, boil some water, turn off the heat, then toss the chips & let them soak for 15 mins or so. You'll probably want to add the water that they soaked in too since that will absorb a lot of oak flavor.

Chris7687 said:

Hey guys, so I went out and bought my ingredients for my Old Ale to get started this week. Quick question in regards to the oaking in secondary, as I have never done this with a beer before. How much Oak Chips do I add to a 2.5 gallon batch of Old Ale? I saw some posts for other beers to add only 1-2oz of oak chips to a 5.5 gallon batch. So I am guessing I will only need .5-1 oz of chips for a 2.5 gallon batch. I want the oak to be there when I blend in the other 2.5 gallons of IIPA to make the 5 gallons of Burton Baton clone, so I am leaning more to 1 ounce side of things. Can anyone confirm this? Also, how do I sanitize the chips? Soak in some whiskey for a day or two?

Also, I believe I am going to let this Old Ale (barleywine) age for a little longer than 2 weeks before blending it. I think I'll let it sit in primary for 3 weeks, secondary for 2 weeks, and then oak chip and dry hops for 7 days right before I blend it with the IIPA. What are everyone's thoughts? I don't think anyone has attempted to make this beer yet.

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Did you ever end up trying to make the Burton? How did it turn out?

You know, it would make sense if you did the barleywine and aged it on oak for a handful of months, made the IPA fresh, and the blended and dry hopped right before bottling.

Herky21 said:

You know, it would make sense if you did the barleywine and aged it on oak for a handful of months, made the IPA fresh, and the blended and dry hopped right before bottling.

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That's the plan Herky! The barleywine has been sitting for about 5 months now and just made the IPA last week. Going to let it ferment out another week, secondary for about 2 weeks, dry hop for 2 weeks, and go right to keg. Although I am debating just bottling it all... Tough choice to make! I feel like it'd age out amazing in bottles, but don't want to loose the hop flavor and aroma. What do you all think?

Chris7687 said:

That's the plan Herky! The barleywine has been sitting for about 5 months now and just made the IPA last week. Going to let it ferment out another week, secondary for about 2 weeks, dry hop for 2 weeks, and go right to keg. Although I am debating just bottling it all... Tough choice to make! I feel like it'd age out amazing in bottles, but don't want to loose the hop flavor and aroma. What do you all think?

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How did it turn out? I absolutely love this beer.

I believe in the new IPA book by Mitch Steele, he gives you the DFH recipe for Burton Baton. Just FYI.

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Any chance you can post all of that. Unless that is a big copyright violation. I would never want to make those guys from Stone bitter. Those arrogant bastards them.

CBMbrewer said:

Any chance you can post all of that. Unless that is a big copyright violation. I would never want to make those guys from Stone bitter. Those arrogant bastards them.

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bump

would like to see this if available

Did anyone ever successfully recreate this?

I have a good friend whose favorite beer is DFH BB.... I'd love to make him some as a surprise... (hey and I like it also...)


Takes a lot of pre-planning and work to pull this off...I think I would want the barleywine to sit in primary at least two months... then maybe rack to secondary.. or just add the oak at that time into primary... then make the IPA about a month before...

Also, since I only bottle, guess when it came time I would have to figure our my carb level... and then rack both beers into the same bottling bucket....

I'd have to do them one at a time.. would I need to do some easy stirring to make sure they combine well before bottling?


Ha... too many questions!

Bumpity bump!

Well, something along these lines just became a plan of mine, thanks for the thread. Love BB and wish I could get more here in Europe. Doing something like it in a European way sounds grand. French toasted oak cubes in an English or Belgian style barley wine and then do a big double IPA full of new German hops. Damn!

On to the drawing board!

This recipe definitely looks great. Like Kiichi says it's gonna take a lot of time and pre-planning though. Maybe one to brew for Labor Day...

Lot of things to consider. I´d for example be tempted to use different base- and caramalts to have two different malt and sweetness characters in order to avoid one becoming to strong and to create maximum complexity. I might consider doing the IPA 50% wheat 50% pilsner with carapils and cara 60, using S-04, while the barley wine would be marris otter with cara 90, cara 120, special b, and biscuit malt, using a belgian yeast.

I kind would want to not make two beers that are out of balance and weird by themselfs, but really complement each other when mixed to create something insanely good. Equilibrium. Yin and Yang

Allright. I'm going to brew a Barleywine this weekend. Then wait about 4 months to brew an Imperial IPA. I'm not really trying for an exact clone... just something inspired by this beer for my friends birthday.


Will be fun to see what happens.

bford said:

Allright. I'm going to brew a Barleywine this weekend. Then wait about 4 months to brew an Imperial IPA. I'm not really trying for an exact clone... just something inspired by this beer for my friends birthday.


Will be fun to see what happens.

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this thread is so zombie... but here we go again...

bford - any input?

Well best laid plans didn't exactly turn out.. I did brew the barley wine, though not that weekend. and aged it longer than normal... sadly I didn't get around to brewing the dIPA .. I still want to try this, but I didn't follow through this time. The barley wine is bottled and will be ready in about 3-4 weeks... I'm giving it a bit more time to carb up than normal since its 10 percent.