dogfish head 120 minute clone help! need sweetness

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dblott1

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i need some advise from you guys that know what you are doing, ( which means not me)

recipe----

46 lbs 14.9 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 65.5 %
1 lbs 7.5 oz Amber Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 2 2.0 %
23 lbs 4.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 3 32.5 %
3.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 120.0 min Hop 4 19.2 IBUs
3.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 120.0 min Hop 5 29.3 IBUs
3.00 oz Warrior [15.00 %] - Boil 120.0 min Hop 6 33.8 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35.49 ml] Yeast 7 -
1.0 pkg Super High Gravity Ale (White Labs #WLP099) [35.49 ml] Yeast 8 -
2.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Warrior [15.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.75 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs


In a bowl, mixed together 3 Oz. Amarillo, 3 Oz. Warrior, 3 Oz. Simcoe and blended together. Made 40 Dixie cups with 6.3 grams in each cup. Added 1 cup every 3 minutes for all of 120 minute boil.

Divided Dextrose into 28 individual 12 oz ziplock bags. After transfer to conical, started adding the second day, twice daily (12 oz in the morning and 12 oz in late afternoon) for 14 days. Towards the end, would see how fermentation was doing before adding. If fermentation slowed, re-think before you add more sugar as once added the final beer may be sweet.

1/2 gallon of wort was added to the high gravity yeast to make a starter. Second yeast was added on day 5 of fermentation.

Oxygen was added once daily for 4 days. 30 seconds @ 1200 psi with 0.2 micron SS Stone.

Dry hopping: Added 2 oz. Amarillo, 2 oz. Warrior and 2 oz. Simcoe to a bowl and blend. 28 ziplock backs were filled with 6 grams of hops each. 1 bag was added with each evening addition of dextrose and continued for a total of 28 additions or 4 weeks.

Fermentation was on the cold side, roughly 66-70 degrees. Lots of heat from the yeast.

OF ended at 1.050. Let sit for a few days on yeast to help finish fermentation. Stopped adding sugar on day 13. Total dextrose added as 21.5 pounds. Re-calculated OG was 1.200.

Bottled in 6 oz champagne splits, no addional yeast or sugar added. No carbonation. Final % with high gravity hydrometer was 20.7% abv.

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i brewed the 120 minute all grain recipe from sean paxton. 13 gallon batch. i was a little low on my OG (1.075 instead of 1.100). but everything went great during fermentation. now i am at the end of 1 month (all sugar and hop additions done). my beers FG is way low 1.008 (sean paxtons was 1.050)

i tasted a little bit of the racking port and it definitely is strong (i figure 21%) but it doesnt taste as sweet as i think it should. i tastes a little like champagne.

does anyone know how to sweeten it up a little bit without the yeast just eating the sugar?

fyi, i plan on racking to 3 cornies, cold crashing in the kegerator, filtering through a 30 micron filter, force carbing and then bottling.

just not sure how to add some sweetness to balance out the strength of the alcohol. or just do nothing?
 
My first thought here was check your hydrometer to make sure you are getting accurate readings.

1.008 is low! Pretty amazing honestly, mine puttered out in the .020's - however, I found mine to be WAY to sweet, as do most other brewers who brew the 120 clone for the first time by the book. Check out this topic:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/dfh-120-minute-clone-259314/index26.html

This is where a good collection of home brewers including myself have all posted our experiences brewing the 120 while reading on about Scottland's experience, lots of good information in there and you may get an answer faster with the members subscribed to the topic. Personally I would feed it more sugar if you want to sweeten it up, if you used American Ale and a 099, it can't go much further past 21 and if you do, kudos! Beef up the dry hop accordingly.

Something to keep in mind, the general consensus of that topic and the brewers that have made the 120 is that it finishes too sweet, teens is a good place for that beer. Also, more hops all around for both the boil and dry hopping stages.

Good Luck! Cheers!
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