My Utopia Clone brew .....

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Bombo80

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
Messages
530
Reaction score
67
Location
Maple Grove
Here is the recipe I used. I based it on the U2 recipe from PTN, CapeBrewing, and others.

Since this is such a huge grain bill, I split it into two mash sessions. Here is the half recipe I used. (twice to make 4 gallons)

11.66# Pale Malt (2 row) US (2.0 SRM)
4.00# Pale Malt (6 row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.00# Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM)
0.50# Rice Hulls
0.75# Crystal Malt (30 SRM)
0.75# Munich Malt (10 SRM)
0.33# Aromatic Malt (26 SRM)
0.30# Biscuit Malt (23 SRM)
0.13# Victory Malt (25 SRM)

Grains were mashed, vorlaufed and sparged. Wort was collected into a keggle to boil down the volume. I almost forgot about adding the hops. (sleep deprivation) :cross:

Here is the full hop amounts I used when I boiled the wort down to the volume I needed

2.00 oz Nugget [13.00%] (60 min)
3.00 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (60 min)
1.00 oz Liberty [4.5%] (60 min)
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50%] (60 min)
2.00 oz Liberty [4.30%] (15 min)
2.00 oz Mt. Hood [6.00%] (1 min)

I am also adding 32 oz. jug of Maple Syrup, split into three additions. As well as additional yeast innoculations.

I made a starter brew to get the WLP099 Super High Gravity yeast started and going strong. This brew was my recipe for a Doulbe Dead Guy clone. I made a 2 gallon batch with a SG of 1.074 and let it ferment of 5 days. I racked off most of the beer into gallon jugs to finish. I then airated the heck out of the Utopia wort, and dumped it onto the yeast cake.

I will make another small starter (~1.075) for an additional WLP099 yeast innoculation, when I add the first Maple Syrup addition. When the WLP099 has run it's course, I will pitch some EC1118 yeast to finish.

Here is a picture of the boil process.

Brew_day.JPG

Here is a pitcure of the gravity reading.

Hydrometer.JPG

I have never brewed something this big. As you can see, the hydrometer doesn't even have numbers that go that high. That is why I enlarged it to put lines so I could get a better idea of my SG. It looks to me like it's right there at 1.190. Holy Crap that's high. :rockin:

I dumped the wort on the yeast cake past night, and I had a real good frementation already this morning. Bubbling about 3 - 4 per second.

The wort had a very interesting sweet (DUH !) coffee flavor. This should turn out good. I just have to monitor the fermentation, and add the Maple Syrup and yeast as needed. By my calculations, this should have a 1.200 SG with everything added in.

I thought I would share my HUGE brew day, and decided not to add this to the WWWOTTUC threads.

I will update as things progress.

Cheers !!!!
 
Good luck with this... Its going to be very very difficult to get that beer to resemble Utopias... It would certainly be worth re-visiting this thread when you have some results on finishing gravity. You may also want to possibly try to get some brewery fresh and active yeast and direct pitch that ontop of the beer after a certain point...
 
Wow is all I've got to say. Please come back and update this thread during the process.

I've thought about making a Utopia ferment out completely and thought of an idea; Have you considered using heaftier yeasts to augment the one you have? There is yeast for distilling that goes up to 25% or more:drunk:. You can use your current yeast for flavor mixed with the distiller's yeast for maximum fermentation.

Good Luck
:mug:
 
So instead of changing your process to help break some of the sugars down into something more fermenable (longer boil, stepped mashing temps, beano, specific enzymes) you are just going to add champaign yeast at the end? I'm assuming that's part of the recipe's you were following?
 
I just started the next yeast innoculation this morning. (WLP099) I also checked the SG since I pulled a cup of the beer (mixed with 1 cup water) out to use as a starter base. Currently it is at 1.110, down from 1.190. That is pretty good after only 2 1/2 days. I plan on stepping up the next starter with another cup of beer, and a half cup water, tonight. This strategy was suggested by PTN on the huge WWWOTSAUC thread. I will step it up again with another cup of beer. The thought on this is to get the yeast accustomed to the high gravity of the beer. I will also be adding about 10 oz. maple syrup at the time I add the yeast. I will be adding a total of 32 fl. oz. of maple syrup, a slight change from the initial recipe.

HexKrak, I have beano, but have not decided whether I am going to use it or not. I will let it continute to ferment for the next few days and decide at that time. I also have three packs of EC1118 yeast to finish the beer when things start to stall out.

All in all, things are looking good.
 
So the current status is this ......

On 12/2, I have added a second innoculation of WLP099 yeast, along with 10 oz. of maple syrup.

On 12/6, I added another 10 oz. of maple syrup and 3 crushed beano tablets.

Today I measured the SG, and it was difficult to get an accurate reading since ther fermentation was so vigorous, but it looks to be about 1.050. That is another 40 point drop in 5 days.

Still going strong. I rouse the yeast each day. I still have one more 10 oz. addition of maple syrup, and another WLP099 yeast to pitch. I also have three packs of EC1118 yeast if things stall out.

It looks great and smells great too.

More to come.
 
How many beano tabs are you going to add. I'm planning on trying a Utopia like brew soon and your updates are greatly appreceated.
 
Currently I have only added 3 beano tablets. I will wait for a few more days to see how the yeast continue to chew through the sweet wort. I have read the BYO article,

http://byo.com/component/resource/article/51-21-alcohol-all-grain-beer

in there the brewer stated he added 8 beano tablets after all the wort was added, and the fermentation had slowed way down. After that addition, he let it ferment until there was no activity, then added 5 more beano tablets.

I don't know if I will go that far with the beano tablets. I will just monitor the fermentation, checking the SG periodically. I still have another addition of maple syrup to add, plus I have the EC1118 yeast if things seem to stall out.

As of this morning, it is still bubbling along, not real fast, but still signs of active fermentation. I also rouse the yeast each day too.

More to come .........
 
So the current update on this brew is as follows:

I have added the last 10 oz. addition of maple syrup to the brew. I took a SG reading, but it was very difficult to get an accurate reading. After I put the sample in the hydrometer tube the sample got very active, forming a head. My best guess is about 1.085 - 1.090. This is where is was prior to the second addtion of maple syrup, and now all my maple syrup is in the batch. I have added a total of 32 oz. maple syrup.

I will let it go for a week, rousing the yeast daily, then take another gravity reading.

I will decide at that time if I am going to add more beano, or not. Also I will decide if I need to add a pack of EC1118 yeast.

It looks and smells wonderful. Now it's just a wait and monitor thing.

More to come as this ferments out.
 
So I rouse the yeast and give it a little heat (sitting on a towle, on a heating pad) a couple times a day. SG as of this morning was 1.060. So this is moving in the right direction, and still has a good amount of activity. The hydometer sample starts foaming after I get it filled. This is what makes it difficult to take a reading, but I have figured it out that I need to get it filled and make my reading as fast as possible. I will give it another week and see how the fermentation is going. I still haven't added any more yeast, just the two innoculations of the super high gravity yeast.

More to come.....
 
I haven't got around to checking them for a while. Wow, I didn't realize it has been a month. I keep rousing the yeast once or twice a day. I can tell things are slowing down. Not much activity after the rousing. The aroma expelled while rousing the yeast smells really awesome. Hopefully I can find time tonight to check it.
 
It's so dissapointing when you get to the end of a thread and it ends on a cliffhanger. How low were you able to get the FG?
 
Unfortunately this brew has completely stalled out at 1.090. Way to sweet to even think about drinking. My plan is to do a 2 gallon batch of barleywine at 1.090 and when it's at a full rolling fermentation, add a couple quarts of my Utopia at a time to it, and get it to finish. It won't be as strong as I was shooting for, but it was a learning experience none the less.

I will update when I get to that point. I am hoping to brew this coming weekend.
 
I tried this too. OG of about 1.25. Stalled for two weeks now at 1.12. Thinking about adding champagne yeast. Smells wonderful. Maybe my OG was too high, who knows.
 
Mine stalled at about 18 %ABV and I just couldn't get it to budge. I aged it for a year on bourbon soaked oak cubes and just bottled about a month ago. It is super sweet but has a great flavor. I should have added some vodka or some clean spirit to boost the alcohol like a "beer port". That would really help cut the sweetness, but keep all the great flavor
 
I don't have my notes with me, but I brewed that small barleywine I talked about. It had a SG of 1.090. Once I had a full rolling fermentation, I added in my stalled brew, half a gallon at a time. Usually one in the morning and another at night.

If memory serves me, it ended about a 1.040. This is still very sweet, but has some very good flavor, and no jet fuel burn like the real SA Utopia.

My next step is to add a couple oak spirals and see how that effects the flavor.

More to come.
 
Back
Top