Devil May Cry (10.10.10 Edition) - Official Recipe

SpanishCastleAle said:

Kingbrian,
Seems that Flanders Golden Ale yeast doesn't want to flocc out. I dunno what other yeast you could use for bottling to get it more clear. Maybe WY3787, that produced a fairly clear Tripel for me. They say Notty is high alcohol tolerant but this just seems too high. My understanding is that Brouwerij Van Seenberge filters out the main ferment yeast and bottles with something else. Just something to consider.

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I don't know, I watched it drop in secondary pretty well. There was a distinctive line where below was cloudy and above was clear that worked it's way down slowly but surely. And the cake from primary was pretty dense so hopefully it'll stick to the bottom of the bottle pretty well when poured. I wonder if the brewery filters their beer not because it won't flocculate but because they didn't want it distributed?

I noticed the same flocculation in my pale ale "starter beer" w/ the wlp570. I still have my 10.10.10 in primary buckets, so I can't really see what's going on... but for the pale ale in secondary, it took a week at 45 degees for it to all floc out. Pretty fun to watch that sharp line move down a bit every day.

I think I spoke too soon and you may be right Kingbrian. I just stole a pour of my 'Enkle' yeast-propagating brew and it's much clearer than I expected. Both the Enkle and the Tripel were quite cloudy when I racked them so I wasn't sure if it would clear well in a bottle.

Even though this Enkle finished lower than I targeted (FG was 1.004 from 1.048) it's actually really good. I didn't get anywhere near the phenolics or fruit that I get from the 'usual' Belgian yeasts in this brew.

SpanishCastleAle said:

I think I spoke too soon and you may be right Kingbrian. I just stole a pour of my 'Enkle' yeast-propagating brew and it's much clearer than I expected. Both the Enkle and the Tripel were quite cloudy when I racked them so I wasn't sure if it would clear well in a bottle.

Even though this Enkle finished lower than I targeted (FG was 1.004 from 1.048) it's actually really good. I didn't get anywhere near the phenolics or fruit that I get from the 'usual' Belgian yeasts in this brew.

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Yeah, I noticed both my belgian pale ale starter beer and the 10.10.10 taste much sweeter than the low gravity would lead you to believe. It really is an interesting yeast, but I think if I use it for a pale ale again, I'll up the bittering 10-15 IBU. The fruitiness of the yeast is also peculiar, in that it puts me in the mind of all kinds of sweet flowers and fruit and other stuff, but the only aroma I can really pinpoint is this sweet artificial-banana smell. It is very appealing though.

Bottled yesterday in to 32 16oz ez capperss, and two 20 or 22oz ez cappers. Smelled sooo goood. Tasted soooo booozy. I should probably consider putting it somewhere not in the brewery so I forget all about it for a year.

KingBrianI said:

Yeah, I noticed both my belgian pale ale starter beer and the 10.10.10 taste much sweeter than the low gravity would lead you to believe. It really is an interesting yeast, but I think if I use it for a pale ale again, I'll up the bittering 10-15 IBU. The fruitiness of the yeast is also peculiar, in that it puts me in the mind of all kinds of sweet flowers and fruit and other stuff, but the only aroma I can really pinpoint is this sweet artificial-banana smell. It is very appealing though.

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I noticed the same thing. I bottled mine on 10/07/09 and after two months in the bottles I couldn't resist cracking one open at a HBC meeting last week. It got a lot of compliments, but discerning palates complained that it was too sweet for a GSA despite it finishing around 1.009 (well within style guidelines). I guess if I did it again I might up the hops, but I'm pretty satisfied with what I have. Can't wait to taste this thing on 10/10/10!

OK, I bottled yesterday, here are my numbers:

Original Brix 27.8% (1.119 SG)
Final Brix 12.8% not adjusted
Final Gravity (adjusted for Ethanol) 1.010
ABV 14.4% !

Some comments -

I ended up with less going into the fermenters than planned due to more kettle loss to leaf hops and trub. (OK, I lost track at the beginning of the boil because I was cleaning kegs to keg my starter BPA and boiled away an extra gallon or so, I probably should have added back a gallon of water)

Yeast flocculated slowly, as a result I had a fairly loose/deep layer at the bottom of the fermenter that I didn't want to rack into the bottling bucket which in turn reduced my final volume to a little over 8 gallons. I ended up with 3 cases +_8 bottles.

I added all my sugar to the boil since it was just before my wives back surgery and I knew I would not have the time/will to do periodic feedings. I did not seem to suffer any ill effect in terms of reaching final gravity.

Tasted really great straight out of the fermenter. Looking forward to testing those extra eight bottles over the next few months. Maybe 2 in a month, 2 mid April, 2 mid June, and 2 mid August.

I racked mine to secondary a few months back at 1.020, and it is still there. Started at 1.100 (correcting for sugar, which I added during fermentation), so it is just over 10% ABV. Tastes great - lots of Belgian yeast flavour, but a bit sweet. I mashed at 149 for 90 mins, used Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale yeast.

Would adding champagne yeast(??) knock a few more points off my gravity? I think I'm going to have to add yeast to bottle anyway, but I'd rather not get bottle bombs if fermentation does start up again!

I'm finally making this recipe and about to make my sugar additions into the primary. I realize that the percentage of the table sugar is low enough to not have an adverse effect on the flavor but I was wondering if making an invert sugar would benefit the beer. Since I already have to boil up the sugar it wouldn't be too much to make the invert sugar.

13.2 lbs Bries Pilsen Light (4 cans total) (very slightly rounded up)
10 oz Belgian Munich Malt
10 oz White Wheat Malt
3.0 lbs Sugar (corn or table)
1.0 oz Galena (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 90 min
1 oz Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
1 oz Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
1.0 ea White Labs WLP570 Belgian Golden Ale

I would think a mini mash or steeping the Munich and White Wheat at 149F and Sparging it at 168F would do the trick. When I do it I’ll probably just use a half gallon steep/mini mash considering it’s barely a pound of grain.

I have hopes of having a 10 gallon kettle by the time I do this so I’ll do a mash/sparge on the stove and move it to my propane burner for a full 5 gallon boil with the extract and hops. Will have top off water handy. Then in a couple days I will break up the sugar into 1.5lb per half gallon batches and add the rest in for a total of 6 gallons.

How’s sound for an extract version?

What is the group's thoughts on using a yeast cake from Delerium Tremens for this brew. I have a batch ready to rack and don't want to waste the yeast (took me three times trying get it cutured). While I know it wont be the same beer, I love that yeast.

My concern is that the DT yeast will ferment this out too dry. Thoughts?

BADCL0WN said:

What is the group's thoughts on using a yeast cake from Delerium Tremens for this brew. I have a batch ready to rack and don't want to waste the yeast (took me three times trying get it cutured). While I know it wont be the same beer, I love that yeast.

My concern is that the DT yeast will ferment this out too dry. Thoughts?

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With all that alcohol in there it's gonna be hard to make it too dry imo. You'd be surprised how low the FG needs to be to prevent it from tasting too sweet (from the alcohol).

However I think mine may have went too far. I used the Flanders Golden Ale yeast and fed the sugar in the fermenter and it went all the way down to 1.004 (from 1.100).

Wow thats pretty low from 1.100. I was impressed with the Delerium Tremens yeast getting down to 1.002 (from 1.070).

Ok, so I made a half-batch, and after having it sitting in my computer room for a few months, I tried one.

Flat.

Sweet.

Apparently, I did not get enough yeast, even though I siphoned some of the cake. So, should I make up a starter, and recap each bottle after adding a bit of the new yeast?

How long has it been bottled? It can take a few months for a beer this big to carb.

Edcculus said:

How long has it been bottled? It can take a few months for a beer this big to carb.

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It's been a few months. I got a late start, but was brewed just after the "official" brew period. Then a good amount of fermentation. At bottling I did normal, but tried to suck some of the yeast off the cake as I siphoned into bottling bucket. The bottles have been sitting in my computer room, which should be around 70 degrees.

It tastes ok, other than being a bit sweet and flat, and the hops, which were way too much at the time, have mellowed out and is just about right IMO. Maybe not for this particular style yet, but pretty mellow now. If I could get a little bit of carb (I didnt' go overboard on the priming sugar because I used standard bottles), and lose some sweetness, it should be a not bad beer.

As it is, it's got a sugar-water flavor that doesn't go down very easily.

Could you get a starter going on a high gravity yeast, and then use an eye dropper to add it to the bottles and re-cap? I doubt the yeast would matter, as long as it can handle the ABV...

I'm a bit worried at mine too. I planned on bottling mine before christmas and had made up a starter of washed flanders golden ale yeast so I could add a little at bottling, but when I looked at the carboy the cloudy yeast layer had not yet reached the bottom. So I put the flask in the fridge where it stayed all 3 weeks I was gone for vacation. When I got back there was a tiny little bit of something fuzzy growing on the surface so I dumped it. I bottled last week with a bit of us-05 that I top cropped from an active blonde ale I have going. Hopefully that stuff does the job, but at 14.5% ABV, it might be a struggle. I've been looking at the bottles to see if it looks like anything is going on in there, but all the yeast has settled to the bottom. In a couple months I'll open one up to check, and if it's not carbed, may think about adding a speck of dry champagne yeast to each bottle.

There are a lot of pages here, and I'm a little lazy. Is anyone adding brett to this beer? I still have mine in bulk storage and plan on bottling in Belgian/champagne bottles in a month or two. I'm sure I'll have to add some yeast at bottling. At ~13% the yeast thats been settling out over the past few months couldn't even ferment a single molecule of invert sugar. I was thinking of adding brett and another ale yeast at bottling. The ale yeast/brett combo will hopefully get it nice and carbed by October. I'm thinking the brett will make aging this beer very interesting. Thoughts?

Half of mine is aging with Wyeast Brett C and two pounds of dates. To bottle condition I will krausen the beer with actively fermenting brett L. Corks and cages for sure, I'm aiming for 3 volumes but it may exceed that by a good margin.

Sounds good! I might end up doing somehting similar. For the Brett L krausen, are you brewing a beer and pulling some actively fermenting beer, or just doing a starter?

Edcculus said:

Sounds good! I might end up doing somehting similar. For the Brett L krausen, are you brewing a beer and pulling some actively fermenting beer, or just doing a starter?

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I'm just going to make a starter of suitable size to carbonate the batch, pitch it when it gets to high krausen and bottle.

Had a taste of this tonight. I needed to pull the yeast out of the keg I have it aging in so I took the chance to take a sample. Oh man its great. Its really mellowed over the last few months. Its not hot anymore, and the banana esters have really faded and mellowed into a great Belgian flavor/aroma. Can't wait until this is bottled and carbonated.

I'm really surprised how dry this is considering the gravity. I guess 3lbs of sugar helps

Edcculus said:

Had a taste of this tonight. I needed to pull the yeast out of the keg I have it aging in so I took the chance to take a sample. Oh man its great. Its really mellowed over the last few months. Its not hot anymore, and the banana esters have really faded and mellowed into a great Belgian flavor/aroma. Can't wait until this is bottled and carbonated.

I'm really surprised how dry this is considering the gravity. I guess 3lbs of sugar helps

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I'm kind of wishing I would have bulk-aged. My batch tastes pretty good, but definitely not dry even though it's at 1.009ish. It tastes almost like a Quad with a lot of sweet, alcohol flavor. Not hot or off-flavored though. Did you use the Flanders Golden Ale yeast?

Hopefully some of you are still following this thread and can answer a few questions for a new guy.

I am in the process of making this beer right now and just finished reading though this thread. Seems like there wasn't a final decision on when it is best to start adding the sugar into the primary. Any final thoughts?

Also, did you guys let it get down to 1.010-1.012 in the primary and then transfer into the secondary. At what temp did you keep the secondary and for how long before bottling? I was thinking of keeping it in the my fridge for a month or so to cold crash it and keep it from fermenting any more. Is this ok?

Thanks, The FNG

I added it 1 lb at a time for 3 days after about 3 days of active fermentation. I boiled 1lb with enough water to dissolve, and a little yeast nutrient. I let it cool and dumped it in.

Also, I wouldnt try to stop this beer at 1.010. With all the alcohol, mine is still a little sweet even though its at 1.000.

Thanks Edcculus. So I will just let it ferment out and then transfer to the secondary. Did you move your secondary to a cooler spot or just leave it? How long did you leave it in the secondary before bottling?

Lets see. I brewed in early September, and from what I remember left it in the primary for at least a month and a half, then racked to a keg for long term bulk storage. Its been in a purged keg since December. I wouldn't keep it in a very hot place. I wouldn't necessarily worry about keeping it too cool either. I plan on bottling it soon so it will be ready to drink on 10-10-10

Thank you sir!

Brewed this today!!
I brewed Parti-Gyle where I had one mash and the first 6gal of wort made the Belgian Strong Golden Ale and the next 10gal made the Kölsch
Thats a large sparge

I tweaked the grain bill just a bit
added more wheat for the Kölsch
so it was
31 lbs of pils malt
5.5 lbs of wheat malt
1 lbs Munich malt
It went real well, the BGS gravity hit at 1.085, will add the 3lbs of corn sugar in a few days.
the 10 gal of kolsch was 1.049 so both were a hair low but not really all that much considering this is my first attempt at the whole Parti-Gyle tech.
over all I really liked it. I think it adds a new lvl of fun to brew day and recipe formulation.
http://www.antiochsudsuckers.com/tom/parti-gyle.htm

I tapped mine a little while ago. It's strong. A little fruity, not very phenolic at all, and strong. I guess at ~12% ABV it should be.

Will bottle it soon.

Question. Mine was at 1.090 after the boil and I staggered the 3lbs of sugar after 3 days in the primary. It now seems to be stuck at 1.022. Is this because I may have added too much sugar? Should I just let it sit a while longer or try and pitch more yeast to get it going again? Kind of new at this.

smuth10 said:

Question. Mine was at 1.090 after the boil and I staggered the 3lbs of sugar after 3 days in the primary. It now seems to be stuck at 1.022. Is this because I may have added too much sugar? Should I just let it sit a while longer or try and pitch more yeast to get it going again? Kind of new at this.

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What yeast did you use?

If the yeast is tolerant of the alcohol it should be able to take it to a very low FG. I used the Gulden Draak yeast. Mine was 1.100 OG (including sugar which was added in 3 increments after fermentation started) and finished at 1.004.

I used the wl yeast it called for and made 1.5 lt starter. It went nuts for a few days and then seemed to slow way down when I added the sugar. I boiled 1lb of sugar in a pt of water and added it about every day or two. I am getting no activity in the air lock, but there is still a small layer of bubbles on the top.

You underpitched but it still may go lower if you aerated well enough. Many of us made a starter, then used that to brew a 5 gal. batch of low gravity Belgian Pale Ale, then used the whole yeast cake from that for the big beer. A brew this big needs a LOT of yeast.

I will make sure I aerate it really well tonight.

I made a westvleteren 12 clone and forgot to get a starter going and had no problems. It went from .090 to .012 on 1 vile of wl yeast. I guess I got lucky. Thanks for the replies.

DON'T aerate now! Once you've gotten this far you def don't want to aerate it. You need aerate at the beginning when you pitch the yeast. You'll just oxidize the hell out of it now.

Hmmm. Was I not supposed to stir in the sugar additions then? Maybe that is my problem because I stirred it pretty well when I added the sugar. I hope I didn't wreck this beer. A lot of time and $ in this one.

smuth10 said:

Hmmm. Was I not supposed to stir in the sugar additions then? Maybe that is my problem because I stirred it pretty well when I added the sugar. I hope I didn't wreck this beer. A lot of time and $ in this one.

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A little stirring with a CO2 cap on top prob won't hurt it. But actively trying to aerate it now will. I've read of people aerating after fermentation kicks in for REALLY big beers (bigger than ours, I think the Utopia clone brewers do this) because the yeast just won't be able to finish the job without it. But they are aerating when there is still a lot of fermentation yet to complete. Your fermentation is too far.

So basically I just let it sit and hope it ferments out. If it doesn't though I'm worried it will be too sweet.