Utopia Clone #3 Perfecting Nirvanha

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Soooooo. When can I show up with a carboy and take my share home?

Not that I don't have FULL faith in Flounders ability to get this done but one of the big concerns has been volume. I can help fix that by takin my share out of the mix.

Its a win-win really.
 
ouch... too many responses and I'm actually going to be respectful.

joming aside, if you're kicking around the idea of tossing bugs at some point, I would much rather take my little share and see what I can do with it.
 
uhhh... I didn't say that.

just saying Flounder's complaint is that there is too many gallons. I'll take mine and it won't be a problem any more. That's all.

I'm trying to do Flounder a favor here.
 
I am just thinking that i have all of these crazy yeast cakes at my place and if this bqtch is struggling anlittle I might as well give something at my place a shot. I would rather not take on the responsibility of the whole batch but I would roll the dice on my share.
 
Uhhhhh, thanks but we're ok.


Good grief, that's my worst nightmare. I can't get the U3 to finish and you come riding in like John Wayne to the rescue. I can just picture your post the next morning. It would be a link to a YouTube video of you riding on a bus like those JG Wentworth commercials, all dressed up in horned helmets straight from The Flight of the Valkyrie.

"They called Cape Brewing,
I got their beer to ferment NOW!"

Then your boy Dakota pops up on the screen dressed up like Maid Marion,

"He got their beer to ferment NOW!!!!"


Honest to God, I'd rather pour it down a storm drain.

PTN
 
Cape Brewing said:
I am just thinking that i have all of these crazy yeast cakes at my place and if this bqtch is struggling anlittle I might as well give something at my place a shot. I would rather not take on the responsibility of the whole batch but I would roll the dice on my share.

You mean the share that was offered without consultation with me? The one that screwed the entire batch because the design was to have a starter for 12 gallons??? That share?
 
Because the extra couple of gallons of Capes share stopped the yeast from eating sugar and bringing the gravity past 1.190???
 
Like I was saying... My share is the big problem so I'll take it so it wont be a problem.

I am home all weekend. Let me know when it is good time to swing by
 
Paul... What are you so nervous about. You're "the third best brewer in the country" and you're "embarrassed by how my brew sessions go"... Hell... I apparently don't even measure volumes.

How could I POSSIBLY succeed here???

I don't get why you're so opposed. Anything I do would obviously be a excercise in futility so what is the big deal?
 
Paul any word on how this is doing? When do you transfer to a barrel? Does this get barrel aged?

Just curious not poking the bear to make it angry.
 
I talked to Chris the other day and I think he said it was around 1.090. It's moving a little slow this year.
 
Does this go into a barrel to age? I thought it did but I dint know for sure or if there just using chips.
 
It's still in Yeager's basement, I haven't seen it or tasted it since the day we brewed it. Last I heard or asked, sometime in the fall or late summer, it was 1070-ish and still too sweet. I know the combo to his garage, maybe I'll drive over some day when they're gone, drop a deuce in the master bathroom, light up a stogie and check it out for myself.

That could be fun.
 
So I think I remember you guys saying you got your first sam adams utopia clone down to like 1.030. So how did you guys get that one to go that low. I might try making 3 gallons of this and pitching on a big yeast cake.
 
jtejedor said:
So I think I remember you guys saying you got your first sam adams utopia clone down to like 1.030. So how did you guys get that one to go that low. I might try making 3 gallons of this and pitching on a big yeast cake.

U1 has been a tough act to follow. Not the brewing of it, that part is easy. The fermentation, OTOH, can be tremendously challenging. We've done four and got two of them to ferment fully. The other two are in a state of suspended animation . We might need to follow Capes lead and treat one of the batches like its Ted Williams head and see what happens.
 
U3 didn't quite rise to our level of expectations. (And they say that I can be too blunt. How's that for politically correct mushmouth talk?)

Ya, the long and the short of it is that it fermented 2/3 of the way and croaked. We did everything short of bringing in unicycle riding midgets but couldn't get it to finish. It was probably around 18% ABV but still WAY too sweet. It was undrinkable as it was, so we gave it to a friend and he ran it through his Wooba Gooba machine and seperated it into it's componet parts. We took the first 18% or so of the liquid that came out of the Wooba Gooba machine and kept that seperate form the rest.

I haven't actually tried it yet, this occured over the winter and the stuff was just dropped off at TWB last week. I plan on heading there this evening and trying it. I'll probably put in some charred oak sticks into the jug (my share is around a gallon) and wait and see what develops. If any of you local guys are interested in trying it come by TWB tonight. I'll probably be there around 6.
 
I will never forget the bit that I was lucky enough to try at NHC a few years ago. I am not sure which batch that was from...whatever Cape had brought with him. It was absolutely delicious.

Since it has been a couple of years since the last attempt, I take it there are no more Utopia batches on the horizon?
 
U3 didn't quite rise to our level of expectations. (And they say that I can be too blunt. How's that for politically correct mushmouth talk?)

Ya, the long and the short of it is that it fermented 2/3 of the way and croaked. We did everything short of bringing in unicycle riding midgets but couldn't get it to finish. It was probably around 18% ABV but still WAY too sweet. It was undrinkable as it was, so we gave it to a friend and he ran it through his Wooba Gooba machine and seperated it into it's componet parts. We took the first 18% or so of the liquid that came out of the Wooba Gooba machine and kept that seperate form the rest.

I haven't actually tried it yet, this occured over the winter and the stuff was just dropped off at TWB last week. I plan on heading there this evening and trying it. I'll probably put in some charred oak sticks into the jug (my share is around a gallon) and wait and see what develops. If any of you local guys are interested in trying it come by TWB tonight. I'll probably be there around 6.

Two words... Jet fuel.
 
And Melana is right. The guy who ran it through his Wooba Gooba machine ran it through three times as reflux runs. It is highly pure, about 178 proof according to the special hydrometer we floated in it. It was pretty funny. I grabbed one off the shelf and started to pour the stuff into the tube when I realized how foolish that was. It's not like any bacteria would survive an immersion into this stuff, so I just dropped the hydrometer straight into the jug. Almost a big mistake. There is nothing in there, no solids, no sugars not even much water. The hydrometer bounced off the bottom of the glass jug. Fortunately the thing didn't break.

So it is highly concentrated. The burn is quite strong and it elicits a head shake from everyone who tried it. But there are no unpleasant tastes or aromas. Once it gets diluted down it should be a good starting base. My idea of turning it into a whiskey won't work, there are no remaining flavor compounds to work with. Putting wood to it would just give wood flavored neutral spirits. I'll probably put fruits in a few of them. I figure roughly 8 - 10 bottles of finished product from the one gallon one diluted. I'll post more later.
 
Just wondering if you guys thought about freeze concentrating the wort before the boil. It would reduce the amount of time required to boil the wort to increase starting gravity.
 
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