Wood-Aged Beer Allagash Curieux Clone

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1Mainebrew

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2010
Messages
934
Reaction score
39
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
wyeast 3522
Yeast Starter
YES
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
wlp 550
Batch Size (Gallons)
4
Original Gravity
1.085
Final Gravity
1.008
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
27
Color
5.1
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
60
Additional Fermentation
80 days aging in keg
Tasting Notes
AMAZING!!!!
MALTS:

13 lb Belgian Pilsner
1 lb Carapils
1 lb Corn Sugar (15 minutes in the boil)

HOPS:

0.5 oz Tettnang 5.7% 60 min (9.11 IBU)
1 oz Hallertauer 60 2.6 % min (8.31 IBU)
0.25 oz Tettnang 30 min (3.5 IBU)
0.5 oz Hallertauer 30 min (3.19 IBU)
0.25 oz Tettnang 10 min (1.65 IBU)
0.5 oz Hallertauer 10 min (1.51 IBU)

YEASTS:

Half Gallon starter with BOTH
Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes
WLP 550 Belgian Ale

MISC:

3 Oz Hungarian Medium toast oak cubes
Jim Beam

MASH:

60 min at 151

FERMENTATION SCHEDULE:

29 Days at 70 without oak
28 days at 70 with oak
80 days in keg room temp
60 days at serving temp PRIOR to serving
enjoy absolute deliciousness!

Any questions please see https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/allagash-curieux-clone-250654/

Enjoy!

It just gets better with age!!!!!!!!!!!!

Curieux Clone.jpg
 
Mainebrew - Does it taste like the original? I just had on Monday for the first time and was amazing. Just tried the Kate recipe (had all the issues with sparging as posted). This appears to be next inline now!!!
 
Yeah it's delish! Try blending it with fresh tripel for the most authentic taste. Otherwise it's more Jim beam up front.
 
How much Jim Beam did you soak the oak cubes in and for how long? I would have to say this is my favorite triple.
Sorry just saw your link. I assume just enough beam to cover the cubes in a bowl?
 
OMG can't believe I found a recipe for this. A great beer. Could you convert to extract for me, I'm a newby. When you said to blend it with fresh triple what do you mean and Is there a better way to get the same taste?

Thanks
Ayup!
 
If you want to do this extract, get the lightest dme you can get and add it all in the last 15 minutes of the boil. You will need to adjust your hopping depending on if you do full volume boils vs partial volume but that's another story.

To blend it with fresh tripel you just make another batch and blend the fresh unoaked tripel with the aged, oaked, Jim beamed tripel until its just right!
 
1Mainebrew said:
If you want to do this extract, get the lightest dme you can get and add it all in the last 15 minutes of the boil. You will need to adjust your hopping depending on if you do full volume boils vs partial volume but that's another story.

To blend it with fresh tripel you just make another batch and blend the fresh unoaked tripel with the aged, oaked, Jim beamed tripel until its just right!

Just brewed.....cooling as we speak. Needed to sub some hops but hopefully as good!
 
hbr2547 said:
Just brewed.....cooling as we speak. Needed to sub some hops but hopefully as good!

Brewed last Sunday. Down to 1.02 and counting. Still has about four inches of krausen on top.....
 
so i was curious on this recipe, so its 29 days no oak then 28 on oak, so after that 28 days do you pull the oak chips out? and do you add the oak chips in the primary or do you rack the beer off to secondary and then add the oak chips?

if i wanted to make this into a 10 gallon batch, can i just input these in to beersmith and have that upscale it?
 
so i was curious on this recipe, so its 29 days no oak then 28 on oak, so after that 28 days do you pull the oak chips out? and do you add the oak chips in the primary or do you rack the beer off to secondary and then add the oak chips?

if i wanted to make this into a 10 gallon batch, can i just input these in to beersmith and have that upscale it?

Most likely what you would want to do is primary ferment, reach your FG and then re-rack into a secondary on top of your soaked oak chips. Scale it up in beersmith.
 
I just let it hang out on the cake the whole time but either way would work. Have fun, it's delish!
 
JWeidman - not sure if you got an answer about a 10 gallon batch but what I would do is make a 10 gallon batch. Rack 5 gallons to a secondary, with the Jim Beam soaked oak chips and leave the other 5 gallon in the primary. After the "oak aging" rack them together.

Allagash states that they blend "oaked" and "unoaked" to make the finished beer. I have yet to find a clone recipe that states what quantities of each to use though. In the end your looking to find the right taste of bourbon when it gets mixed. To me both the Curieux and the Bourbon black have a nice subtle bourbon taste to them, many over do the bourbon aspect and you lose the base beer taste. So, I think your just looking for a subtle bourbon finish as the end result.
 
JWeidman - not sure if you got an answer about a 10 gallon batch but what I would do is make a 10 gallon batch. Rack 5 gallons to a secondary, with the Jim Beam soaked oak chips and leave the other 5 gallon in the primary. After the "oak aging" rack them together.

Allagash states that they blend "oaked" and "unoaked" to make the finished beer. I have yet to find a clone recipe that states what quantities of each to use though. In the end your looking to find the right taste of bourbon when it gets mixed. To me both the Curieux and the Bourbon black have a nice subtle bourbon taste to them, many over do the bourbon aspect and you lose the base beer taste. So, I think your just looking for a subtle bourbon finish as the end result.

This is one of my favorite beers, been working with a recipe so this will be one of my next beers.

On a tour to Allagash they said they blend at about 80/20 beam barrel triple to fresh triple.
 
This is my favorite beer of all time, I can't wait to make this. I know there was some discussion in the other thread about the necessity of the two types of yeast, but I was looking for a substitute for the Wyeast 3522, and apparently it is the same yeast as the WLP550? If that's the case, it's simply a matter of having a proper starter made, yes?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/b...lgian-ardennes-3522-out-these-options-184872/

http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm#Wyeast_vs_WLP

REALLY looking forward to trying this out, especially after all the positive feedback in the other thread! Thanks for putting it together!
 
I went to go visit Allagash two summers ago and they instantly became one of my favorites.

This recipe looks fantastic. I've got all ingredients and am ready to go.

I brew in 1 gallon batches for versatility in addition to spatial constraints. I've read and heard a lot of issues with bourbon-oak over-powering the 1 gallon batches. How much oak chip do you recommend that I use and how long should I soak them?

Thanks!:tank:
 
If your using oak chips in a one gallon batch I would leave it on the oak long and wouldn't use very much at all. The chips have a lot of surface area so it won't take long to get the oak flavor imparted.

I used 3oz of cubes mixed with about 3.5oz of Devils Cut Bourbon for 5 gallons. The oak is definitely there, not overpowering but its noticeable.

I soaked mine for I think 4 weeks total. 2 weeks before brewing then primaried for 2 weeks then racked onto the oak for 2 weeks.

I know that's not a straight answer but I think your going to want to take sole each day after a few days and then decide when it tastes good to you. The oak has became stronger as the beer has aged so keep that in mind.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Home Brew mobile app
 
If your using oak chips in a one gallon batch I would leave it on the oak long and wouldn't use very much at all. The chips have a lot of surface area so it won't take long to get the oak flavor imparted.

I used 3oz of cubes mixed with about 3.5oz of Devils Cut Bourbon for 5 gallons. The oak is definitely there, not overpowering but its noticeable.

I soaked mine for I think 4 weeks total. 2 weeks before brewing then primaried for 2 weeks then racked onto the oak for 2 weeks.

I know that's not a straight answer but I think your going to want to take sole each day after a few days and then decide when it tastes good to you. The oak has became stronger as the beer has aged so keep that in mind.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Home Brew mobile app

Thanks! This somewhat helps. I was thinking that since these chips are thin, it wouldn't take too long to soak in, nor absorb out. Would it make a difference if I just added the chips in w/o soaking and then add the bourbon towards the end of the secondary? I've never oaked before.
 
This is one of my favorite beers, been working with a recipe so this will be one of my next beers.



On a tour to Allagash they said they blend at about 80/20 beam barrel triple to fresh triple.


Ok so this is at the top of my list to brew. Is there any reason I can't split a 10 gallon batch and only oak age part then mix back together? He is the important question which part of 80/20 is is oak aged?


I'm not sure if my the flavors in my beer are off or complex 😳
 
If you look at the other thread listed in the first post, that seems to be the preferred method.
 
Can someone translate 60 days/Primary 80 days/Kegging for me?

Currently do not have a kegging setup. I would think 80 days in a secondary with temperature controlled?

Thanks.
 
So 80 days in the keg is enough time for the beer to carbonate and to age. It really important for a beer like this to age and mellow out. If you bottle this beer let it carbonate as you would any other beer, but try to allow it enough time to mellow. Don't start drinking it as soon as its carbonated. Lay it down (not literally, just don't touch it) for 6 months and then put it in the fridge for a couple of weeks before trying it. I hope that helps out. Have a good day!
 
I made a six gallon batch. I split in half with rift white oak and maple cubes I cut from work. The oak was soaked with Jim beam and the maple was with captain morgan. I made a new batch and was going for the 80/20 blend for both variations, but we blended small taster glasses at different ratios and couldn't tell a big difference with adding more fresh. The finish always had kept the same wood aged flavor profile, so we just used all the new batch and ended up somewhere around three gallons to two. I have had them in the fermentation chest for about two months now.

When exactly are you carbing? Are you blending it to a keg, putting 12psi on it, and keeping it for the eighty days? After I kegged them I put around 20-30psi to try to make sure the keg was sealed and purged out the oxygen a few times. Every once in awhile I would purge a little just to make sure they are under pressure and don't have a bad seal letting in bacteria or oxygen. Does that sound about right, or should I put them to a co2 tank now?
Thanks guys
 
Yup. I set it and forget it at 10 psi and wait for a couple months to go by (which is where pipeline planning is helpful). Then enjoy!
 
Ok, thanks. I put them on gas last weekend. The hardest part for me is waiting, this is the longest I let something age. Thanks again for the recipe, I'm looking forward toward them in a couple more months.
 
I saw on a different thread Mainebrew you said that allagash bottles with a different yeast strain. I bottle my beers still even after 5 years of home brewing lol. What would take a guess at what the yeast strain is for bottling?
 
Same as for fermenting for many beers. Try growing some dregs from Allagash White. They bottle with a clean ale yeast for their beers that have been aged a long time.
 
The dregs in Allagash brews are still bugged, though. Dumped some dregs from Interlude 2015 into this recipe and have had a wicked pellicle for about six months and it smells like red wine. :p
 
I've heard you can get their yeast from White. Maybe their year round line up uses their house strain while their other beers use a different strain?
 
Long time lurker here. Buddy and I have been making variations of this recipe for a year and half. Thank you for putting this out! Funny, the longer we wait, the better this beer tastes! 18 mos with one we substituted honey for sugar came out the best.
 

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