Dual Spires Black Lodge Ale

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Bottled this last night after 2 weeks in the primary and a week in the secondary. The final partially filled bottle was so good I drank it warm and flat... This could turn out to be a very good beer; more to come.

Pretty easy; only did a 45 minute boil:
Time - Additions
45min - 3lb sorghum, 3lb rice syrup, 1lb D-180 Dark Candi, 8oz Blackstrap Molasses, 5oz Dextrose, .5oz Cascade, .5oz Northern, 8oz maltodextrin, 1tsp gypsum
22min - .25oz Cascade, .25oz Northern
15min - 1tsp irish moss, 0.5tsp Yeast Nutrient
5min - .25oz Cascade, .25oz Northern

OG - 1.056
FG - 1.010
ABV - 5.9
IBU - 35
SRM - 27

Ok I just brewed my first batch of beer the other day. So sorry for the newb questions. My wife wanted a gf beer as my first smelled amazing as I put it in to ferment. Should be ready to bottle in a couple days. I used a kit for this, it is irish stout. I was wondering on this recipe do you just start out warming the water then just before boiling point is reached, and I assume this is a soft boil? Then just add the first list of ingredients? Also when fermenting why and how to determine if you should double ferment? if I understand correctly it's to mature the flavor of the beer? thanks for answering my questions.
 
Ok I just brewed my first batch of beer the other day. So sorry for the newb questions. My wife wanted a gf beer as my first smelled amazing as I put it in to ferment. Should be ready to bottle in a couple days. I used a kit for this, it is irish stout. I was wondering on this recipe do you just start out warming the water then just before boiling point is reached, and I assume this is a soft boil? Then just add the first list of ingredients? Also when fermenting why and how to determine if you should double ferment? if I understand correctly it's to mature the flavor of the beer? thanks for answering my questions.
For the Dual Spires, here's how my boil went:
- Bring 4-5 gallons of water to a boil (been doing 4 gallon boils lately, then topping off to 5 gallons in the primary)
- Remove from heat and add all 45 minute additions EXCEPT the hops
- Return to heat, stir it up, bring it back to a boil, then add 45 minute hop addition and start the clock
- Along with the 15 minute additions I also add the wort chiller to make double sure it is sanitized.

As for your question on utilizing a secondary fermenter, if you search this site you are likely to find much debate on whether it's "really" needed or not. As part of my brewing process, I always use a secondary fermenter after initial fermentation in the primary is complete. I do it to help further clear the beer and to get it out of the trub left in the bottom of the primary. While a must if you want to dry hop, add fruit, etc., from what I understand, a secondary fermenter is not otherwise a must.

If you don't have a wort chiller, I would recommend buying (or building) one before buying a secondary. Hope this helps.
 
Great thanks for that. I just made my own wort chiller, pretty ready to do, soft copper hose clamps, house bib adapter, clear tubing, BAM. Thats a great top on the chiller putting it in the pot last fifteen minutes to double insure it's sanitary. Won't it give an off taste though?
 
It's standard practice to put the immersion chiller in the boil kettle during the last 15 min.
 
Hope you didn't take my comment as negative. My comment was that its a standard practice and it had no bearing on whether its your 1st or not, just that you didn't know and I was trying to assure you that was the normal process. We all had questions like this at one point.

I feel like I'm starting over with the switch to GF brewing. Cheers :)
 
Bottled up a version of this last night...received the wrong hops ( no northern brewer) from an online order so subbed Columbus for the NB. Should still turn out good. I also dry hopped w 1 oz of cascade for 5 days....I'll report back in a month or so once it's ready.

how long before yours was drinkable? I am finding 1-2 months is when my beers start to get good
 
Just bottled today. Tasted initial after I bottled from a cracked bottle that would carb. Tasted pretty good. Strong blackstrap molasses flavor with hobs undertone. Had a bit of effervescence on the nose but hoping that will mellow with age. Excited about this one. I will post when it has conditioned.


OG 1.070
FG 1.020
ABV 6.55
 
Hope you didn't take my comment as negative. My comment was that its a standard practice and it had no bearing on whether its your 1st or not, just that you didn't know and I was trying to assure you that was the normal process. We all had questions like this at one point.

I feel like I'm starting over with the switch to GF brewing. Cheers :)

No I didn't. Just saying that my standard is still chaotic until I brew more is all.
 
i plan on doing this recipe on monday first real 5gallon batch .. wish me luck.. anyways my question is that my LHBS did not have safale 05.. i went with safale 04.. anyone know if i should get the 05? or try it out with the 04? thanks
 
i plan on doing this recipe on monday first real 5gallon batch .. wish me luck.. anyways my question is that my LHBS did not have safale 05.. i went with safale 04.. anyone know if i should get the 05? or try it out with the 04? thanks
04 will be fine; let us know how it goes.
 
well.. i can say this .. water took for ever to come to full boil so i had to use a lid and have it half on. other than that it went good EXCEPT.. i forgot ICE to cool the wort!! so my question to you is I ran cold water onto the pan and then went and got ice.. now how long can this wort sit out for .. its been an hour and its covered and ive read a lot of forums about this .. anyone ever have this happen to them?? .. next time i will be fully prepared and by that i will have a wort cooler
 
Good to hear.. I finally got it to cool down and I'm not sure if I read the reading right but I read 1.060? Maybe ..
 
That's probably right tommy. Discrepancies are probably due to different temps when people are taking gravity.
 
just took a hydrometer on day 5 read 1.020.. smell amazing looking real good .. should taken a pic and a taste test .. going to let this one sit the full two weeks and then into secondary
 
I tried one of these last night after 3 weeks in the bottle. Could still use a bit more aging as carbonation was not quite there but I really liked this beer.

Still a bit lacking in maltyness and the body could be thicker for a dark beer but overall I was very happy and maybe the best gf beer I have brewed to date

I used Columbus instead of NB hops as I had them on hand already. The beer has a nice sweetness and complexity that many if my other gf beers have lacked. Must be the d180 and molassss.

When I brew again I may bump up the maltdextrin to 1 lb and increase the hops slightly

Might also be good to add some burbon, coffee or smokiness in secondary or at bottling
 
i am thinking about adding coco powder in secondary when the time comes. any ideas on how to go with this? boil the coco powder? bad idea all together?
 
rlbois1 said:
Bottled this last night after 2 weeks in the primary and a week in the secondary. The final partially filled bottle was so good I drank it warm and flat... This could turn out to be a very good beer; more to come.

Pretty easy; only did a 45 minute boil:
Time - Additions
45min - 3lb sorghum, 3lb rice syrup, 1lb D-180 Dark Candi, 8oz Blackstrap Molasses, 5oz Dextrose, .5oz Cascade, .5oz Northern, 8oz maltodextrin, 1tsp gypsum
22min - .25oz Cascade, .25oz Northern
15min - 1tsp irish moss, 0.5tsp Yeast Nutrient
5min - .25oz Cascade, .25oz Northern

OG - 1.056
FG - 1.010
ABV - 5.9
IBU - 35
SRM - 27

What advise can you provide in regards to the taste the sorghum leaves? Can I just use 6lbs of rice syrup instead? what is the best method to get rid or lessin the taste of sorghum?
 
Still a little sweet but about a week from now it will be awesome after it conditions a little longer. Fantastic lacing for a GF beer.

image-4100285630.jpg
 
What advise can you provide in regards to the taste the sorghum leaves? Can I just use 6lbs of rice syrup instead? what is the best method to get rid or lessin the taste of sorghum?
Some folks advocate adding half of the sorghum at flameout as a way of reducing the twang. You could sub rice syrup for the some or all the sorghum, but the rice syrup is pretty light and doesn't come as close as the sorghum does in mimmicking "real" LME. I also believe some brews are better suited for masking or minimizing the twang. For the Dual Spires, I feel like the "piney" flavor from the Northern Brewer hops along with dark D-180 candi syrup worked well. Also the "all sorghum" rasberry ale recipe I got from Spaced worked very well with the sorghum. Hope this helps.
 
I'm getting ready to brew this recipe. What do you use for yeast nutrient? I've emailed the bigger names about their products and the consensus is, "We can't say it's gluten free". I was thinking about buying two packs of yeast and boiling one to feed the other.
 
No one has ever had a reaction to a beer made with yeast nutrient. Whatever contamination might have made it into the yeast nutrient, the concentration already is so dilute that it would likely be undetectable (i.e., no worse than getting gluten-free grains from a bulk bin at a grocery store), and 0.5 tsp in 3 gallons of water will further dilute that miniscule concentration 4608 times (3 gallons equals 2304 teaspoons, so a half-teaspoon in 3 gallons is 1 part in 4608). Seriously, it is nothing to worry about.
 
I am celiac, I used White Labs Servomyces. Worked great... Their stuff is up to 2 PPM according to the FAQ. -Matt
 
Bottled this last night after 2 weeks in the primary and a week in the secondary. The final partially filled bottle was so good I drank it warm and flat... This could turn out to be a very good beer; more to come.

Pretty easy; only did a 45 minute boil:
Time - Additions
45min - 3lb sorghum, 3lb rice syrup, 1lb D-180 Dark Candi, 8oz Blackstrap Molasses, 5oz Dextrose, .5oz Cascade, .5oz Northern, 8oz maltodextrin, 1tsp gypsum
22min - .25oz Cascade, .25oz Northern
15min - 1tsp irish moss, 0.5tsp Yeast Nutrient
5min - .25oz Cascade, .25oz Northern

OG - 1.056
FG - 1.010
ABV - 5.9
IBU - 35
SRM - 27

just bottled today .. and man it came out great!!.. thanks again for the recipe :mug:
 
I just brewed this tonight. I did 8oz of blackstrap by weight (4 and some change by volume) since that's how I dished out everything else. No yeast nutrient, no gypsum. My OG was right on target. The brew smelled delicious and the rich chocolate color looked amazing. I can't wait for this to get in the bottle!
 
what a great recipe!! .. gave this to out to coworkers and friends and they are non gluten free are asking for more!! i did dry hop with citra pellet hops but other than that this turned out great for my first batch!.. will have to do again A.S.A.P. thanks for the recipe
 
Bottled this last night after 2 weeks in the primary and a week in the secondary. The final partially filled bottle was so good I drank it warm and flat... This could turn out to be a very good beer; more to come.

Pretty easy; only did a 45 minute boil:
Time - Additions
45min - 3lb sorghum, 3lb rice syrup, 1lb D-180 Dark Candi, 8oz Blackstrap Molasses, 5oz Dextrose, .5oz Cascade, .5oz Northern, 8oz maltodextrin, 1tsp gypsum
22min - .25oz Cascade, .25oz Northern
15min - 1tsp irish moss, 0.5tsp Yeast Nutrient
5min - .25oz Cascade, .25oz Northern

OG - 1.056
FG - 1.010
ABV - 5.9
IBU - 35
SRM - 27

after reading this i just realized i used 3lb 15 oz (4lbs) of brown rice syrup and i actually weighed the 8oz of blackstrap molasses.. opps.. but still turned out AWESOME!!
 
Ha! Wouldn't be a beer forum without drunk posts. Having 6 or 7 cases of beer in the house at any given time does make you a target for all your friends. My suggestion..... brew more.
 
I made my version of the Dual Spires Black Lodge, and it was great. I was thinking about doing it again, but I wanted more hops, zest, and something extra... maybe a little 'punch' in my next brew. My idea was to add late hops, and switch out the Northern for Chinook. I've gotten really good input and ideas through this thread - so I am submitting my recipe here and would love to get your input and ideas.

--50min:
1lb Brown Rice Syrup or Molasses
2lb Rice Syrup Solids
1lb D-180 Candi Syrup
.5oz Cascade Hops
.5oz Chinook Hops
--20min:
.25oz Cascade Hops
.25oz Chinook Hops
--10min:
.25oz Cascade Hops
.25oz Chinook Hops
--5min:
1cap Servomyces
--Flameout:
3lb White Sorghum Syrup
.5oz Cascade Hops
.5oz Chinook Hops
Safale US-05
--Dry Hop:
1.5oz Cascade Hops in secondary
1.5oz Chinook Hops in secondary


-Matt
 
I'm assuming this is for a 5 gallon boil?
I would do 2lbs of the D-180 and definitely NOT 1lb of molasses. Go with 1lb of BRS.
I'll let someone else comment on the hops, I'm not that familiar with those.
 
I kegged my batch of this recipe last night. SG 1.066, FG 1.022. Hydro sample tasted slight acidic, some initial hops which have way to caramel flavor. Slightly thin mouth feel, very curious to see how this will taste once carbonated.

Thanks for the recipe!
 
Yes, 5 gallon. Thanks for the input - will definitely do as you suggest.


I'm assuming this is for a 5 gallon boil?
I would do 2lbs of the D-180 and definitely NOT 1lb of molasses. Go with 1lb of BRS.
I'll let someone else comment on the hops, I'm not that familiar with those.
 
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