Way, way, way over the top Sam Adams Utopia clone - #2

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dammitt!dammitt!dammitt!

ours seems to have hung up around 1.080 or so after the first racking on of syrup addition. an o2 infusion this last friday has had no effect on chewing through this bastige. you massholes have any ideas?
 
Ok, well first, don't add any more O2. This will just oxidize your beer at this point. Second go out and get 2 packets of Lavlin ec1118 champagne yeast. rehydrate it in 1 cup of water. stir it. Add 1 cup of your beer/wort. Stir it and let it proof 20-30 minutes. Dumpt it in the batch and give the batch a good stir to rouse the yeast.
 
Throwing in more of the same yeast that has already stalled won't do it. We used the 1118 last year with good results. Be sure to proof it the way Yeager said so it gets sort of acclamitized to the high gravity. It wouldn't hurt to step up the proofing a few times, start with 1/2 and 1/2 until it is foaming away, then add another cup or two of straight wort and let that start to work. Maybe do that two or three times, so that by the time you pitch it into the rest of the batch you are working with mostly wort.

1118 can ferment a dead hooker if you optimize the conditions.

PTN
 
I have never really been a big fan of the 099, I don't believe that it lives up to its hype. Is it good to get to around 10-15 percent? Usually, but Anything over that I have been using ec1118 which can get you easily over 22%
 
paulthenurse said:
1118 can ferment a dead hooker if you optimize the conditions.

PTN
Click to expand...

Believe him when he says this, he has experience with this stuff. He has seen it himself when working in the ER.... Where do you think he gets all the cultures for his sour beers?
 
got a call from the cellarman today, while waiting till one of us could make it to the lhbs to pick up some 1118 the 099 has apparently started kicking again. he went down this evening after work and we have 1/4" krausen forming up:ban::ban:
 
paulthenurse said:
Is that a krausen or a pelicle?

Just kidding, good for you.


I'd still add the 1118. Maybe wait until what's working has finished it's game.

PTN
Click to expand...

considering the amount of sugar left in this bastige that'd be one sour as funky beer.


plan is to go ahead and hit it with the 1118 sometime this weekend after a trip to the lhbs.
 
we are at 1043.... Down a bit with the addition of the ec1118, plus that was after over 2 pounds of maple syrup added to the 14 gallons. I gave it a good stire to rouse the yeasties we will see how it goes
 
Did you grow your 1118 up by adding it to successively bigger volumes before pitching it? Take a cup of your stalled wort and dilute it 50/50 with water. Maybe even 25/75. then keep redoing that adding a larger and larger percentage of wort. It's important to time it so that the yeast is at its most active when you make the additions. (In essence you are just making a starter, I know you know how to do that but just included the details for someone following the thread who might not. Although I can't imagine anyone sifting thru all of the BS of this thread to glean out the occasional kernel of information) Try that and see if it helps. I'd imagine you would want almost a gallon of actively chugging along starter to pitch back into your stalled batch.

PTN
 
ok, so theres way too much of this to read thru to see if you guys did this, but I just got back from a private tour at SA in which they gave us utopia. they said they start with a base beer around 10% abv which is probably closest to a doppelbock, and then feed the yeast maple syrup regularly (like every day or 2) until it reaches the appropriate abv.
 
Maybe this has been covered in this thread but 58 pages I do not have time for. When you make a 10% abv beer and add maple syrup to get to the final destined %abv how is this accomplished? Is it that they start with a rediculous OG and then end up with a high FG and then bring that FG down by adding sugar?? Do they areate every time they add the sugar source??
 
I don't have a vested interest in the batches these guys have done and as you can probably deduce from the previous 58 pages, I don't even like these guys... but this beer is better than SA's Utopias. It's very similar and I'm really surprised that's how SA makes the actual Utopias. The one that PTN and Yeager have put together is a lot more balanced and like I said, it's better than the original.

It would be interesting to have someone make it by just feeding maple syrup to a base beer and then do a side by side
 
Cape Brewing said:
I don't have a vested interest in the batches these guys have done and as you can probably deduce from the previous 58 pages, I don't even like these guys... but this beer is better than SA's Utopias. It's very similar and I'm really surprised that's how SA makes the actual Utopias. The one that PTN and Yeager have put together is a lot more balanced and like I said, it's better than the original.

It would be interesting to have someone make it by just feeding maple syrup to a base beer and then do a side by side
Click to expand...

I think I've said it already in this thread, but yeah... +1000. SO much smoother than the "real" one. Can't wait to sample the current vintage!
 
I brewed mine today. This wort was the craziest wort I'm sure I'll ever see...very syrupy. Took me about 8 hours to brew it and it is now chugging away on a yeast cake of Wyeast Eau de Vie. I'll let you know how this yeast works as the bitter I made first was a very tasty beer and had a lot of character.
 
I used the new recipe. Still at high krausen chugging along. I'm hoping this actually works. If not, there is little hope this will be drinkable.
 
Patience, Grasshopper, patience. It will be drinkable but it will take some time.

We're down to 1.040 as of yesterday. Yeager is going to rouse it up and add the final couple pounds of maple syrup this weekend. As it sits now we're around 18% abv, by the time it finishes I expect to be down to 1.018 - 1.020 and right up to 20%.

PTN
 
1.040...Nice! I was wondering where that batch was at as I hadn't seen any updates. I can't wait to see how it compares with the changes from last years (which was the bomb!)
 
i will be visiting ours this weekend for our final syrup addition also. its been steadily burping away for the last few weeks, no real krausen or singing on the airlock just nice and slow at @ 20sec/bubble on the S.
 
When you guys add the maple syrup, do you just dump it in straight and stir, or do you thin it down in some water first?

I'm in the beginning stages of this recipe scaled for 5 gallons. The recipe put me at around 35lbs of grain, and I can only do about 22 in my mash tun. So I'm adding Muntons DME in place of the UK2 row. SG after the boil was 1.090, dropped to 1.030 as of today. I just added 5 lbs of DME syrup made from mixing the DME with boiling water and got it back up to 1.050. Bubbling away. I have not added any syrup yet.
 
paulthenurse said:
How bad is it for you in Middleboro, Babalu? I didn't get it that bad, only an inch or two in the basement and it's mostly gone/dried up.

PTN
Click to expand...

Good thing I had a pump I can tell you that

13 years and nary a drop
First storm had 4" and started pumping
Second storm started pumping at 5:30 in the AM

Would have been REAL BAD had I not had a pump.

Next project is a sump pump after the water table drops.

Lucky for us under my bulkhead is about 4" lower than the rest of the basement so I can use that as a sump of sorts but it was filling up and spilling out every hour when it was bad and was still every three hours yesterday AM

Remember going to Franks for that ONE MEETING you showed up for?
Remember where his shed is?
The River was there
 
yea, we had 3 inches in places. filled back up in 4-5 hours.

that's great news about the bulkhead! I'll have to remember that if we do one.
 
So after 3 weeks, my 5 gallon batch of this looks to have completely stopped. It was at 1.056 last Tues and is at 1.054 now. Even if its not totally done, I was going to try a jumpstart it. What do you think of this idea?

I have another vile of WLP099. I was going to put that in a two gallon starter and let it sit in a fermentation bucket for a few days. I was thinking I could decant most of the liquid, and rack the Utopia onto the new yeast cake. Add some maple syrup while I'm at it....

Thoughts?
 

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