Allagash Curieux Clone

[dogbar]

My second batch came out a little hot/rough so I've been giving it some more time to age out. Just took a sample out of the lagering fridge and it's ready. It'll be on next.

Just started soaking the cubes for the next batch

 

[mhot55]

Pulled first draft- this is awesome. Very similar to the original from what I can tell, bit didn't do side-by-side comparison. To recap- ferment for 3-4 weeks in primary (letting temp ramp up to 75 or so), racked onto 1.5 oz oak cubes (soaking in bourbon for a month) for 8-9 weeks. Then kegged and added a splash of fresh bourbon- maybe an ounce. This one is around 9% ABV yet is smooth. No alcohol burn; the Belgian flavors profile and that of the bourbon melded beautifully. Among the top 5 I have ever made. Thanks for recipe and all the input.

 

[1Mainebrew]

You're welcome! Gotta love a good ole allagash clone!

 

[MotorcycleMatt]

Will be brewing next month so its ready for fathers day, its one of his favorite beers.

 

[dogbar]

Batch #2. It's taken longer to get to peak, but we're there now.

Camera adds 10 Lovibond, as usual.

 

[Strongbad52]

Mainebrew, I am going to be brewing this on Saturday. Did you dump both yeasts in the same starter or did you make two separate ones?

 

[dogbar]

In case he doesn't see it in time, both in one starter worked for me.

 

[jabergess]

And I did two separate starters and then dumped them one behind the other in the wort. I don't think it really matters....

 

[Strongbad52]

Thanks for the quick replies, I was getting sorta worried. The smack pack has swelled and I have the wlp550 in about 1500 ml of starter. I guess I will just so another 600 ml of starter and dump in the smack pack.

 

[1Mainebrew]

Thanks guys! I ended up using a single starter with both yeasts about 1500 mls total. It was CRAZY the amount of yeast that starter made. Yeast was all over the vessel, all over the counter top, flowing down the cabinet door and on the floor. Simply put, it was the most rockin' starter in my brewing career!

 

[jabergess]

I'm buying the stuff today to do this one again. Despite my extremely low FG, it was one of the best beers I've made. I'm not certain I would change a thing. I need to get the oak cubes on the bourbon!

 

[wickdawg]

Am glad I found this thread. I have a 5 gallon Balcones blue corn whiskey barrel that is just sitting in my house at I need to use this thing ASAP. This might have pushed me over the edge to brew this up to have this fall/winter.

 

[jabergess]

This time I did a little something different. I kept back 1 gallon of the batch before adding oak cubes and bourbon. I'll mix the gallon with the 4 gallons that have been aged on the oak and bourbon at bottling. I don't know what difference this will make but I was curious. Funny, I said in the previous post I wouldn't change a thing. Ah such is the prerogative of a homebrewer to change her mind!

 

[1Mainebrew]

This time I did a little something different. I kept back 1 gallon of the batch before adding oak cubes and bourbon. I'll mix the gallon with the 4 gallons that have been aged on the oak and bourbon at bottling. I don't know what difference this will make but I was curious. Funny, I said in the previous post I wouldn't change a thing. Ah such is the prerogative of a homebrewer to change her mind!

Actually sounds more authentic to the real Allagash MO.

 

[1Mainebrew]

This time I did a little something different. I kept back 1 gallon of the batch before adding oak cubes and bourbon. I'll mix the gallon with the 4 gallons that have been aged on the oak and bourbon at bottling. I don't know what difference this will make but I was curious. Funny, I said in the previous post I wouldn't change a thing. Ah such is the prerogative of a homebrewer to change her mind!

Hows it coming this time around?

 

[jabergess]

It's even better! I find it to be sweeter tasting - less dry. Probably because of the lowered amount of oak. It is also a tad lighter in color. (I did a side by side comparison with one of the few remaining original bottles) As it ages it should get even smoother, assuming it will be allowed to age!

 

[1Mainebrew]

I may need to try it that way!

 

[bolus14]

Putting this on the need to brew list, might be one or two a head of it though

 

[bolus14]

Checked with LHBS and grains and hops are good to go, since they don't stuck much Wyeast I asked if the could order 3522 for this week and all they had was WLP500 so 550 is on their order for this week too, both should be there Thursday! Since it seems the combo of these two strains is a major piece to this I wasn't willing to substitute due to their stock like I've had to on about half the beers I've made so far.

I'm thinking of using Jim Beam Devil's Cut in place of regular Jim Beam, any thoughts? It has a sweeter, more vanilla like flavor to me. Name the brew "The Devil's Cut Tripel" or "The Trident."

 

[bolus14]

Wondering if anybody has info on Chichum timeline post, post #165. Is that accurate or have others racked to secondary(or left in primary), added oak cubes, and bottled at different times?

 

[dogbar]

Wondering if anybody has info on Chichum timeline post, post #165. Is that accurate or have others racked to secondary(or left in primary), added oak cubes, and bottled at different times?

It's accurate in the sense that he did it and it worked for him, but you can go a different way.

I typically use a shorter schedule up front (three weeks in primary, three-ish weeks in secondary with oak) and then let it age out in the keg for a few months from there.

Last time I made a tripel I aged it in a used brandy barrel. Came out remarkably similar to this.

 

[GoodDogBadDog]

subbed

 

[bolus14]

I brewed this yesterday and missed the OG by a lot, only ended up at 1.060. This was my 4th BIAB but first time use grains from an online retailer and I think the milling was different than when I do it at LHBS. On my first three I got 75% - 77% eficiency so I didn't make any adjustments to the recipe.

Any thoughts on adjusting the oak/bourbon schedule of the OG to prevent the oak/bourbon from overpowering the base beer? Should I add sugar or something else to boost the ABV after the initial fermentation?

The good thing is I saved some of the yeast with plans to use some at bottling time, which I don't think I need now, and then freeze the rest for future brews of this or possibly other Belgians. That'll save $17 each time I brew this or around $8 for other Belgians since the combo of these strains seems like it should satisfy most Belgian styles.

 

[jabergess]

You already added the 1 lb of corn sugar with 15 minutes left in the boil correct? I don't know if I would add anymore sugar as this turned out very dry for me both times and adding sugar is going to dry it out even more. If it were me I would just adjust the amount of bourbon and oak I add in secondary. Beersmith tells me if I started with a 1.06 and ended with my same 1.004 my beer would be 7.3% which is still respectable. Also consider saving part of your beer from the oak and bourbon and blending it afterwards. I really liked what I got by doing that.

 

[1Mainebrew]

Yeah a little sugar, and or a mini mash could both be used to boost your gravity. Or you could just decrease the amount of oak and bourbon, or you could make it again (crush your own this time) and use this beer to be what you blend it with. After fermentation you'll have lots of free yeast and you'll end up with 10 gallons of craft blended curiuex clone. Let us know your decision!

 

[bolus14]

Thanks for the quick replies.

Yes I added the sugar at 15min. I was a little worried about adding more because I don't want it to be overly dry as others have pointed out, I think that's what's good about Allagash's Tripel is that it has some body and some sweetness to it. I did the same as you and guesstimated ending around 1. 005. I am planning to hold 1 - 1.5gal to mix back into the bourban aged portion.

I'll definitely crush my own going forward. This was my first time having it done and shipped to me, I was just trying to justify the cost of shipping since I gave LHBS 2 wks to order the Wyeast strain and they still didn't get it in. I would love to have 10gal of Curieux unfortunately storage space is getting pretty low, I need to drink more!!

For this one I think i'm going to ride it out as is. Just wasn't sure on the aging portion, if the lower ABV would have an effect on it or not. I'll just sample every 3 or 4 days after the first week and once I think it has a touch more bourbon taste than I want I'll mix it with the unaged portion and bottle 'er up.

 

[bolus14]

Has anybody held back some of the base tripel?
Just wondering if it stands well on its own. I haven't been able to check on my fermentation of this to taste it, but I'm now thinking of possibly keeping some without the bourbon.
I'm thinking of going with this:
1gal base Tripel
1gal hold back to mix with the bourbon aged portion
3gal age on Devil's Cut soaked oak cubes for 1 -2 weeks, until taste is where I want.

I'm mainly trying to keep some variety till the end of the year since I'm nto planning to brew anything until after Christmas, to many things going on this time of year.

 

[dogbar]

The base beer stands well on its own. It's a little dryer pre-oak-aging, which I like.

 

[jabergess]

If you mean held back just to drink without blending, no I didn't do that. But I did taste the tripel before blending and it was excellent so I see no problems with doing that! I momentarily contemplated not adding oak or bourbon and just going with it, but that wasn't the point of the exercise! You should find your base beer a little sweeter than the other.

 

[jabergess]

The base beer stands well on its own. It's a little dryer pre-oak-aging, which I like.

Haha. That's funny, I thought the opposite - drier POST oak aging.
My second beer with the blend is less dry than my first beer with all of the beer aged on oak and bourbon all other numbers being the same.