Dual Spires Black Lodge Ale

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rlbois1

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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
 
This beer has turned out very well. Gave a 4-pak to a non-GF beer loving friend and he really enjoyed it. He said it was hoppier than he expected but he really liked it. Not sure what I would change... The hops used were mostly a result of what I had on hand, but I think they worked out well. I have a PartyPig (yum) of this stuff aging in the basement, think I'll wait for cooler weather before putting it in the fridge. Maybe my own Octoberfest... Also, please excuse the typo on my label; should read: Dual Spires (as in Twin Peaks).

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That is a great looking recipe and a neat looking beer. Have to try brewing it sometime.

What do you find the molasses lends to it.
 
Honesty I'm not sure where the molasses stops and the D-180 starts, but the sweetness and overall flavor with the hops is nice, without being too rich.

Thanks for that. I'll give it a try in the next month or so and provide some feed back.
 
Thanks for this recipe, I am using it as the basis for my first GF beer. It is still in the primary right now. Here is my variation:

0min:
6lb White Sorghum Syrup
1lb Maltose Corn Syrup
1lb D-180 Candi Syrup
.5oz Cascade Hops
.5oz Northern Brewer Hops

30min:
.25oz Cascade Hops
.25oz Northern Brewer Hops

35min:
1cap Servomyces

40min:
.25oz Cascade Hops
.25oz Northern Brewer Hops

Safale US-05

Dry Hop 1oz Cascade Hops in secondary

Initial Gravity 1.055
Final Gravity 1.010

I am surprised at how good it tastes before dry hops, although very 'green'. Also it's very cloudy and I am wondering if I will need to do any fining.

Thanks again because I feel like this post gave me a really good idea on how to make my first GF beer something fun and enjoyable.
 
Was this a 5 gal batch? If not how would you scale it up.

Also, do you think the hops could be increased to make a black ipa? Thoughts?
 
Was this a 5 gal batch? If not how would you scale it up.

Also, do you think the hops could be increased to make a black ipa? Thoughts?
My recipe is for 5 gall and I assume Matt's is too.

And absolutely, my next batch will be a black IPA based on this recipe.
 
Thanks for this recipe, I am using it as the basis for my first GF beer. It is still in the primary right now. Here is my variation:

0min:
6lb White Sorghum Syrup
1lb Maltose Corn Syrup
1lb D-180 Candi Syrup
.5oz Cascade Hops
.5oz Northern Brewer Hops

30min:
.25oz Cascade Hops
.25oz Northern Brewer Hops

35min:
1cap Servomyces

40min:
.25oz Cascade Hops
.25oz Northern Brewer Hops

Safale US-05

Dry Hop 1oz Cascade Hops in secondary

Initial Gravity 1.055
Final Gravity 1.010

I am surprised at how good it tastes before dry hops, although very 'green'. Also it's very cloudy and I am wondering if I will need to do any fining.

Thanks again because I feel like this post gave me a really good idea on how to make my first GF beer something fun and enjoyable.
This has been one of my favorite batches so far; hope you enjoy it. As for the cloudiness, it should clear considerably in the secondary. Also, I always throw 1tsp of Irish Moss in the last 15 minutes of the boil.
 
rlbois1 said:
This has been one of my favorite batches so far; hope you enjoy it. As for the cloudiness, it should clear considerably in the secondary. Also, I always throw 1tsp of Irish Moss in the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Thanks! Next batch I may try to use more of your original ingredients. Mine is more brown than black, and the color of yours was really nice. What would you think about a little bit of coffee in the brew? I've been wanting to experiment with that.
 
:mug:You are the first person to catch the Psych reference (Dual Spires). And of course the "Black Lodge" was a nod to the original Twin Peaks series...

I've never ventured into the GF forum, but I had to when I saw "Dual Spires Black Lodge Ale" as the most recent thread.
 
I brewed this tonight. Thinking about adding a little something extra in secondary. Any ideas? Espresso, bourbon,?? Can't wait to taste the result.
 
Cainepolo12 said:
I brewed this tonight. Thinking about adding a little something extra in secondary. Any ideas? Espresso, bourbon,?? Can't wait to taste the result.

I just bottled mine. I had some warm and flat, it was good but I think I would prefer even more hop aroma. I also thought about adding coffee! It also has a bit of sweetness, so I was thinking that cold brewed coffee would be a nice addition. I am happy with the bitterness though, I would not want it more bitter.

Bitterness is hard for me to gauge right now though because my beer is brand new.
 
Thanks Matt. I forgot to add my maltodextrin at boil so I added it to the fermenter. Doh! Think it should be okay though. If bitterness is good, maybe ill do a dry hop with .5 oz Cascade and add the espresso. Any thoughts on amount?
 
Cainepolo12 said:
Thanks Matt. I forgot to add my maltodextrin at boil so I added it to the fermenter. Doh! Think it should be okay though. If bitterness is good, maybe ill do a dry hop with .5 oz Cascade and add the espresso. Any thoughts on amount?

I dry hopped with 1 ounce of cascade and I don't feel like the aroma is as strong as I would like... But I like it really strong. I'm thinking about letting my bottles carbonate, and then pouring some over a little bit of cold coffee just to see what it's going to taste like.
 
I brewed this tonight. Thinking about adding a little something extra in secondary. Any ideas? Espresso, bourbon,?? Can't wait to taste the result.
The D-180 definitely adds a bunch of complex flavors. I like the idea of adding coffee or espresso, but I've never done it so I'm not sure how it would work out. I do have a non-GF DIPA in the secondary sitting on 3oz of Hungarian oak cubes soaked for two weeks in 8oz of Jack Daniels; that one is going to take some time... Dry hopping with a bunch of Cascade would be good too. Ultimately, it's all good...
 
With cascade, you really want to use 3oz to dry hop if you want that "cascade" aroma. Cascade doesn't store the best either, so if you buy in bulk make sure to store in cryovac bags to lock in the aroma.

With coffee it's best to use cold pressed as it doesn't extract the oils like espresso shots. In the past I've put a bit in the bottle before adding the beer. It seemed to get stronger as time went on. This would be a good way to test it and not risk ruining a whole batch.
 
I racked to secondary today at 1.010. I was going to go with coffee but decided to go a different direction. The sweetness of the wort reminded me of a beer I had once that was a banana bread beer so I tried to duplicate that. Ending up adding 1 tbsp vanilla extract and a 1/2 tbsp each of almond extract and cinnamon. Well see what happens!
 
I racked to secondary today at 1.010. I was going to go with coffee but decided to go a different direction. The sweetness of the wort reminded me of a beer I had once that was a banana bread beer so I tried to duplicate that. Ending up adding 1 tbsp vanilla extract and a 1/2 tbsp each of almond extract and cinnamon. Well see what happens!

Please post after you try it, I'll be really interested to know how that turns out. Mine has a little too much sorghum tin twang, and not enough hop aroma, although the bitterness is just right. I am enjoying this beer.

I am wanting my home brew to taste less like redbridge, and there is still a hint in there...

I don't understand the idea of sorghum at 'flameout' - what that means... and I've also not tried rice syrup.
 
I used 6 lbs a piece of sorghum and rice syrup. That should reduce the tinny taste. The idea of adding sorghum at flameout is to reduce the time to extract the flavors during the boil while still adding fermentables. I haven't tried this yet.
 
I used 6 lbs a piece of sorghum and rice syrup. That should reduce the tinny taste. The idea of adding sorghum at flameout is to reduce the time to extract the flavors during the boil while still adding fermentables. I haven't tried this yet.
Am I understanding you correctly, "6 lbs a piece of sorghum and rice..." as in 12 lbs plus the candi sugar? Was this for a 5 gallon batch? If so, that's gonna be a pretty strong brew (somewhere around 1.090 OG and ultimately around 8.8% ABV?). Rock on...
 
Oops. Make that 3.3 lbs a piece. Bottled last night and not sure how I feel about this one. The almond extract took a more prominent flavor than I would like but hopefully it will mellow with time. OG was 1.056 and FG was 1.012, a little higher than expected or desired. Not sure why that is.
 
Oops. Make that 3.3 lbs a piece. Bottled last night and not sure how I feel about this one. The almond extract took a more prominent flavor than I would like but hopefully it will mellow with time. OG was 1.056 and FG was 1.012, a little higher than expected or desired. Not sure why that is.
"3.3 lbs a piece"... that makes more sense. I wasn't sure about the extracts thing; I'm just not that gutsy. In a previous post you had mentioned a FG 1.010; would adding the extracts to the seconadary have brought it back up like that?
 
Thoughts on a hop schedule of how to transform this into a black ipa? Would you also need to increase the fermintables?
 
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

Best beer name!!
 
I can report that the extracts are a TERRIBLE IDEA, at least in that quantity. The almond flavor is overpowering and there is not enough hop flavor for my taste. I also made a rookie mistake confusing dextrose and maltodextrin, so I ended up subtracting body instead of adding it. Maybe some things will get better in the bottle, but I think this will be noted as a learning moment. Disappointed at some of my poor decisions, but you live and learn.
 
I brewed this today. Almost exactly the same as your original recipe but I swapped the dextrose for 100 grams of light muscavado sugar. Og is 1058

Smells and looks great. This is my first time with northern brewer and I love it, so piney
 
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

I used this recipe but did some minor changes. I added 2 lbs of buckwheat honey at 45 minutes and moved the sorghum to burnout. Hoping to kill the tin taste. OG was 1.070, hoping for a bit higher alcohol content. I will let you guys know how it turned out.
 
Deadset this beer is easily in my top 5 brews. The flavour is great and the molasses really hangs around. My wife (my quality control engineer) loves it.

I suggested dropping back the molasses next time but she wouldn't hear of it.

Can't wait to do a black ipa off this base.
 
Deadset this beer is easily in my top 5 brews. The flavour is great and the molasses really hangs around. My wife (my quality control engineer) loves it.

I suggested dropping back the molasses next time but she wouldn't hear of it.

Can't wait to do a black ipa off this base.
Wow; that's great to hear. I have high hopes for the rasberry ale I've got in my primary right now (no rasberries in it yet...), although I did screw up on brew day. After I chilled the wort and poured it into the fermenter, I ended up having to scrape a bunch of sorghum off the bottom of the kettle. I must not have stirred after adding the sorghum at flame out...
 
Wow; that's great to hear. I have high hopes for the rasberry ale I've got in my primary right now (no rasberries in it yet...), although I did screw up on brew day. After I chilled the wort and poured it into the fermenter, I ended up having to scrape a bunch of sorghum off the bottom of the kettle. I must not have stirred after adding the sorghum at flame out...

Had exactly the same issue before, didn't stir it enough. It shouldn't be a problem though. Look forward to hearing how you go.
 
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