Utopia Clone #3 Perfecting Nirvanha

Fear not. It takes stout hearts and brave souls to brew a beer like this.






Yeager and I hope a few show up that day to lend a hand.

PTN

Ok, i scaled this recipe down 75% to get a 3.25 gallon batch. I was wanting to try to make this as a small batch to test with over time and maybe drink after 1 years time. Can you guys look it over and see what you think. I crafted this recipe to the exact one in original post for 13 gallons and then scaled it down to 3.25 and the specs are almost identical. Tell me what you think.

19.50# Pale Malt (2-Row) UK
4.88# Pale Malt (6 Row) US
1.30# Munich Malt 10L
1.00# Caramel/Crystal Malt 60L
1.00# Toasted Malt
0.33# Melanoiden Malt
0.33# Smoked Malt (Germany)
0.81# Maple Syrup
0.65oz Tettnang 60min
0.65oz Spalter 60min
0.65oz Hallertauer 15min
0.65oz Hallertauer 1min
1 Super High Gravity Ale WLP099

Showing me that OG is: 1.203
FG: 1.035
Estimated Color: 25.7
Bitterness: 12.6
Alc. by Vol: 22.55
Calories: 43 cal/pint

What does everyone think of this? What is the primary/secondary times on this and does it age in a wooden cask or what?

Go big or go home.



Nah, go for it. Ferment it in a 5 gallon carboy and rack to a 3 and change. I'd think about storing the 3 on the mantle so that everyone who comes over can gaze at it in wonder and admiration.

PTN

Yeager and I are talking about opening up the mash tun to others.

Here is what we'll be using for a mash tun and the manifold that I fashioned for it.



I haven't drilled out the hole in the side of the bucket and fitted the manifold yet. I put the manifold together out of 1 inch PVC pipe one rainy day last summer and in the picture it is just sitting on the bottom of the fermenter to be sure that it fits. As you can see, the MLT will hold a metric ass ton of grain. If anyone coming to the U3 brew day wants to participate we're willing to throw more grain in the tun. Figure out how much of the finished Utopia you want and we'll figure out what we need for additional grain. (For planning purposes remember that we're using 113 #'s of grain for 13 gallons going into the fermenter.)

We'll be using a march pump to recirculate the mash thru my HERMS rig and we'll be batch sparging.

Right now it looks like we're brewing this beast on Feb 26.

PTN

paulthenurse said:

Yeager and I are talking about opening up the mash tun to others.


I haven't drilled out the hole in the side of the bucket and fitted the manifold yet. I put the manifold together out of 1 inch PVC pipe one rainy day last summer and in the picture it is just sitting on the bottom of the fermenter to be sure that it fits. As you can see, the MLT will hold a metric ass ton of grain. If anyone coming to the U3 brew day wants to participate we're willing to throw more grain in the tun. Figure out how much of the finished Utopia you want and we'll figure out what we need for additional grain. (For planning purposes remember that we're using 113 #'s of grain for 13 gallons going into the fermenter.)

We'll be using a march pump to recirculate the mash thru my HERMS rig and we'll be batch sparging.

Right now it looks like we're brewing this beast on Feb 26.

PTN

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I'll go in for some - we'll talk about quantities later.

You got a backup plan for when that mash gets stuck? I'm just thinking all that massive amount of grain is going to compress on itself like concrete at the bottom of the tun.

Like happens at big / real breweries? Seems to me that Sam, et all, use far more grain in their mast tuns than wevwill be using and they don't get their panties in a wad worrying about stuck mashes. We can add some rice hull, enen lay down an inch or so as a layer on the bottom. I'm not worried about it at all. ( Ok, maybe a teeny bit!)

PTN

Big real breweries use automated mash rakes.

I wouldnt worry though. I've heard a number of times that best way to brew a huge grain bill is on brand new equipment that has never been used before or tested. Something about the equipment being totally new that practically gaurentees that nothing at all could go wrong.

In addition you have the luxury of PTN's stellar record with new equip on top of everything else. Every time I've seen Paul with new equipment its like an excercise in freakish precision. Like i was saying, I dont see how anything could possibly go wrong.

Sweet Jeebus i cant wait to watch this.

Ya! What he said!

I'm thinking of changing the name of the Utopia brewery to "Precision Brewing"

I've already picked out a slogan.

"Precision Brewing. We measure the smallest detail. We're so precise we could even measure Cape's dick. If we wanted to. Which we don't. THAT'S how tiny detail oriented we are!"

What do you think?

PTN

Isn't regular PVC only rated for like 120°?

the_bird said:

Isn't regular PVC only rated for like 120°?

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Only if you're a pansy.

I ain't worried about the leeching (I'll be lucky to get a two ounce tasting of this brew, and Paul's already plenty retahded), I'm wondering about whether the PVC will actually deform at mash temps and make a stuck mash an even bigger probability.

I am absolutely bringing my video camera to this. I have the music from those Vonage commercials all cued up.

Realistically though Bird... If you think about it, a stuck mash wouldnt be that big of a deal. That plastic tub looks super insulated so I am sure it'll hold a mash twmp no problem on a typical balmy New England February day. I mean, all you would need is barely a trickle through the herms system to maintain temp.

I dunno... I have a got SOLID feeling about this plan.

Cape Brewing said:

I am absolutely bringing my video camera to this. I have the music from those Vonage commercials all cued up.

Click to expand...

We could sell tickets to this show.

DrinksWellWithOthers said:

We could sell tickets to this show.

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Just carrying on another Utopia Brew Day tradition. Year one saw Yeager and I selling shots of a barely drinkable hooch and year two saw Cape hawking chintzy tee shirts. Free enterprise, Baby! It's what made this country such a juicy target for a hostile takeover by the China man!

PTN

Just think back to Masstoberfest... remember how hard of a time I had just quietly giggling over PTN's stuck spahdge? Jeebus... can you imagine 115 lbs of grain in a huge freakin' plastic barrel.... with Paul saying, "Ok... here we go.... time to start circulating through the heat ex.", flips the switch and it flows for about 1/10th of one second...

I will be escorted off the property I'll be pointing and laughing so hard.

I wonder how much heat and abuse that plastic bin itself can take, when it's got the weight of 115 pounds of grain and what, probably four hundred pounds of water pressing outward on it, all at 155°?

Rain, wind, snow, I ain't missing this!

Bird, Bird, Bird (shaking my head). C'mon!!! Havent you brewed with Paul before? You should know how smoothly things always go. I'm tellin ya, there's nooooo way this plan fails. Its foolproof!!

And yet, unlike you, the BJCP haven't instituted a whole new category for my beer. You know what I'm talking about. Ass Beer. A new style of beer, developed and perfected by our friend, Cape Brewing. Like Jim Kock says in the commercials, 'imagine the bragging rights!'

PTN

I'm gonna point and laugh. Loud.

I might have to come out to this. I had a blast at year one, but couldn't make it last year...

Bring some of that BBQ sauce along if you do come. It was wicked good and helped us to choke down Cape's over cooked ribs.

PTN

hey... no problem. I won't bring 'em this year since they were so bad. That makes it easier for me.

paulthenurse said:

Bring some of that BBQ sauce along if you do come.

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Hell ****ing yeah. That **** is so good.

Uhhhh, you probably just dropped a few spots in the next Iron Chef challenge.

"F it. I'm taking my ribs and going home. Wa. Wa Wahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!"


What a Nancy.

PTN

Subscribed. BTW, any more specific notes on brewing the recipe on the OP?

Jgourd,
I feel I should warn you that the actual brew and the brewing of it is far down on the list of things that this thread is about. Mostly this is a thread about friends busting each others chops as we lead up to brew day. The 'specific notes' you are looking for will all be well disguised and hidden under thick piles of bullsheet. They'll be there but you have to look hard to find them. By the time brewday rolls around (BTW, we're 99 44/100 % sure that we'll be doing it on Feb 26) all the details will be on the table, mostly as we argue them out. It's our little dysfunctionalpalooza brewday.

PTN

In the interest of adding something of worth to this thread...

I gave some thought to the concerns expressed about keeping the larger mash tun (a) in one piece and (b) up to temperature in Chris's 40*F garage. To that end I came up with a rather elegant solution, if I do say so myself.

I built a frame out of some plywood and 2 x 4's. We'll be able to put insulation around the tun and the 2 x 4 bracing on the sides will prevent the sides from bowing out and breaking under the strain.

Little bit of artwork with a pencil and tape measure



Not a bad fit considering my Sawzall is at a friends and I used a circular saw to cut the hole.



Little bit of sanding and notching out for the ribs with a grinder.







The side braces going into place.




I left out one brace because that is where the outlet valve goes. I also lifted it up the width of a 2 x 4 (1.5 inches) off the bottom bit of plywood to give it a bit more insulation and get the valve a bit higher off the floor.



Now I'll just get some insulation and work on the valve and we'll be all set to go.


PTN

I'm also giving some thought into scrapping the PVC pipe manifold and either making one out of copper or that new plastic water tubing that is on the market. My only problem is I've never used that plastic stuff and don't know what you need for tools to work it.

PTN

Paul, I'm no carpenter but wouldn't it make more sense to put the outlet on a side rather than in the corner of your frame? Just saying...

Terje

Having it protected by the corner makes it harder for Cape to stumble drunkenly past and snap the fitting off. He can still do it but he'll take out his knee.

PTN

The flow rate you're gonna freakin' need to keep that ridiculous thing up to temp through a HERMS is gonna be like Niagra freakin' Falls..... and every ounce of that 115 lb grain bill is gonna stick like cement at 25% of that flow rate.

Have fun dunkin' your arm into 115 lbs of 150 degree mash to try to unscrew and then pull out the manifold.

... cause every second that sucker's stuck, that's going to be that much more of a drop in temp.

I can picture you now Paul... swearing all bloody murder watching the temp tick down degree by degree... over the course of a freakin' hour while you try to figure out how to first un-stick that thing but then, how to maintain a temp remotely close.

I will actually roll on the flooring laughing.

Decoctions, baby. Once that puppy gets stuck, start pulling decoctions to keep the temp up.

No one asked you Captain Boilover!

I got $20 says that thing sticks rock solid.

Only $20? I'd bet a lot more than that!

I have a feeling my mash tun's going to get requisitioned before the afternoon is out, dump the mash in every "normal" mash tun in the county just to be able to lauter.

I might go with the U3 recipe at my place that day... I'll just trim the volume down to an 80- lb grain bill. I figure I could bang it out and then head over and just sit back and watch the fun while Yeager FREAKS out on Paul for like three hours straight for a mash they can't un-stick.

There really aren't many things better during a brew day than watching PTN and Yeager bltch at each other like two 98 year old women.... and the way this day is lining up... there will be NO shortage of that.

So let me see if I have this right...

You are the guy who is talking about putting a side of beef, a flock of geese, 15 pounds of Portagee sausage and a dead hooker inside a hawg and trying to cook it all over a BIC lighter in the parking lot at Gillette Stadium and you think I'm biting off more than is prudent? Cause I'm using a big mash tun?

Oooohh. Stand back! It's a BIG mash tun! Be careful! It's so BIG!!!!


Look Cape, like I told you already, it's like the first time you had sex. You were nervous. You were anxious. You were awkward. You really weren't that good at it. But you kept at it. Eventually you got so that you could keep up your end of the bargain. After a while doing that you were ready to graduate from sheep and give a woman a thrill. I'm REALLY surprised that you are so scared of the concept of moving on to bigger and better things.


Hmmmm, maybe you weren't holding up your end of the bargain after all back in the day.

PTN

First of all... Speak in ill tone of the pigcowturduckenguica one more time and we'll strip you down, grease you up and play, "catch the slippery oompa loompa" at the next club meeting.

Here's the difference Einstein... I am cooking a pig... IN A PIT I'VE USED SEVERAL TIMES. I KNOW it works. I have cooked suckling pigs in that pit before. All I'm doing is adding more stuffing. I'm not cooking it at the freakin' stadium. I'm cooking it in my pit and then BRINGING it to the stadium. The risk associated with it is pretty low.

Now... let's compare THAT... with your brainchild here.

First of all... didn't you stick the everloving**** outta your FIRST Utopias mash?? How 'bout the second one? (I honestly don't know).

SO... you already have a stuck mash on a SMALLER grain bill for this beer... ON equipment you had used a bunch of times.

THEN... you created your current sweet rig... you know the one... the one you brought over for the Turbid Mash Lambic... Remember loading that thing up with just water for the first time??? How'd that work out?? That effin thing looked like an old Bugs Bunny cartoon character that had been shot with buckshot and than took a big drink of water... with streams of water shooting in every direction.

But you FIXED that!!! I saw that sweet machine in action at Masstoberfest!!! The rig was lookin' SHARP that day! All the gushing leeks fixed and then... whoooooooops... STUCK SPARGE!!

SO... that brings us to your current stroke of genius! "HEY!! Let's take a grain bill we've already stuck on basic equipment, up the poundage and mash it ALL in ONE big, un-tested mash tun that I just whipped up in 13 minutes with a freakin' metal grinder and some plywood!! God knows I shot the lights out on my AG rig I worked on for three months. A 13 minute plywood jobber HAS to work!"

Ohhhhhhh aaaaaaaabsoluuuuuuutely Paul... you would be IN-SANE not to!!! Given your history I can't see how you could possibly NOT put all of your eggs in one basket on a beer like the U3 and mash the whole grain bill in that thing.

Sweet call dude. I say go with it.

Glad you fnally see the light and came around to my way of looking at the world. Took you long enough.

PTN