Midas Touch

I'm doing a clone of DogFish Head Midas Touch (honey, muscat concentrate, safron). I used about half of the muscat concentrate. Since it was expensive, I put the rest in the freezer, but it didn't actually freeze. Will it keep OK, or will it go bad in there?

It wont freeze likely bc of its concentration. Freezing keeps things fresh because the bacteria the sour your edibles enjoy the same temps we enjoy. So as long as your stuff is kept as cold as your freezer it won't go bad due to bacteria. However, I don't know how that stuff naturally degrades or responds to oxygen.

That beer is SO interesting, let me know how it turns out please!

I am a huge fan of DFH Midas, but it is so expensive. I really hope it turns out. It is fermenting right now, and I am sure (since it is a big beer) it will need some time in the secondary and bottles to mellow. But I will report back.

I received "Extreme Brewing" by Sam Calagione of DFH and in the book it has the recipe for Midas Touch BUT its only partial grain which is disappointing b/c I have brewed my last few batches AG and I really prefer to brew this way now over anything else. I understand I can always convert the 8 pounds of light malt extract into grains (though I'm not sure if there is a formula for such a conversion) but really I want the beer to be as like if not exactly like DFH makes it (and they obviously don't use extracts). They have several other beers of theirs in the book as well and they are all partial grain...

Just opened my first Midas Touch clone. It is really interesting. Nice smell-- saffron and grape instead of hops. It tastes sweet at first and then has a kind of dry alcohol finish. As I worked my way through it, I discovered it was becoming better as it approached room temperature. In the future I think I will take it out of the fridge 30 min ahead of time.

The alcohol is still a little harsh, but I expect it to mellow as I leave it sit in the bottle over the next few weeks.

I've done a Midas Touch clone twice before and had good results, basically a conversion of the recipe from the book. I found that the saffron was easy to over-do, I wish I had a very tiny scale to measure it by mass, instead of "threads".

I intentionally put in too little saffron and then added more when it was in the secondary until it seemed right.

can you post the recipe/method you followed. I'm really interested. Midas Touch is a very tasty interesting brew...

To me DFH MT was a perfect learning experience on why hops has become very much the norm in beer.

When I took the first sips of it I was very impressed. By the time I got several ounces in to the bottle I had had enough of its cloying sweetness and I ended up dumping the last half of the bottle. I watched several other people have the exact same reaction. It was very interesting to watch the obvious transition of enjoyment in their faces.

After a while I had to get a glass of ipa to scrub that persistent syrup taste out of my mouth. This was an experience that I will not soon repeat.

This was very reminiscent of an early experience I had as a chef. I made a Lobster Bisque that, on sampling, was one of the best things I felt I had ever created. And everyone who tasted it seemed to agree.

Cut to a few days later when I put it into production and started serving it. I sold a lot of it and I could see from our open kitchen that people really liked it when it was served. It took a while for me to notice that a lot of the bowls were coming back half eaten. And this was $18 soup (in 1980's dollars!) Finally I realized when I sat down with a full bowl one night what was going on. It was so damn rich that after a few bites it just became cloying. After a few more bites it was practically inedible.

Smaller portions of the bisque then...

A question about this brew, could American Saffron be used in order to bring the price down. I know it isn't the same, but in a beer would it be close enough?

mitch171 said:

Smaller portions of the bisque then...

A question about this brew, could American Saffron be used in order to bring the price down. I know it isn't the same, but in a beer would it be close enough?

Click to expand...

No way to fit a full chix lobster into a smaller portion then. It was easy to fix though, I replaced half of the heavy cream with fish stock.

The beer is easy to fix too. Get rid of the 3000 year old recipe stipulation and add about 40 IBU of bittering hops to it. It would barely be noticable in terms of flavor but it would keep it from overpowering the palate.

I just used the recipe and method from extreme brewing. You can convert the extract to AG pretty easily. On the taste of Midas: I suppose I just disagree with the negative reaction above. I don't find it hard to get through a whole beer. I wouldn't want several in a sitting. But it is the sort of thing I don't mind having 50 of in the basement and then grabbing one once in awhile after dinner or late at night. Maybe closer to a cordial than the sort of thing you would drink while watching football. But I am a fan.

From Extreme Brewing:

Midas Touch

Preboil 6 gallons water

Boil:
8 pounds Light Malt Extract (75 min)
2 pounds Clover Honey (75 min)
1/4 ounce Simcoe Hops (60 min)
10 Saffron threads (end of boil)

Fermentation:
White labs WLP001 or Wyeast 1056 ale yeast
1 quart White Muscat Grape juice concentrate (3 days)

Bottling:
5 ounces priming sugar

SG: 1.086
FG: 1.026
ABV: 9%
IBU's: 12

I just brewed MT clone and I must have missed a bit bc my intial SG came in @ 1.058 as oppososed to the expected 1.086. I added all the honey and extract was pretty much spot on. Any ideas? I ran the temp deviation and the most that I could come up with was maybe .009. Anyone else come in low on their initial? Thanks in avdance. JP

I don't remember, but I think that 1.086 is supposed to include the muscat that gets added after a few days. Did you add that yet?

JaePee, don't be surprised if it takes a number of weeks/months to get good. I brewed mine in September and it's only now that I'm REALLY starting to enjoy it.

sorry for resurrecting this thread, but I wanted to thank you for positing the recipe, my wife and I will give this a try next week!