Drom John Avery Tweak Clone

Recipe Type: Partial something
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.138 calculated
Final Gravity: 1.026 predicted
SRM: 50 calculated
IBU: 44.68 calculated
ABV: 14.7 calculated

45 minutes steep at 155F
1 lb Aromatic (Briess)
1 lb Special B (Dingemans)
10.1 oz Roasted Barley (Briess Organic)
8 oz 2-Row (Briess Organic)
5.9 oz Roasted Barley, English
4.3 oz Debittered Black ( Dingemans)
3.7 oz Black (Briess)

60 minute boil
2.75 oz Columbus (60 min)
4 lb Dark Belgian Candi Sugar (Brewers Best)
15.15 lb Light LME (Briess Organic)

2 weeks primary 68F
3 oz Oak cubes, American heavy toast
375 ml Bourbon (Wild Turkey 101)
Abbey Ale Yeast WLP530

1 week secondary
16.5 oz (11 shots) Espresso (Starbucks)

12 weeks bottle
First taste 4 May 2019

I started with the AHS Mephistopheles recipe, adjusted to the Avery website Tweak ingredients, adapted to my setup, and split the Black and the Roasted Barley to use leftovers. I bought from Northern Brewer because of the organic LME.

 

Side by side: base, bourbon and oak seem right, but coffee is off, too astringent; first bottle barely carbonated.

 

Did you add more yeast at bottling?

Did you de-gass and measure FG of Tweak? I’d bet it’s rather high.

Starbucks is horrific coffee. I’d suggest something from a local well respected roaster that does a good job. Anything but Starbucks.

Easiest way to add coffee is just crack some beans and soak them in the final beer for no more than 36 hours then remove.

 

DromJohn,

Just curious how this eventually turned out. I love Avery Tweak.

 

Ok cascading carbonation now; I think it was only a problem with the first bottle. The coffee is getting better, but just doesn't work as it should. (Starbucks espresso is perfect for Redhook Double Black Stout).
OTOH, this is a pretty good brew. I'd give it a 4 on Untappd, where the real Tweak would get a 4.75 (just a tad too boozy for me).
I'm pretty positive that AHS Mephistopheles is the correct base.

 

Thanks for the reply. A couple questions.

Looking at your ingredients I am assuming this is an extract recipe/brew. Did you get anywhere close to the OG, FG, and ABV?
How many packets of yeast did you pitch and did you use a starter?

Thanks.

 

Helpful answers: partial something extract brew, one packet, no starter.
Truthful, if unhelpful and annoying answer, I have never measured gravity.
That said, side-by-side tasting, and the only failure is that the coffee is a bad match.