Can You Brew It recipe for Rogue Dead Guy Ale

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Well, my pseudo clone of this is done, and it's a solid beer. Mine actually wound up at 1.055 OG and 1.010 FG, which is obviously a bit off. Also used 1056 yeast because I couldn't get ahold of Pacman.

My thoughts: first off, I'm never using the home brew stores crush again. I let them crush my grain for this, as it was for an event at their store. I get way better efficiency using my barley crusher.

Second, the color and flavor are dead on, but the hop bite is milder in my clone, and my clone completely lacks the honey aroma that the real Dead Guy has. I actually prefer the clone to the real thing in everything except the lack of the honey aroma. Anyone know what causes that? Is it the Pacman yeast? Or just that mine finished too dry?
 
just kicked the keg of this...so good but now i have to brew it again. everybody wants it back..

do you think you could take a couple lbs of 2 row and a lb of munich and 6 or so ozs of Carastan out to lower the Gravity...almost like a seesion dead guy.

at almost 8 percent it gets pretty strong after a few
 
chezzesteak said:
just kicked the keg of this...so good but now i have to brew it again. everybody wants it back..

do you think you could take a couple lbs of 2 row and a lb of munich and 6 or so ozs of Carastan out to lower the Gravity...almost like a seesion dead guy.

at almost 8 percent it gets pretty strong after a few

It should finish around 6.7%.

I appreciate the idea to make it more sessionable. I have done that with several beers myself. Keep the percentages the same and the bittering units:gravity units the same.

How low do you want to go?

Eric
 
I just cracked open my first Dead Guy clone. Yum! Fantastic beer, may be my new house beer. I followed the grain bill. I was about 2-3 points low on the OG but my yeast (subbed US-05 for Pacman) gave an FG about 2 points lower than the recipe. I added a little centennial to the 60 min boil as I did not quite have enough Perl to hit the bittering IBU mark. I figured bittering is bittering. I did not have the aroma hop so I subbed an appropriate amount of Williamette. Looking back, I'm not sure why I subbed williamette for aroma - especially since the podcast mentioned subbing centennial. I have more centennial in my freezer than Jerome Simpson (a la Bengals WR) has pot in his house.

I'll be picking up a bottle of Dead Guy to do a triple blind test to see how close I was in taste and color. Regardless of whether it is a clone or not (obviously I want it to be, since that was the goal), it is a fantastic beer! Seriously, so damn good!
 
If you subbed in MO, I'd suggest lowering the amount of munich. There's such a thing as too malty :p
 
I recently brewed the extract kit that rogue sells for it and added an extra 3.3lbs of golden light lme and added a measuring cup of the local honey I got and it came out great at 8.8% abv with no alcohol taste just dead guy with less hoppy after bite and semi sweet instead! Also, I tried for the first time with no secondary just three weeks primary 3 week bottle and its awesome and crystal clear. From now on secondary is only for added flavoring or bulk aging in my book.
 
Just brewed the following 5.5G batch, heavily based upon the original recipe on this thread:

9.5lbs Organic US 2-Row
2.5lbs Munich
.5lb Crystal 10
.25lb Crystal 40

1.25oz Perle Hops (7.8%) - 90 min
1 oz Sterling (7%) - 1 min

Pacman yeast w/starter

My estimated OG was 1.064, but it ended up at only 1.060. Its either coincidence or the organic 2-row I've been getting (Breiss) is not as efficient as its non-organic brethren.

Also part of why I came up short: perhaps this is common knowledge but I recently found out that standard US Munich is 6-row based, so if you calculate your recipe w/german Munich - which is 2-row based - but end up using a US version, you will come out short on your extraction/OG.

All in all I still think this will turn out to be very tasty; if the pacman does its thing to about 1.013-1.014, we'll be in the 6.3% range... it just may be a bit drier than desired.
 
I just cracked open my first Dead Guy clone. Yum! Fantastic beer, may be my new house beer. I followed the grain bill. I was about 2-3 points low on the OG but my yeast (subbed US-05 for Pacman) gave an FG about 2 points lower than the recipe. I added a little centennial to the 60 min boil as I did not quite have enough Perl to hit the bittering IBU mark. I figured bittering is bittering. I did not have the aroma hop so I subbed an appropriate amount of Williamette. Looking back, I'm not sure why I subbed williamette for aroma - especially since the podcast mentioned subbing centennial. I have more centennial in my freezer than Jerome Simpson (a la Bengals WR) has pot in his house.

I'll be picking up a bottle of Dead Guy to do a triple blind test to see how close I was in taste and color. Regardless of whether it is a clone or not (obviously I want it to be, since that was the goal), it is a fantastic beer! Seriously, so damn good!


Triple blind test - I could not tell the difference. Aroma, taste, color - all dead on. Fantastic recipe. In fact, I was convinced the wife accidentally poured three of the same beers!
 
I just tried my first DGA -- holy crap it's fantastisch! Wish I'd known this yesterday when we were at the brew store. Might be brewing this ASAP!!!!
 
I'm getting ready to make this:

6.6 Lbs. -Light malt extract syrup
1.0 -lb Light Dry Malt Extract
1/2 -lb Carastan malt
1 -lb Munich malt (10L) 1.5 -Oz. Perle hops (boil 60 minutes - bittering hop)
1 -Oz. Sterling hops (add at end of boil — aroma hop)
1 -tsp Irish moss for 60 min
¾ -cup of corn sugar for priming.
White Labs WLP001 California Ale yeast

Original Gravity = 1.065
Final Gravity = 1.016
IBU’S = 40
Alcohol 6.2% by volume

Steep crushed malted grain in 2 gallons of 150° water (tap water is about 130°) for 30 minutes. Don’t fret the temp too much, relax. Remove the grain from the hot water with a strainer, then bring water to a boil. When boiling starts, remove pot from burner and add 1 cup malt syrup. Return to a boil, then add 1.5 oz. Perle hops and Irish Moss, and boil for 60 minutes. Add 1 oz. Sterling hops at the end of the boil. Then add remainder of Malt syrup and dry malt extract and stir to mix, wait 10 minutes to sanitize. Fill your sanitized carboy with 2 gallons of cold water. Strain the hot wort into the carboy and top off to the 5 gallon mark. Add yeast when beer is less than 78°, and ferment and bottle as usual.

When I get the time, I'll see if it matches the OP. I do see it's a different yeast.
 
Made OP's recipe today, ended up with 6 gallons at 1.070. 73% efficiency, kick-a$$ for me :)

Just wanted to throw in my two cents! (pitched at 68, will keep it at 62ish if Utah gets cold again)

Oh, and I used 05 without starter, will I be okay at that high an OG? Never had one above 1.060, thanks.
 
marty1966 said:
Made OP's recipe today, ended up with 6 gallons at 1.070. 73% efficiency, kick-a$$ for me :)

Just wanted to throw in my two cents! (pitched at 68, will keep it at 62ish if Utah gets cold again)

Oh, and I used 05 without starter, will I be okay at that high an OG? Never had one above 1.060, thanks.

Yes
 
Thank you. New dilemma, first two days of fermentation were at ~64 degrees. Today it went up to 68-70 in that room because of this crazy weather in Utah. Anyway, I moved it to the basement where it will be back around 62. My question is, what is the issue, if any, of changing fermentation temps up and down?

It was bubbling away at 68 but I was worried it would get hotter in there tomorrow. probably should have looked at the 5 day forcast, ha.

Thanks, James.
 
Brewed this today. I'm a biab brewer. Ended up with 10.73 SG. A little more efficient than I anticipated. Made a 1 L starter with the Pacman yeast and it fizzed out of the top of the flask when I shook it up. About ready to pitch...looking forward to tasting ths clne. RDG is one of my favorite beers.
 
I've done several variations of DGA with the exception of the CYBI clone.

I plan on doing this next and have scaled it back to 5.25 gallons. I mash in a bag as well as hop in a bag (200 micron) so I have very little waste.

I can't wait!
 
I scaled to 5.5 gallon and brewed this Sunday. Was a little over my starting gravity and can't wait to taste it.

The mash run-off was 1.067 and the first runnings were 1.035. Post-boil gravity was 1.070 and I nailed 5.5 gallons.

It's fermenting now with a 1800 ML starter @ 60 degrees. After hitting it with 60 seconds of O2 through a 200 micron stone, the batch took off in approximately 3 hours.

How long should I let this sit at 60 degrees before ramping it up AND how qiuckly should it be kegged?
 
I understand that, but my point is..... if their quest is to make an exact clone, why do they use sterling?

Breweries often substitute ingredients, I'm sure if you listen to the podcast they'd cover it. If I remember right the website says they use light carastan 13-17 for Dead Guy, but the clone recipe uses GW crystal 15 as that is what they're currently using in the beer.
 
I understand that, but my point is..... if their quest is to make an exact clone, why do they use sterling?

I wondered the same thing... then after a bit of hop research, found sterling to be a near identical saaz substitute, although it is twice the avg AA - so for a 5G batch, its much more efficient/cheaper to go w/sterling... you'd have to buy twice the hops/oz to get the same IBUs with Saaz. Saaz is very expensive to use when going for bigger beers like this.
 
Brewed this one on 3/26/12. Awesome results!
SG: 1.066, FG: 1.012, IBU: 49, SRM: 8.2, ABV: 7.1%.
Used Gambrinus Pale Malt, Munich, & Crystal 20 & 10L, Perle & Centennial whole hops, Wyeast 1764 yeast. Fermented 5 days at 60, 5 days at 62, & 9 days at 66 degrees. Tastes great (I'm drinking a pint right now)! Thanks for posting these recipes!
 
My OG was 1.072 and FG 1.010. I guess my efficiency is a bit better than expected. I fermented @ 60 F for two weeks, up to 70 F for a week, then slowly down to 45 to clarify.

I can't wait to taste it!
 
The Rogue website says the hops are Perle and Saaz.... What made you choose Sterling?

Maier plainly states in the interview that Rogue no longer uses US Saaz in Dead Guy. They have moved to Sterling. There is better availability.
 
Can you just confirm.. a 90 min boil, and the first hop addition is for 90 minutes? I've never boiled hops for 90 minutes before.

Thanks,
 
Can you just confirm.. a 90 min boil, and the first hop addition is for 90 minutes? I've never boiled hops for 90 minutes before.

Thanks,

Yep, this is a 90 min boil with first hop addition going in for 90 min. You will get better hop utilization this way.
 
How long are you guys mashing @ 152? I'm doing a brew in a bag of this today so its higher water ratio. You think 75 minutes or just go with 60? I have no way to test the conversion..
 
I just brewed this recipe based on the CYBI clone and information in post #1. It's the coolest ale fermenation I've done, slow and steady airlock. I'm using Wyeast 1056 at 62F-63F, temperature plot below:

Graph.jpg
 
DSmith said:
I just brewed this recipe based on the CYBI clone and information in post #1. It's the coolest ale fermenation I've done, slow and steady airlock. I'm using Wyeast 1056 at 62F-63F, temperature plot below:

Dude, major nerd points for using a data logger to track your ferm chamber temp. I don't want to derail this post so do you explain how you set this up somewhere in this forum? I have done similar stuff for work using a labjack data aq with load cells and LVDT's.

At any rate, what do you have your temp controller set at? Mine is set at +/- 1 deg. And I tape the sensor to the carboy.
 
Dude, major nerd points for using a data logger to track your ferm chamber temp. I don't want to derail this post so do you explain how you set this up somewhere in this forum? I have done similar stuff for work using a labjack data aq with load cells and LVDT's.

At any rate, what do you have your temp controller set at? Mine is set at +/- 1 deg. And I tape the sensor to the carboy.

It's a Love TSS2 controller on a chest freezer with the temperature probe on the side of the carboy with insulation over it. More details on on Posts #80, #83 & #84 on this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/another-tss2-controller-box-build-195713/index9.html

The data logger is an Extech EA15 with the (2) type-K thermocouples that came with it. I do work with industrial heat transfer equipment and my company has these small data loggers and 60-input Agilent ones & hundreds of high accuracy thermocouples. This is my 2nd fermentation with the Love TSS2 controller and seeing the data really helps know what to expect. I was using a Johnson A419 before this as discussed in the thread.

My cooling setpoint is 63F and 0.5F differential. The heater would come on if the fermenter dropped to 61.5F and would increase the temperature to 62F.

I'm hoping for a really clean fermenation and a beer that is similar to Dead Guy.
 
I just brewed this recipe based on the CYBI clone and information in post #1. It's the coolest ale fermenation I've done, slow and steady airlock. I'm using Wyeast 1056 at 62F-63F, temperature plot below:

View attachment 73868

Checked gravity after 2 weeks (kept at 63F for about a week until airlock bubbling was almost stopped and raised to 66F) and got 84% attenuation with Wyeast 1056. I plan on at least 4 weeks total in primary and bottling with about 2.3 vol CO2. It ended up being a little bigger beer than anticipated but maybe a rebrew will be to mash a few degrees higher.
 
I used Crisp Cara Malt (17L) to substitute the Carastan Light Malt (about 15L). I bet you could blend them pretty successfully or just use the 20L malt.

I bottled my batch made with Weyermann Light Munich (6L), Rahr American 2-Row (1.8L) & Crisp Cara Malt (17L) and the color might be a little lighter than commercial Dead Guy ale. I plan on posting a pic in a few weeks when it's bottle carbonated.
 
I used Crisp Cara Malt (17L) to substitute the Carastan Light Malt (about 15L). I bet you could blend them pretty successfully or just use the 20L malt.

I bottled my batch made with Weyermann Light Munich (6L), Rahr American 2-Row (1.8L) & Crisp Cara Malt (17L) and the color might be a little lighter than commercial Dead Guy ale. I plan on posting a pic in a few weeks when it's bottle carbonated.

Great beer!

Gelatin Results.jpg
 
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