Dr Pepper Dubbel

So I was inspired by this thread, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/dr-pepper-stout-135180/,to make a beer using Dr Pepper as part of the fermentables, and I was inspired by this thread, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/20-lb-sugar-jar-yeast-nutrient-114837/, to make my own candy syrup. The result, my Dr Pepper Dubbel. A five gallon batch with 1 gallon being Dr Pepper, 1lb of dark candy syrup and 1 lb of amber candy syrup.

I brewed a basic dubbel recipe adding my candy syrup in at the last 5 minutes, then dumped in 1 gallon of de-carbonated Dr Pepper to kick start the chilling process. The Dr Pepper is about 1.040, so it lowers the gravity a little by adding it. Going into the fermenter it had a subtle but distinctive Dr Pepper aroma. Here's the recipe for those interested.

Dr Pepper Dubbel
Belgian Dubbel

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 83.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.8 SRM) Grain 72.73 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 7.27 %
8.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 3.64 %
4.0 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (200.0 SRM) Grain 1.82 %

2.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 23.5 IBU
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (0 min) Hops

1 lbs Homemade Candy Syrup Amber (15.0 SRM) Sugar 7.27 %
1 lbs Homemade Candy Syrup Dark (20.0 SRM) Sugar 7.27 %
1 gallon Dr Pepper

1 Pkgs Belgian Strong Ale (Wyeast Labs #1388) Yeast-Ale


Beer Profile

Measured Original Gravity: 1.085 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.020 SG
Bitterness: 29.3 IBU
Est Color: 23.2 SRM

Mash Profile

Single Infusion, Full Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp
45 min Mash In Add 16.00 qt of water at 173.1 F 158.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 6.00 qt of water at 199.7 F 168.0 F

So here's hoping it turn out good. I have high hopes for it, and so far at least the wort tastes and smells great.

Very interesting. Let us know how it turns out.

Can't wait to hear the results. I feel like going to the store buying a few Dr pepper 2 liters and throwing them in a carboy with some yeast and see what happens.

Dr Pepper and Dubbel (or maybe a Belgian Dark Strong) sound like they would go really well together.

Awesome, I've been curious about doing a Dubbel or Dark Strong as I think the flavor would meld wonderfully but haven't bit the bullet yet. I'd love to pickup some of that Dr Pepper syrup see how it would affect the flavor as well.

The recipe is on the edge of Dubbel/Dark Strong. Some of the specs fall into dark strong range, some fall into the dubbel range, but for a dark strong I would want the gravity a bit higher.

24hrs at 66F in and it's getting close to needing a blowoff tube, hopefully if finishes fermenting quickly so I can cold crash and get to aging/drinking this bad boy.

BarleyWater said:

The recipe is on the edge of Dubbel/Dark Strong. Some of the specs fall into dark strong range, some fall into the dubbel range, but for a dark strong I would want the gravity a bit higher.

24hrs at 66F in and it's getting close to needing a blowoff tube, hopefully if finishes fermenting quickly so I can cold crash and get to aging/drinking this bad boy.

Click to expand...

Those are just numbers to a style you aren't even really brewing. Ignore them. I mean you are brewing with Dr Pepper. You can be off by a couple gravity points

I had to click on this thread because I'm currently serving a dubbel from a tap that previously was serving birch beer. I've replaced the ball lock beer connector and the line, and the only thing left that isn't stainless is the o-ring on the perlick, and yet my dubbel continues to have an aroma of birch beer, which isn't all that bad really.

The recipe is on the edge of Dubbel/Dark Strong. Some of the specs fall into dark strong range, some fall into the dubbel range, but for a dark strong I would want the gravity a bit higher.

Click to expand...

I'm thinking that the addition of dr. pepper solidifies this beer's place in the belgian specialty category! :fro:

Alright, kegged today with a finishing gravity at 1.016 down from a starting gravity of 1.077. Still warm and a little hazy because I needed the carboy for a pale ale so I didn't have time to cold crash, but it definitely has a hint of DP in the flavor.

The aroma is caramel and a little grape and a little bit of alcohol, the flavor is sweet but finishes slightly dry, with raisin, caramel and DP, and just a little bit of warmth in the back. At 8% and only 2 weeks old, I expected this to be a little more alcohol forward, but it is already very smooth and drinkable.

It ended up needing a blowoff for a few days, the yeast went crazy. I let it warm up to 70 after a week to help the yeast stay awake and finish up, and it looked like it helped out.

Just a note to anyone wanting to do this, the Dr Pepper need to be decarbonated before adding it to the wort. One of the bottles I had I slowly released the pressure by shaking and loosening the cap several times, but the other I said screw it. The one I didn't de-carb foamed like crazy when it hit the hot wort, the other was fine.

More updates to come in a few days when it's cold and carbonated.

This is frigging awesome. Please provide a tasting description when you crack one open.

It's in the keg on 1.5oz Hungarian medium toast oak cubes right now, I actually just moved it back into the keggerator yesterday because I was planning on tasting it by Thursday and taking a sample to the brewery I work at. It's been on the oak cubes since 11/17/09, so I hope it's got some oak character to it by now.

Before I added the oak, it had a subtle DP character to it, but not so much that you could pick it out if you didn't know it was there. The beer is absolutely delicious, but I felt it was lacking a little something, and oak seemed like just the thing it needed. I had a few friends try it to see if they could pick out the DP flavor, and none could until I told them then they all could tell it was there, so I think that's just about perfect.

That's interesting. You know it's good when they like it but they don't know why until you tell them what the flavor comes from

Like the Mtn Brew, this would be a good party beer because of the caffeine from the DP. I wonder if adding some redbull to a citrusy beer (belgian wit?) would both enhance flavor and add a caffeine kick.

BarleyWater said:

It's in the keg on 1.5oz Hungarian medium toast oak cubes right now, I actually just moved it back into the keggerator yesterday because I was planning on tasting it by Thursday and taking a sample to the brewery I work at. It's been on the oak cubes since 11/17/09, so I hope it's got some oak character to it by now.

Before I added the oak, it had a subtle DP character to it, but not so much that you could pick it out if you didn't know it was there. The beer is absolutely delicious, but I felt it was lacking a little something, and oak seemed like just the thing it needed. I had a few friends try it to see if they could pick out the DP flavor, and none could until I told them then they all could tell it was there, so I think that's just about perfect.

Click to expand...

Not sure I would consider an 8.5%abv Belgian dubbel with 2 kinds of homemade candy syrup that has been oak aging for almost 2 months a party beer. Also, don't know how much caffeine there is in a pint since it was 1gal of DP in 5gal of wort, probably not much.


There is talk of legislation right now that is going to eliminate any caffenated alcoholic beverages like Sparks and the others because they aren't FDA approved and can't be guaranteed safe. Sadly, coffee beers get thrown into this category as well, which I'm sure Kona Brewing (along with many others) will have something to say about.

hoping for an update on this one... please give some tasting notes!

bump bump how did it turn out?