Tree House Double Shot Clone

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specharka

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Anyone who's ever had the chance to try Tree House Brewing's malty offerings is a fortunate soul indeed. Though they are primarily known for their superb hop bombs, they also make some fantastic coffee stouts. Double Shot is one of the best examples of the style, with notes of chocolate, toffee, and vanilla amid waves of coffee bliss. It's a bit of a departure from the roast bombs that stouts have come to be known.
I think the key to this beer is to nail the ion concentrations. I know Tree House treats their water differently for their stouts than their IPAs, but I would expect the chloride to sulfate ratio to be analogous, since the beer has that same substantial mouthfeel. I think this water profile is a good starting point:
Ca: 120
Mg: 8
Na: 12
SO4: 60
Cl: 80
HCO3: 300
As for the recipe itself, I'm open to interpretation. I tried to keep things as simple as I could while retaining the same elements that make up Double Shot. You won't find any heavily roasted malts here.

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.98 gal
Color: 32.6 SRM
Bitterness: 42.8 IBUs
Est OG: 1.077 (18.5° P)
Est FG: 1.020 SG (5.2° P)
ABV: 7.5%

Ingredients:
12 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
1 lbs Brown Malt (65.0 SRM)
1 lbs Kiln Coffee Malt (165.0 SRM)
8.00 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)
8.00 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (225.0 SRM)
4.00 oz Midnight Wheat (550.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Fuggles [4.5%] - Boil 60 min
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.0%] - Boil 30 min
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.0%] - Boil 10 min
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10 min)
1 pkgs British Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1098)
2.00 Vanilla Beans (Secondary 2 weeks)
2.00 cup Coffee Toddy (Bottling 0 min)

Single infusion mash at 153-155F for 60 minutes, followed by a mash out at 167-170F for 10 minutes. Ferment at 64-68F for 3-5 days before ramping up to 70-75F. Add vanilla beans and age for another 2 weeks (you don't need to rack to secondary). Before bottling, prepare a coffee toddy and pitch directly to bucket/keg.
 
Had a chance to try this beer last week, was like drinking an espresso! We did a side-by-side with Doubel Shot, Single Shot and Single Shot w/Vanilla. I honestly couldn't pick out too much difference between the Double and Single Shots, maybe a bit more thick and malty, but I'm not the greatest at describing what I'm tasting/smelling. The Single Shot w/Vanilla was clearly different, very strong on the vanilla notes so I wonder how much vanilla bean would be in the base beers?

I'm also interested to hear about your choice of yeast. I haven't been able to find anything on the internet about what strain they use (surprise), but I did isolate a yeast from the bottle dregs in Double Shot that I'm currently evaluating...
 
Anyone who's ever had the chance to try Tree House Brewing's malty offerings is a fortunate soul indeed. Though they are primarily known for their superb hop bombs, they also make some fantastic coffee stouts. Double Shot is one of the best examples of the style, with notes of chocolate, toffee, and vanilla amid waves of coffee bliss. It's a bit of a departure from the roast bombs that stouts have come to be known.
I think the key to this beer is to nail the ion concentrations. I know Tree House treats their water differently for their stouts than their IPAs, but I would expect the chloride to sulfate ratio to be analogous, since the beer has that same substantial mouthfeel. I think this water profile is a good starting point:
Ca: 120
Mg: 8
Na: 12
SO4: 60
Cl: 80
HCO3: 300
As for the recipe itself, I'm open to interpretation. I tried to keep things as simple as I could while retaining the same elements that make up Double Shot. You won't find any heavily roasted malts here.

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.98 gal
Color: 32.6 SRM
Bitterness: 42.8 IBUs
Est OG: 1.077 (18.5° P)
Est FG: 1.020 SG (5.2° P)
ABV: 7.5%

Ingredients:
12 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
1 lbs Brown Malt (65.0 SRM)
1 lbs Kiln Coffee Malt (165.0 SRM)
8.00 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)
8.00 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (225.0 SRM)
4.00 oz Midnight Wheat (550.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Fuggles [4.5%] - Boil 60 min
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.0%] - Boil 30 min
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.0%] - Boil 10 min
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10 min)
1 pkgs British Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1098)
2.00 Vanilla Beans (Secondary 2 weeks)
2.00 cup Coffee Toddy (Bottling 0 min)

Single infusion mash at 153-155F for 60 minutes, followed by a mash out at 167-170F for 10 minutes. Ferment at 64-68F for 3-5 days before ramping up to 70-75F. Add vanilla beans and age for another 2 weeks (you don't need to rack to secondary). Before bottling, prepare a coffee toddy and pitch directly to bucket/keg.

Did you ever end up brewing this? Double shot is ridiculously amazing and would love to brew something similar.

How did this turn out?
 
Did you ever end up brewing this? Double shot is ridiculously amazing and would love to brew something similar.



How did this turn out?



Yeah, and from what I can remember it was exceptional, although not very close to the mark. I think the Tree House beer probably uses oats and dextrine malt in lieu of the flaked barley to replicate that silky mouthfeel, and I don't think they used any post-fermentation additions either. It is tempting to use cacao nibs / vanilla / coffee beans in the brew, but from what I can tell, the flavors are all malt-derived.
 
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