My DFH 120 clone Experience!

Well guys I brewed this monster on Saturday. To give credit, the recipe is based on ThatGuyRyan's version of the clone. It uses the 12 oz of hops during the 120 min boil and then will use 6 additional ounces of dry hopping later. I ended up getting right at 1.098 OG at 5.75 gallons (recipe called for 1.100 presugar). It wasnt too bad seeing as though I sparged 10 gallons in under 50 mins. A bit too fast but it worked out ok. I pitched a 6 quart starter of wlp007 and it started fermenting right away, it was amazing. It really threw me off because I planned on this brew taking 4 or so days to get to 1.020 which is when the recipe calls for the 4 liter starter of wlp099 (which I started on brew day). Well its Monday and the gravity is already at 1.030 at 4 this morning and I only have a 2 liter starter of wlp099!! What should I do? Pitch what I have tonight, or ramp it up this evening and pitch tomorrow night when the gravity could be lower than the 1.020? Decisions!

If the gravity is still dropping, why do you even need to repitch?

IXVolt said:

If the gravity is still dropping, why do you even need to repitch?

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Because this recipe has about 28 dextrose additions. Its supposed to get to around 18-20% with an fg of around 1.020. The 099 has to take it the rest of the way.

Well just an update...if anyone cares, the 007 has successfully taken this brew to 12.03% by itself so far. Im still waiting for the 5 liter 099 yeast starter to finish! Its at 1.020 so Im hoping that its done tomorrow. Mean while I added another 12 oz of dextrose this evening. It was down to 1.022, so its still eating away. I have added 30 seconds of oxygen with every addition including 3 teaspoons of yeast nutrient. Temp is still around 66 or so. Further updates soon!

I just bottled mine this week. 22% abv with a 5 gallon starter (small beer) of us05 and a 2 gallon starter of 099. Fermented away no problem. I would've added most of what you had and left a little yeast to build up a third starter (incase the original yeast can't handle that high abv)

True. I can still save some 099 before I pitch tonight just in case. Question though for you and others that have brewed this. I gave heard conflicting info about dry hopping this beer. One side says to dry hop about 6 grams a day for the first 30 days and the other says to dry hop 3 weeks before keging with one oz per week of simco and amerillo. Or should I just do my own thing? I have a whole lb of cascade to use up

with mine I just threw in 2 oz simcoe, 2 oz amarillo, 2 oz warrior, and some leftover citra I had in the keg and let it carb real slow over 2 weeks.
To be honest I felt like it was WAY too much, it was like hop dust and rubbing alcohol for a long time. I definitely would do a more gradual dry hop (and about half what I used). My dogfish 120 is about a month old, but I will be waiting atleast 3 more before I crack my next bottle. It was WAY to fiery and fruity-hoppy for me (maybe it was the citra) Either way, I look at it like bitter-half-bourbon and I plan to let it age similarly =P

Thundercougarfalconbird said:

with mine I just threw in 2 oz simcoe, 2 oz amarillo, 2 oz warrior, and some leftover citra I had in the keg and let it carb real slow over 2 weeks.
=P

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Yea I hear ya. I tried a sample this morning. It was a bitter alcohol mess. I know it will get better but dang. I think Ill stick to the original recipe then. 2 oz amerillo and 2 oz warrior.

Thanks

Update: Its upt to 18.06%! Probably higher by now. Its gaining about a percent a day. Its def slowing down though. I think one more 6oz addition ought to get her over 20. Going to try to get it down to 1.015 or so.

19.48%! Gettin close...

Oh and btw, there has been almost 600 people look at this thread and only 2 comment? Im not gettin that...do I smell? I promise Ill shower today...

This is kind of a newbie question, but applies to the forum (I believe anyway). While we're waiting for the results, let me ask you this: How do you calculate your ABV to account for multiple dextrose additions? Clearly a simple OG/FG reading is useless.

Short answer please. I won't be worrying about that for several, several more brews. Just curious.....

I can tell you the way I did it, a bit less scientific than others but on the same track. Because I didnt know the exact amount of beer I had (5.75-6 gallons), I took a gravity reading just before the first 12 oz addition. It was 1.030. After adding the sugar and mixing it thoroughly, it read 1.036. I did research to make sure I was on track with others and sure enough it adds about 7 gravity points per 12 oz addition for a 5 gallon batch. So considering I had a bit more than that, 6 is about dead on. After that it was easy. For every 12 oz addition it would add 6 points. So I tacked 6 points onto my original gravity of 1.098. After all the additions it is up to 1.172 and FG is around 1.022 right now. Which gives me the 19.48%. Im hoping for around 1.018 fg, thatll kick it the extra half percent. Hope that wasnt too confusing...

20% ABV Exactly!!!!

Couple of questions....(1) I was curious on how it was coming along since you achieve the perfect 20%, (2) how frequent were your sugar additions, and (3) in regards to the addition of O2 with each sugar addition, how do you balance giving the yeast enough o2 to continue fermenting the new additions vs. adding O2 with detrimental flavor effects?

I've always been curious to take this on, but with the $$ in grains, hops, and sugar, I wouldn't want to screw it up and end up with alcoholic piece of cardboard.

I o2ed my clone for the first 3 days then stopped after that

Hey Tim glad to hear it's coming along! This is a tough beer to brew but it's worth it the end to me. Let me know when you get it bottled up as I would love to get a sample.

Nukesquad said:

Couple of questions....(1) I was curious on how it was coming along since you achieve the perfect 20%, (2) how frequent were your sugar additions, and (3) in regards to the addition of O2 with each sugar addition, how do you balance giving the yeast enough o2 to continue fermenting the new additions vs. adding O2 with detrimental flavor effects?

I've always been curious to take this on, but with the $$ in grains, hops, and sugar, I wouldn't want to screw it up and end up with alcoholic piece of cardboard.

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1) It finished out at 20.26% and FG of 1.016. A bit on the dry side but better than the opposite I suppose.
2) I added anywhere from 6-12 oz of sugar in the morning and evening, about 12 hours apart, and it was eating ALL of the sugar, up until the very end.
3)I stopped the o2 additions on or about day four or five. co2 will eat up all the oxygen, therefore it is still safe to add the o2 as long as there is a heafty fermentation still taking place.

ThatGuyRyan said:

Hey Tim glad to hear it's coming along! This is a tough beer to brew but it's worth it the end to me. Let me know when you get it bottled up as I would love to get a sample.

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Thanks man. When did yours become drinkable?? This is like rocket fuel right now!! I transfered it over to the secondary this past Sunday, right at the 2 week mark. Ill let it sit there for 2 weeks and then begin the dry hop schedule. Let me know what you or anyone else reccomends for that. As of now Ill be adding the 1 ounce of simcoe, amerillo, and warroir for 3 weeks

Bombeque said:

Thanks man. When did yours become drinkable?? This is like rocket fuel right now!! I transfered it over to the secondary this past Sunday, right at the 2 week mark. Ill let it sit there for 2 weeks and then begin the dry hop schedule. Let me know what you or anyone else reccomends for that. As of now Ill be adding the 1 ounce of simcoe, amerillo, and warroir for 3 weeks

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For my first 16% batch it was drinkable after about 2-3 months. For the 20% second batch it honestly didn’t last in my house for more than 6 months but I would say that it was like you said rocket fuel until the end of the keg and then it was just drinkable to me but everyone else enjoyed it from the day it was carbonated. I would age this one 6-12 months at minimum and over a year would be best.

Thanks for the advice. Ill be going on deployment in a few months. Ill prob have a few before then and bottle the rest. Then Ill have over a case of well aged 120 waiting for me when I get back. I think itll be much needed by then!

Well after much anticipation on my part, I have finally kegged this monster and started drinking it last week. The final abv was 21% and was like jet fuel for a bit there, but has mellowed in the last month. Only thing that bothers me is the cloudyness of the beer. Its still early in the keg but I would think it should have cleared by now. Any suggestions?

Gelatin in the keg. Another 120 cloner, Scottland, has a good writeup of this in a few threads. Very easy to use, very easy results.

I did it too based on the thread from Scotland, almost 7 weeks ago, I'm about to rake it to secondary and start the dry hopping. It was brilliant when I was doing the sugar addition. Haven't tasted it since. I didn't reach 20% abv but came close.
When you added the yeast nutrient did you just dump it in the bucket or did you boil it before?

Akavango said:

I did it too based on the thread from Scotland, almost 7 weeks ago, I'm about to rake it to secondary and start the dry hopping. It was brilliant when I was doing the sugar addition. Haven't tasted it since. I didn't reach 20% abv but came close.
When you added the yeast nutrient did you just dump it in the bucket or did you boil it before?

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I just dumped it in. Its amazing how much you can get away with regarding sanitation. I think this is due to the amount of alcohol that has already been produced.

bmick said:

Gelatin in the keg. Another 120 cloner, Scottland, has a good writeup of this in a few threads. Very easy to use, very easy results.

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Thanks, I thought about gelatin but this is pretty darned cloudy. Im hoping gelatin can handle this. Ill give it a shot.

Just put mine in the secondary after 2 months in the primary. It is a 19.55% ABV. Damned tasty brew.
Hope yours is a good as mine.

Well it has been almost a year now since the brew day, and this beer is now very drinkable and almost completely clear! I still have about 3/4 case left and is just getting better by the day. My next venture is the World Wide Stout! Ill start a new thread on this soon.

How did you do the sugar additions? Did you just dump it in or boil it with a little water? I want to do something along the lines of 120min but dont want to screw it up.:cross:

I kept a bucket and spoon in a bucket of starsan. When it was feeding time I added the sugar to the bucket then used a big syringe to take out some wort to mix with the sugar then dumped all of it in . Really not hard and you can get away with a lot when alochol is already up there.