Belgian Golden Strong Ale Pink Elephant (Delirium Tremens clone)

[DrinkNoH2O]

I finally brewed this one a few weeks ago (had the ingredients sitting around for a while) and bottled it last Tuesday. Hit 75% efficiency for an OG of 1.076. It fermented the way down to 1.005! It's going to be a beast coming in at around 9.3% ABV!

I pitched a large decanted starter of the WLP570 as well as a single rehydrated pack of S-04 and it took off in less than 2 hours.

The one mistake I made was wrapping a blanket around the beer after the first 12 hours or so. The temp briefly shot up to 91 degrees! It was only for a few hours though, hopefully it's not ruined.

With the yeast activity I was seeing it would have hit 82-84 on its own with no extra insulation. Live and learn I guess.

So this beer was initially too boozy/estery for me and I let it sit at room temperature in bottles for about a month and a half, then "lagered" it in the fridge in bottles for over two months. Had the first bottle from the fridge last night and man was it awesome.

Nice balance of yeast and spice and really packs a wallop. I was buzzing pretty hard after finishing one bottle.

Next step is to pick up a real bottle of DT and compare.

 

[enricocoron]

I used this 4 grain mash bill

11.75 lbs Pilsner Malt
7 oz Munich malt
5 oz Biscuit Malt
3 oz Aromatic Malt

with 1.66 lb. of belgian beet and used Jkarps (Hugyes supposedly) complex mash schedule, along with that Hop bill and spice profile...pitched a cultured DT bottle plus Belgian Ale yeast (no s-04)....did around 10 days at 68-70 degrees, then 2 weeks at 36 degrees, then bottled and placed bottles in empty aquarium with heater at 82....sat there for a week and then hit a heat wave and bottles hit 85-86 degrees for two weeks. About 10 weeks on now, and oh my is it fantastic beer....five side by side tasters have given edge to this recipe compared to original...my friend wants me to enter it in a contest but I don't want to part with a bottle, every time brew friends come over they don't care whats in the keg...they just want 'the belgian'. thanks Jkarp, and OP, thanks Hughyes! BTW it was my first all grain which maybe was ambitious but it was a perfect brew day. actually going to get the grains after work for another batch....can feel the heat wave coming in about 3 and a half weeks!

 

[bmason1623]

Tried another bottle 4 weeks after bottling. I'm wondering if it will ever condition properly. Still very boozy tasting and very green. Maybe in 3 months it'll be ready but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[enricocoron]

What was your starting and finishing gravity bmason? I thought the spices and belgian yeast flavors should mask the 'booze' flavor especially after the hot bottle conditioning.

 

[bmason1623]

What was your starting and finishing gravity bmason? I thought the spices and belgian yeast flavors should mask the 'booze' flavor especially after the hot bottle conditioning.

OG: 1.078
FG: 1.012

Mine is still very boozy tasting. Maybe it just needs a very looooong conditioning period. At this point all I can do is just let it sit there and wait.

 

[dmkern]

Brewed this yesterday. Overshot the OG by some, ending up at 1.076 (1.077 after a temperature adjustment).

Fermentation started quickly and hot! It was around 70 when i pitched the yeast. I have it in a fermentation chamber (a 5 cu ft freezer) with a newly wired ranco thermostat which keeps the ambient temp right around 68-70. Woke up this morning and the thermometer on the side of the carboy read 77, which wasn't unexpected given the heat a fermentation gives off. There were HUGE smells of banana coming from the chamber. Taking a smell inside made me light headed from all the ester. I'm worried that it started too hot and that i should have been a little more gradual getting it up to that temp. What do you think?

Good news is that its fermenting like crazy, and the color is awesome. And i'm happy about this new fermentation chamber i've hooked up so I can lager when it's done with the primary fermentation. Overall i'm pretty psyched about this beer.

Thanks OP for the recipe!

 

[enricocoron]

My second batch of Belgian using same recipe hit 78 degrees so I'm in the same boat. Its just ready for bottling tonight after cold crashing it. From what I've read bannana smells and Esters and even sulfur DMSO smells are fairly normal for a developing Belgian, i'm still optimitisitic it will be every bit as good if not better than the first.

 

[bmason1623]

My second batch of Belgian using same recipe hit 78 degrees so I'm in the same boat. Its just ready for bottling tonight after cold crashing it. From what I've read bannana smells and Esters and even sulfur DMSO smells are fairly normal for a developing Belgian, i'm still optimitisitic it will be every bit as good if not better than the first.

How long did it take for your first batch to condition?

 

[dmkern]

bmason, any luck with the boozy taste fading away?

 

[bmason1623]

bmason, any luck with the boozy taste fading away?

Haven't tried it in the last couple of weeks but I'm willing to bet that it's still present. I'm thinking this beer is going to need months to condition.

 

[Phunhog]

I made this last year and it was one of my best beers ever!! I have a sack of two row (1.9L)right now and was thinking about using that instead of Belgian Pilsner. Any thoughts on how it might change the flavor.

 

[dmkern]

Took my first gravity reading this morning (3 days after brewing) as the fermentation slowed down a lot. Right now the gravity is at 1.011 which isn't bad considering my OG of 1.077.
It was a lot less boozy tasting than I expected, and once i got past the green beer and yeast tastes i could really notice the tremens flavor coming through. The smell was right there too. For being so young I'm surprised how well it has already turned out. I can tell it's going to be an awesome beer. It's now just a matter of getting the gravity down a few more points. I turned the heat up for fermenation to finish off around 80 degrees for the next couple days. I'll be pumped if the gravity gets down to 1.008.

This is still a while down the line, but how much priming sugar did people use before bottling? What's the CO2 volume you were shooting for? 3-3.5?

 

[dmkern]

Nevermind my last question. Just saw on page 2 of the thread that it is around 3.5-4. I'll probably stick to 3.5 and try not to explode any bottles.

 

[bmason1623]

It was exactly 7 weeks ago today that I bottled my PE batch. As I have mentioned in this thread the past samples have been extremely boozy/solvent tasting. I'm drinking a bottle as I write this. I'm happy to say that the boozy/solvent taste is really starting to dissipate. It's still present but nowhere near where it was in the past. I think this beer will require at least 3 months to condition and will only get better with time as all Belgian styles do. I'm thinking this may turn out pretty decent after all. Will keep everyone posted.

 

[DrinkNoH2O]

It was exactly 7 weeks ago today that I bottled my PE batch. As I have mentioned in this thread the past samples have been extremely boozy/solvent tasting. I'm drinking a bottle as I write this. I'm happy to say that the boozy/solvent taste is really starting to dissipate. It's still present but nowhere near where it was in the past. I think this beer will require at least 3 months to condition and will only get better with time as all Belgian styles do. I'm thinking this may turn out pretty decent after all. Will keep everyone posted.

That was my experience. I let it ago at room temp for almost 2 months, then "lagered" in the fridge for a couple months after. Tastes great now.

 

[bmason1623]

That was my experience. I let it ago at room temp for almost 2 months, then "lagered" in the fridge for a couple months after. Tastes great now.

I wish I had more room in my fridge. I'm just going to forget about then until Labor Day. Hopefully, it'll taste flawless by then.

 

[enricocoron]

I think the boozy flavor is 'masked' or complemented by the wildish yeast and spice flavor profile, mines 8% and never really tasted boozy. I added a cup of Corn Sugar for bottling 5 gallons and that came out perfect...I usually added 3/4 cup for pale ales. I know I should know the whole 3.5 - 4.0 thing but if the beer is good who cares how it works.

 

[enricocoron]

I should have added that they really hit peak flavor after 2-3 months in the bottle....realy easy to say it would be better even longer except it's hard to let them alone when you've got a bad case of the DTs....

 

[opteek]

Just brewed this up last night, hit the OG right on at 1.072. Going to pitch some re cultured DT yeast and a packet of S-04 in the morning. My basement stays at 72F so I will just throw it in there till it's almost at terminal gravity and into the fridge it will go.

 

[dmkern]

After 7 days of hot fermentation i got my gravity down to 1.009. Not bad considering i started at 1.077. That's 88% attenuation and puts me right at 9% abv.
It's been lagering at 34 degrees for the last 8 days, and I'll bottle either this weekend or next.
So far so good. Looking forward to drinking this one.

 

[bmason1623]

After 7 days of hot fermentation i got my gravity down to 1.009. Not bad considering i started at 1.077. That's 88% attenuation and puts me right at 9% abv.
It's been lagering at 34 degrees for the last 8 days, and I'll bottle either this weekend or next.
So far so good. Looking forward to drinking this one.

It may be a few months before you can enjoy one. It seems that everyone's batch comes out very solvent tasting.

 

[enricocoron]

I finished around 1.006, probably too dry really....lagered two weeks and bottled four days ago....after one day of hot bottle conditioning a bottle blew out the bottom. I had only 8 champagne bottles so the rest went in 22oz bottles and it's one of those that couldn't handle the 2.8 CO2 I was going for....I originally thought two blew but I think the one that blew just blew it's neighbor away because it was the closest bottle and now 3 days later all the bottles have held and I'm guessing almost all the gas produx is done. About two weeks away from cracking the first and if it's even half as good as my first clone I'll re post the recipe I combined on this forum

 

[pensphreak]

I'm wondering for those that did a single step mash, what temp/time did you use and how did it turn out compared to the original?

Second, when I put all this into my brewing software, I get a FG of around 1.016-1.017. Why the discrepency between this and what you guys have been getting (1.006-1.008)?

 

[bmason1623]

I'm wondering for those that did a single step mash, what temp/time did you use and how did it turn out compared to the original?

Second, when I put all this into my brewing software, I get a FG of around 1.016-1.017. Why the discrepency between this and what you guys have been getting (1.006-1.008)?

Post you recipe so we can see where the discrepancy might be.

 

[pensphreak]

Post you recipe so we can see where the discrepancy might be.

Here's the grain bill:

85% 11.75 lbs Belgian Pilsner Malt
15% 2.0 lbs Cane (Beet) Sugar

OG 1.073 / 17.7° Plato
FG 1.017 / 4.3° Plato
Color 4° SRM / 9° EBC
Mash Efficiency 70%

I don't have BeerSmith with me, but those numbers are from Hopville.com

 

[bmason1623]

Here's the grain bill:

85% 11.75 lbs Belgian Pilsner Malt
15% 2.0 lbs Cane (Beet) Sugar

OG 1.073 / 17.7° Plato
FG 1.017 / 4.3° Plato
Color 4° SRM / 9° EBC
Mash Efficiency 70%

I don't have BeerSmith with me, but those numbers are from Hopville.com

We need to see what you plugged into your software to offer any help. Did you save the recipe in your software?

 

[pensphreak]

We need to see what you plugged into your software to offer any help. Did you save the recipe in your software?

http://hopville.com/recipe/793753/belgian-golden-strong-ale-recipes/delirium-tremens

That's all I have at the moment

 

[bmason1623]

http://hopville.com/recipe/793753/belgian-golden-strong-ale-recipes/delirium-tremens

That's all I have at the moment

I'm pretty sure the OG and SG is calculated instead of actual. If you let it ferment warm the way it should in the recipe in this thread you will get more attenuation then what is calculated. My recipe calls for a OG: 1.075 and FG:1.018 and I was actually at OG:1.078 FG:1.012

 

[bmason1623]

I tried another bottle today, exactly 9 weeks since I bottled it. The past samples were extremely solvent tasting as I have mentioned in previous posts. Today's sample was...NOT solvent tasting. The alcohol/burning/solvent taste was gone. It had a nice aroma as I was taking a drink. The only thing now is that it's still off in the after taste. I'm attributing that "offness" to the beer still being green. I think in another month or so this will prove to be very nice. I'm happy and relieved at its progress. You know the old saying, RDWHAHB. I think I'm going to make this one again soon to have bottles ready for the Christmas holidays.

 

[enricocoron]

11.75 lbs Pilsner Malt
7 oz Munich malt
5 oz Biscuit Malt
3 oz Aromatic Malt
1.66 lbs. Belgian Candi Sugar (Light)

Did the 4 temp mash step on both my brews....my actual TG is low because

1) Had a huge starter that contained 1) S-04, 2) WL belgian ale and 3) cultured DT
2) ferm temps were hot...too hot really
3) and 4 temp mash makes for a highly fermentable wort I guess

next time i'd cold crash it/lager it around 1.012 or so but I don't like to mess with it for sterility issues.

1 week on in bottles and no more explosions....bummed I lost 44 ozs of this delicious beer though

 

[bmason1623]

I'm drinking a clone that I brewed back on 5/13/11, bottled on 6/01/11 as I type this. The solvent taste has long disappeared. The beer is drinkable but I'm not too crazy about it. I was hoping it would have more o the belgian flavor profile and less of the malty profile which is from the S-04. Other than that the beer is fine. it only took 3.5 months!

 

[jkarp]

Ferment a little warmer next go-around.

 

[bmason1623]

Ferment a little warmer next go-around.

My fermentation temps were low 80s. I think the belgian yeast was just under pitched.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Home Brew Talk

 

[opteek]

Brewed this up last month and have had it in primary for 4 weeks. I just put it in the fridge @32F where it will rest for another 2 weeks before kegging. Its at 1.007 now and tastes great! This is going to be my best brew so far

 

[enricocoron]

I pitched the S-04 w/ Belgian Ale yeast and the dregs of two DT bottles, got no big malty flavor at all, just that smooth belgian candy spice. I fermented at 68-70, 80 may be too high.

 

[opteek]

I just kegged this beer tonight. First time kegging, also kegged a honey chamomile wheat. All I can say is WOW. I poured myself about two glasses while I was racking over to the keg and it tastes absolutely phenomenal uncarbed, I daresay just like the real thing! I am force carbing this and I just can't wait to taste it when it's ready. Thank you for this recipe!!

 

[lumpher]

he lists it

Yeast: WLP570
Yeast Starter: 1L

 

[enricocoron]

but you also want s-04 in there

 

[Akavango]

Bottled this recently and it was so close to the real thing, I was floored.
Can wait to test it once it is ready in the bootle.
Thanks for the great recipe.

 

[opteek]

I have tapped the keg, after 58 hours of burst carbing, it is unbeleivably excellent. I mean really. Haven't done a side by side yet but it is very very close. The belgian spicy yeast profile is right there and delicious, a little bit more prominent than what I remember a DT being giving it a little bit of a Leffe quality to it but I imagine this will diminish. Such an excellent beer I might just start brewing belgians exclusively.