American Strong Ale Quilter's Irish Death - Clone/Tribute

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SouthBay

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2010
Messages
465
Reaction score
25
Location
Olympia
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
English Ale
Yeast Starter
Yes - 1 gal
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.079
Final Gravity
1.026
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
37.5
Color
24 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
28 days @ 64 degrees
Additional Fermentation
Bottle Conditioned for 2 Months @ ~ 68 degrees
Tasting Notes
So close to the original! SWMBO can't tell the difference in a blind taste test
(One thing of note: I harvested yeast from a bottle or 5 of Irish Death for use in this recipe. I think WLP002 is probably the closest, but its definitely not WLP004)

10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 64.5 %
2 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 12.9 %
1 lbs Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 3 6.5 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 4 6.5 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5 3.2 %
8.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 6 3.2 %
4.0 oz Carafa II (412.0 SRM) Grain 7 1.6 %
4.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 8 1.6 %

9 AAU Fuggles - Boil 60.0 Min Hop 28.2 IBUs
3 AAU Goldings - Boil 60.0 min Hop 10 9.4 IBUs

6.00 oz Non-Fat Cocoa Powder (Boil 10.0 mins)
4.00 oz Lactose (Boil 10.0 mins)

1.0 pkg English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [35.49 ml] Yeast

***

Mash: 1:1 grain:water ratio @ 156 degrees for 90 min.

***

I don't really know what to say about this one, except that it's a darn good brew. I love the original, and wanted to make something similar. The original weighs in at 7.4% ABV so, this could scale up just a touch to hit the same numbers. It's a beast as it is though. Easily my favorite beer I've brewed, and if you've had the original, its about as close as it gets.
 
Quilter's Irish Death

I love hearing about beers I've never had.

Do you have a picture of your pint?

This sounds right up my alley.
 
I'll post a couple of pictures tonight, since I've got a bottle of the original and the clone
 
Clone Pic

Resampled_2012-02-16_18-02-49_571.jpg
 
Slightly off-topic, but here is a pint of my Two-Hearted clone on the left and the original on the right.

I'm off a bit, but I think it turned out well into "I could have two easily" range.

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I brewed this last night- first all grain on my own. Smells and taste great but I know ill be off what it should be. My mash came settled at about 160 and when it came to the cocoa addition I realized that what I had was dutch processed cocoa not non-fat. I still used it as I was already at the point of no return and a store was not an option. I can find anything to suggest that there will be adverse result but I would like to ask you what you think might happen? Thanks for the recipe post- i've been lurking on here since I started brewing in August- this is my first post. Thanks
 
The lowfat or nonfat thing is just to help keep some head retention. Full fat chocolate supposedly causes the foam to dissipate. Otherwise, nothing really adverse.

You'll probably end up with a fuller beer bc of the mash temp, but again, itll prolly be fine.

Let me know what you think when its done! I found that it really started to get legs after a month in the bottle
 
I've never brewed all grain. I used too brew with extract. Just getting back into brewing after a few years off. I love Irish death and live about 70 miles from iron horse. I would like to try this just need some simple help. Mainly the procedures in how too brew with all grain. Elementary steps I guess.
 
The beer is FANTASTIC!
One of my best brews- first AG without a friend ( much more experienced friend that works at the homebrew shop) helping me. I must have a great teacher. :-D

I used regular chocolate and my temps hit a little high but it is such a full, flavorful beer that I would not change anything. I ended up priming with DME and have a good beer after only 2 weeks in bottle. It did sit for a LONG stay in the Secondary though. Five months. :-D
Life happens. But, I did what I was supposed to do. I got the bottles out. Said a prayer. Scooped off something that looked bad on the top and Relaxed and HAHB. Thanks SouthBay for an awesome recipe.

Quilters Irish Death.jpg
 
One interesting note: I met with a brewer from Iron Horse Brewery that makes the original this weekend at a Brew Fest in Olympia. After talking, he explained I'm somewhat off with my recipe. Apparently the original has 6 malts, including Pale and Roast Barley. He told me they never tell anyone ALL of the ingredients.

So, I'll continue to play around with the recipe to make a more authentic clone, but all in all, i'm happy with it as it is as an imperial sweet stout.

Plus, i'm glad you like the recipe!
 
Any updates on the recipe? I'm craving a good beer like this for the winter. Too bad I hadn't joined the board earlier, I just left Oly for Portland last year. I've got lots of brewing buddies down here, but never knew anyone else that brewed up there.
 
I haven't rebrewed it yet, but have all the stuff to do another one for my next brew, probably in the next week or two. I don't know that i'd change much on it, truth be told, but have some extra cocoa nibs lying around. I'll likely up the chocolate a bit (4oz dark chocolate, 4 oz nibs) to see how it turns out.
 
I like Irish Death also. I just finished the first class at CWU in a certificate program for the Craft Beer Industry, and our final class was taking a tour of the Iron Horse Brewery (read: lots of free beer in a stimulating environment). ANYWAY, the reason I am responding to this thread is they just came out with a new brew called 'Insane with Grain'. It is quite similar to Irish Death, but IMO even better. If you see it snap up a bottle or two.

Steve
 
I tried their 'Double Rainbow' and thought it was pretty good, but haven't seen the Insane with Grain yet.

I brewed this up again today, using 4oz cocoa nibs and 2 oz dark chocolate, and used some BRY97 yeast. we'll see how it turns out.
 
Hey, I emailed Tyson at IHB and asked him about the recipe, and this is what he had to say:

"Not bad, Irish death has a 1.080 OG and 25 IBU. It only uses about 3% roasted grains. No chocolate or lactose but hey, make it your own. You can always buy Irish death. Our yeast is an American ale yeast with a little bit fruitier profile."

you dont mind if I play with your recipe do you?
 
One interesting note: I met with a brewer from Iron Horse Brewery that makes the original this weekend at a Brew Fest in Olympia. After talking, he explained I'm somewhat off with my recipe. Apparently the original has 6 malts, including Pale and Roast Barley. He told me they never tell anyone ALL of the ingredients.

So, I'll continue to play around with the recipe to make a more authentic clone, but all in all, i'm happy with it as it is as an imperial sweet stout.

Plus, i'm glad you like the recipe!

I liked the "make-it-your-own" quote. How about calling it "Gold Sluice Imperial Red" with a nod to its SF incarnation.

Miners-in-the-Sierras.jpg
 
I would love to perfect this beer. If they do use an American yeast I would guess it could be WLP051 California Ale V or Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale yeast. Jim Quilter originated this early on as a barleywine maybe 15 to 20 years ago so I think it would need to be a yeast strain that was around that long. Ever since Iron Horse toned it down to 7+% ABV I would still assume they retained the same yeast strain. The two candidate yeast strains above come to mind along with Wyeast 1272 American Ale II which requires a higher fermentation temperature, say 70 to 72 degrees F to get the fruitiness. Jim Quilter was at Sierra Nevada when he began developing this. I guess I would hazard a guess that the California Ale V yeast would be my first choice to experiment with this dark ale recipe. Isn't it terrible to have to experiment with making multiple batches of this beer? Life's just not fair.
 
yso191 said:
I like Irish Death also. I just finished the first class at CWU in a certificate program for the Craft Beer Industry, and our final class was taking a tour of the Iron Horse Brewery (read: lots of free beer in a stimulating environment). ANYWAY, the reason I am responding to this thread is they just came out with a new brew called 'Insane with Grain'. It is quite similar to Irish Death, but IMO even better. If you see it snap up a bottle or two.

Steve

We'll look who I found randomly. Cheers!
 
What kind of cocoa powder did you use? I know Dutch processed is pH balanced with alkali while natural can be more astringent. I'm not sure if I can find fat-free, so I'm figuring out what I can manage.

Thanks for the recipe, I'm excited to try it!
 
Followed the recipe and brewed this yesterday on a beautiful sunny 32 degree day in the greater Seattle area.

Hit the #'s included in the recipe spot on (a first since starting AG last year), although I ended up with about 5.5 gallons to the fermenter. Samples tasted like hot hoppy chocolate milk, but I'm sure that'll mellow out.

Used WLP002 (1L starter, stepped up 3 times). Bubbling pretty vigorously after 12 hours.

This will be my first kegged brew. Will probably give it 3 weeks in primary then to keg for a couple of weeks. Looking forward to tasting in a few weeks!
 
Followed the recipe and brewed this yesterday on a beautiful sunny 32 degree day in the greater Seattle area.

Hit the #'s included in the recipe spot on (a first since starting AG last year), although I ended up with about 5.5 gallons to the fermenter. Samples tasted like hot hoppy chocolate milk, but I'm sure that'll mellow out.

Used WLP002 (1L starter, stepped up 3 times). Bubbling pretty vigorously after 12 hours.

This will be my first kegged brew. Will probably give it 3 weeks in primary then to keg for a couple of weeks. Looking forward to tasting in a few weeks!

********
You are a more patient man than me if you haven't tried this yet. Just wondering ow it turned out

Cheers,
Neutron


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
someone asked a few comments back about which chocolate was used. I can't recall what i started with, but i've tried it a few times now, and despite changing the chocolate (going away from fat free, etc), it still turns out consistent.

I'm thinking it'd be neat to try with a chili-chocolate bar that's been ground up, too.

As you all play with this recipe, and if you get it dialed in and more authentic, please share! I love the original, and would love to see what their recipe looks like.
 
Does anybody have an extract version of this recipe? I am planning to go all grain by fall but want to brew up a batch of this soon.

Thanks!
 
I'm doing something VERY similar but I bumped up the specialty malts. We'll see how it turns out!

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