Allagash Curieux Clone

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I had to make some mead first and then when I finally got done with that and started my mash tun warming up I ran out of propane!! :drunk:
I knew I should have gotten those other three propane bottles filled earlier...
Anyway, I'll try again tomorrow morning. The grain is milled and the yeast is more than ready.
 
So far so good! I ended up mashing out at 151. Slightly higher than the 149 you recommended, but I can live with it. Wort is a beautiful light yellow color. I'm waiting on it to get down to temperature so I can pitch the yeast. I'm going to try for an initial starting temperature on the fermentation above 70. Probably around 74. It's a little higher than the WLP550 yeast range, but I've read things that still say that's fine. The Wyeast Ardennes yeast can certainly handle it. I was a little below the 1.08 on the hydrometer - 1.078.
 
You can boil and add sugar half way through fermentation! You can get the rest of the gravity that way or ex light dme.
 
I just cracked a bottle after 1 week of carbing. Wow! This brew is gonna be dangerous. Thanks for the recipe and all the help. Maybe some of this will last until new years.
 
image-355220423.jpg

After two weeks in the bottle. A quick chill in an ice bath to bring it to serving temp. Bourbon is settling into the background and the oak is starting to shine through. Delicious!
 
Looks wonderful! Mine is still in primary. My samples are quite delicious! I didn't add any additional sugar, but my FG reading so far is 1.004! Right now it tastes like a Saison, with a peppery finish. That should smooth out over time I would imagine and the bourbon will knock that out too.
 
I am contemplating this recipe right now. Interested in having something that ages well.

A couple questions (I scanned through all pages of this thread, but it's possible I simply missed some details)... why the two yeasts? I typically buy Wyeast smack packs and build up starters as needed. I'd have to build up a large starter given then OG on this, but that's fine. I got time.

I'm looking at Northern Brewer's site now to see how the cubes are sold. Thinking American Medium Plus oak cubes. The packs come in either 2 or 8 oz packages. They seem to suggest 2.5-3 oz for a 5 gal batch, but you guys calculated a lot more, yes? Also, should I consider putting some bourbon soaked cubes in the primary, and the rest in the secondary, so it's on the cubes the whole time?

I don't keg. I have one 5 gal better bottle that I tend to use for secondary/dry-hopping. How long have folks needed in the primary, in the secondary? and what temp should I keep the secondary? what temp are you all aging it at?
 
jimlin said:
I am contemplating this recipe right now. Interested in having something that ages well.

A couple questions (I scanned through all pages of this thread, but it's possible I simply missed some details)... why the two yeasts? I typically buy Wyeast smack packs and build up starters as needed. I'd have to build up a large starter given then OG on this, but that's fine. I got time.

I'm looking at Northern Brewer's site now to see how the cubes are sold. Thinking American Medium Plus oak cubes. The packs come in either 2 or 8 oz packages. They seem to suggest 2.5-3 oz for a 5 gal batch, but you guys calculated a lot more, yes? Also, should I consider putting some bourbon soaked cubes in the primary, and the rest in the secondary, so it's on the cubes the whole time?

I don't keg. I have one 5 gal better bottle that I tend to use for secondary/dry-hopping. How long have folks needed in the primary, in the secondary? and what temp should I keep the secondary? what temp are you all aging it at?
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You can build a starter, and WLP1762 will do. I've done a couple ounces of oak chips for 2 weeks, and 3 oz medium toast oak for 3 months. Something in the middle is what you want. I'd recommend 2 oz french medium toast oak for 2 months. Soak the cubes in bourbon for a week before adding.

I'd recommend racking onto the oak at secondary. I always primary for a month to give the yeast cake a chance to clean the beer up.

Secondary temperature shouldn't matter much. I don't temp control my secondaries. So they are somewhere around 75-80.
 
So, why the two yeasts: The guy at the LHBS said they were the same strain. I don't believe that to be so, but it certainly made an awesome Belgian beer. That will be my go to Belgian yeast combo hands down. So it started as a mishap and ended as a delightful discovery.

As for the oak, check out post 20. The oak was on the JB for 36 days PRIOR to adding the oak to the primary...etc. This helped to break down a lot of the fibers and tannin in the oak and allowed more of the bourbon flavor to be absorbed. That made it so that the flavor was more bourbon and less in-your-face oak. They blended and melded well over that length of time. I hope that this helps.
 
thanks 1mainebrew. What did you end up with for an ABV? The 11% Allagash is listing seems damn high, especially when I try entering the recipe in my software. Granted, I tend to get 70$ efficiency in my setup, so I assumed I'd need to add a little, but I'm still only getting around 9% abv.

I guess I can just keep adding amounts to the grain bill as well as to the sugar going into the boil. At the same time, part of me thinks 9% is plenty as it is. ;)

I typically plan on 6 gal at end of boil, transferring 5.5 gal, ending up with 5 gallons after things settle
 
Yeah, I actually cut both the CaraPils and the sugar and bumped up the grain to compensate. Went from 1085 down to 1016, which I thought finished too high but sweet-toothed swmbo loved.
 
Yes that ABV includes the sugar. I think I ended up with like 4.5 gallons when all was said and done with. The real curiuex gets from 9.2-11% from absorbing all that alcohol from the barrels. We get a little less than that I think.
 
Tangential, but...

I don't keg, and my typical secondary vessel is a 5 gallon better bottle. Is a couple months in a Better Bottle going to be an issue? If not, would I simply leave an s-curve airlock and stopper in place the entire time in the secondary? I've only used a secondary to dry-hop. I don't brew lagers, and the two styles that require lagering that I have made (Cal Common and altbier) I've lagered in bottles
 
Good Lord, measured my FG on the Allagash clone before transferring to secondary yesterday. 1.000. The beer is dry, dry, dry with a fruity backbone. I had the beer fermenting at a warm 74 degrees and had the AC go out which drove the temperature up to 84 degrees in the house. So of course the yeast responded in kind.
I was contemplating adding some maltodextrin now, but I will wait to see what the finished product tastes like after secondary aging. Somehow I doubt it's suddenly going to become sweet. Without the bourbon my beer finished at 9.17%. Any thoughts on adding maltodextrine to a Belgian?
 
jabergess said:
Good Lord, measured my FG on the Allagash clone before transferring to secondary yesterday. 1.000. The beer is dry, dry, dry with a fruity backbone. I had the beer fermenting at a warm 74 degrees and had the AC go out which drove the temperature up to 84 degrees in the house. So of course the yeast responded in kind.
Click to expand...

I was worried the other day when you said you were already at 1.004. Unless you accidentally mixed in a saison yeast then this has all the hallmarks of an infection.

Edited for wrong Wyeast number.
 
Hmmm, you may be right. I think I have some wild yeast getting in my equipment somewhere. The last porter I made just turned into a gusher out of the bottle and I know I had it completely fermented out. It's operation bleach warfare on my equipment! I'm not sure how I'll salvage the beer, but I'm going to try! Maybe I'll call it a brettanomyces Belgian? lol.
 
Hi have this fermenting and can't wait to try it. Can anyone advise me on adding yeast pitching rates / priming sugar during bottling to ensure it carbs up?

Worried that after 60 days in the fermenter and high abv that it wont carb up.

Thanks. I will probably yield about 4.5 gallons during bottling.
 
Use 4-5 oz of corn sugar and 1/4 packet of yeast or smack pack or tube depending on your preference. Most will just say 1/4 packet US-05.
 
Thanks. So I just throw the 1/4 tube of yeast in the bottling bucket along with the corn sugar? Should I use the same yeast strain I pitched before fermentation?

I am assuming I will have to gently stir it all up before bottling.
 
I boil the water, chill it down to proper temp and pitch the yeast there. Then I put that into my bottling bucket.
If you are not sure on the whole procedure, check out How To Brew by John Palmer. He explains this whole process perfectly.
 
Hey guys - I've been trolling the forums for some time now and this is the first post for me. I'm 2 weeks away from bottling this beer. I took a taste of it when moving it to the secondary and it was absolutely delicious. Seeing as my last batch of beers (A Magic Hat #9 clone) exploded because I didn't fully understand the bottling process (i.e. I added 5oz of sugar to a fruit beer and way over carbonated it), I figured I'd just ask here. I see it was just discussed but I just want to make sure since Curieux is my favorite beer and I don't want to ruin this batch. I saw that it was said 4-5oz of sugar and a 1/4 bottle of yeast should do the trick. Is there a way to measure it via the gravity? Or how did you conclude these numbers are the correct numbers? I want this beer to be as close to perfect as I can, so I'm doing as much research as I can.

Sorry for a repost but I'm really excited for this beer!
 
You can use a priming sugar calculator to get a more precise quantity based on the volume and temperature of your beer: http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

In truth, though, if the beer has finished fermenting, somewhere in that 4-5 oz range will work as long as you have about 5 gallons.

Edit: I also have batch #2 in the primary right now. It's ready for transfer but I'm looking to reuse the yeast so still holding off.
 
dogbar said:
You can use a priming sugar calculator to get a more precise quantity based on the volume and temperature of your beer: http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

In truth, though, if the beer has finished fermenting, somewhere in that 4-5 oz range will work as long as you have about 5 gallons.

Edit: I also have batch #2 in the primary right now. It's ready for transfer but I'm looking to reuse the yeast so still holding off.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. So side question: when it came to the Magic Hat #9 clone I made, is it likely that I didn't wait until the fermenting was done after adding the apricot preserves to the secondary? Is that why it likely exploded (too much sugar)? In the future, should I double check that the gravity hasn't changed for a few readings?
 
It's hard to say for sure without knowing more about your whole process, but that's the likeliest reason. There's also a tendency to lose beer when using the puree, so your volume could have been lower than expected as well.

The "right" answer is to take gravity readings and look for stability, but in truth the better counsel is simply patience. In fact, bringing it back to this thread, what's your schedule been so far for the curieux clone? This isn't really a beer you can rush.
 
dogbar said:
It's hard to say for sure without knowing more about your whole process, but that's the likeliest reason. There's also a tendency to lose beer when using the puree, so your volume could have been lower than expected as well.

The "right" answer is to take gravity readings and look for stability, but in truth the better counsel is simply patience. In fact, bringing it back to this thread, what's your schedule been so far for the curieux clone? This isn't really a beer you can rush.
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Yeah, I'm still new to the fruit beer. As for the Allagash Clone -

My schedule (Copy and Pasted from my notes)
Put in the primary fermenter
Soak the cubes in Jim Beam for 1 month.
After 30 days, dump the JB from the container and put fresh Jim Beam in.
After 60 days, put the wort in the secondary
After 90 days, add 2.5oz oak cubes (discard the JB first) to secondary. Also, put new JB in with the last 0.5oz chips.
After 111 days, add the last 0.5oz of cubes AND the JB it’s soaking in into the secondary.
After 120 days, bottle the beer

Look about right?
 
Ok, you're not rushing at all. I didn't even wait that long. Looks great :)

Taste the beer before you add the final JB. You might find it doesn't need it.
 
I was planning on doing so. I took a taste of the backend tripel and I have to say, it was spot on to the real thing. I'm super excited for this beer. I plan to bottle it because kegging it causes it to disappear too quickly. I've already bought all of the ingredients to make it again. I'll likely keep it in a constant rotation.

What was your schedule for it? If I can get this beer out faster, I'd sure love to do so...
 
dogbar said:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/allagash-curieux-clone-250654/index8.html#post3819286

Biggest differences were not as dry and not as much yeast character. I've tried to address both issues the second time around by putting sugar back in and fermenting slightly warmer.
Click to expand...

Okay, I did mine with the sugar and fermented it around 70 degrees the entire time. I plan to bottle it next weekend so I'll let you know how it comes out (assuming you haven't finished your 2nd batch already). Thanks for the help!
 
No problem, looking forward to hearing about it. I'm probably still two months out from tapping mine, sadly. Brewing was interrupted for a couple months with a move and I'm just catching back up.
 
Last question, I promise. When I bottle, I'm going to add 1/4 of a smackpack of the Belgian Ardennes. I was planning on brewing another batch that same day. Would the 3/4 of the Belgian Ardennes and a full WLP550 be significant for the beer? I'd hate to waste 3/4 of the Ardennes...
 

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