Allagash Curieux Clone

[Jaybird]

I just won first place today in the Suwanee Beer Fest Homebrew competition in Georgia for the wood category with this beer!

WOW!!!! Good for you !!!

Cheers
Jay

 

[mister704]

What are you guys doing for fermentation temperature schedule on this? Very interested

I too need this information.

 

[1Mainebrew]

Start at like 68 and let it naturally rise to whatever it wants. It gets nice and estery with the higher ending temp while not being a bubblegum or wine cooler factory because of the lower starting temp (for a Belgian strain).

 

[butterpants]

Start at like 68 and let it naturally rise to whatever it wants. It gets nice and estery with the higher ending temp while not being a bubblegum or wine cooler factory because of the lower starting temp (for a Belgian strain).

Ok, thank you.... another question. I normally ferment in a STC1000 controlled freezer, located in my fairly cold Colorado garage. I really can't just "let it go" as the compressor will kick on if it gets hot and with it being outside, if I just shut off the capability of the fermentation chamber it would be at lager temps this time of year.

Any way to implement my ability to precisely control temps yet still ramp up this yeast properly? I really hate pitching at house temp and letting whatever happen.... ended up with some fusel nightmares that way (even using Belgian strains)

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[jabergess]

I have a basement utility room that stays at 67 degrees. I placed the carboy in there for the first couple of days. The first time I made the beer I then moved the carboy to the upstairs bathroom which gets pretty warm (82 degrees at times) and let the beer sit up there until it stopped bubbling and then moved it back to the utility room. The second time I made the beer after sitting in the utility room for the couple days I moved it into a downstairs bathroom with a heater and kept the temps between 74-77 degrees and kept it in there until it was done bubbling and then moved it back to the utility room. The first beer was a little drier overall when it was done fermenting. I have no idea if your freezer will get that warm for you.
The second beer was the one I split and only put half the beer on oak cubes and then reblended afterwards. I think it balanced the beer out better that way. IMO.

 

[butterpants]

Fermentation chamber has a heat source so I can make it hot as I want.... within reason of course. Thanks for your info jab

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[mister704]

Fermentation chamber has a heat source so I can make it hot as I want.... within reason of course. Thanks for your info jab

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Sounds like you have the same chamber as me. I have my fermentation chamber rigged with a STC-1000 as well and a separate flexwatt heating tape which I wrap the carboy or bucket with. Can achieve any time I need.

So seem like pitching this around 65F and them warming it up to around 75F and letting it sit and clear is a good choice. Then once clarity is achieved, you can drop it back down to the original 65F.

 

[1Mainebrew]

Water than 75 is actually preferred at the very end. Dry it out! It leaves you coming back for more without being too heavy or sweet.

 

[mister704]

Water than 75 is actually preferred at the very end. Dry it out! It leaves you coming back for more without being too heavy or sweet.

So just leave it at the 75F. Easy enough. That is basically what i am doing with my current beligan golden strong.

 

[butterpants]

So like pitch at 65, hold for 36 hours then ramp up to 75 over the course of 2 days and hold it there?

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[mister704]

So like pitch at 65, hold for 36 hours then ramp up to 75 over the course of 2 days and hold it there?

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That sounds like what I am getting out of what is being said.

 

[jabergess]

That's exactly what I did. 65 for 3 days. The yeast will be active at that temp, no worries. 75 will make it go crazy. I'm not sure why the ramp up is needed, maybe to not stress the yeast out? No idea, but it works and I'm sticking with it. My FG was 1.004. Definitely a dry beer.

 

[butterpants]

I'd imagine you get to final gravity easier while at the samr time creating the tasty phenolics Belgian yeasts are known at the higher/ramp up temps

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[vabeergeek]

So some friends and I brewed this last week (using 5 gallons of maple water from CT). I got it fermenting away and got thinking. It sounds like folks are using about 3oz of Hungarian oak in bourbon. I was thinking of splitting my 5 gallon batch to try with and with out the bourbon/oak. So should I be going with about 1 to 1 1/2 oz of oak soaked in bourbon with this one? Thoughts?

 

[jabergess]

Even though I split the last batch I made, I still used the same 3 oz of Hungarian oak cubes and bourbon in half the batch. I was afraid I would get a lot less oak character if I only used half the amount and had half not in the oak and blended them back together.

 

[vabeergeek]

I like the idea of blending but I was thinking more of having some bottles with just base beer and others with the oak.

 

[bolus14]

I like the idea of blending but I was thinking more of having some bottles with just base beer and others with the oak.

I essentially did this. I split it and oaked 2.5gal. Then at bottling time I racked a little over a gal of the base to my bottling bucket, filled 12 bottles, then racked the remaining base and oaked portion together and bottled. Obviously this is more time consuming but you end up with two different beers and get to compare what the bourbon oaking added to the base.

I'm thinking of using this recipe again soon, but using spiced rum instead of bourbon this time.

 

[jabergess]

Ahha! Yes, I probably would cut down on the oak if you aren't blending. The base Tripel is outstanding all on its own. Better yet, make a 10 gallon batch and blend some and split some. I think that's my next course of action for this beer.

 

[butterpants]

How long for a light french oak spiral that was soaked in Beam a month?

I plan on suspending it inside of a corny and doing incremental tasting but it's been so long since I've had the real thing.... afraid to over wood it.

Not going to back blend cuz I put cherries in the other 5 gallons i made. Gotta be different, right?

 

[jabergess]

I left mine on wood/bourbon a month in secondary - but that was with the medium toast Hungarian oak/Beam. The second go around had a combination of Medium American oak and Hungarian Heavy toast. You may want to go a bit longer with a light oak than a month but I'm not sure you'll get the same characteristics.

 

[butterpants]

ok shooting for 30 days. i really do like light french oak /bourbon combo.... and those spirals are the bees knees

 

[Sleepyemt]

ok shooting for 30 days. i really do like light french oak /bourbon combo.... and those spirals are the bees knees

How much of the spiral are you using?


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[butterpants]

One whole spiral (they come in packages of two... so half a package)

 

[mister704]

Well, I have officially brewed this beautiful tasty beast. I am hoping to be able to have a few by my brother's birthday July 7...sort of a surprise for him.

I hit my OG square on the head. 1.083 OG. I placed it in the fermentation chamber to cool it down (next purchase = immersion chiller...tired of holding 5 gallons of hot wort).

Got it right down to 65F and plugged up my aeration kit for 30 minutes and foamed it up quickly in 15 minutes. Pitched the 1.5L WLP/Wyeast starter I made on Friday(so it sat on the stir plate running for roughly 35hrs).

Got up this morning to take a gander to see how/if she was giving me some bubble action...and sure enough, she was just a bubbling away.

Now I am debating on doing a blow-off tube or just keep it with the airlock.

My plan is start at 65F...hold it for 3 days, then bump it up to 75 over the next 4 days then let it stay there and do its thing for whoever long.

Don't mind that temp....thats before I got her down to the right temp. I only use it when I am fermenting. Electricity isn't free...LOL

Here she is getting aerated...I just got this pic...need to find out where I am going to mount it.

 

[jabergess]

In my experience it is never a mistake to use a blow off tube but defaulting to an airlock can be a big messy mistake! Unless it is a mead, lager or I use my larger fermenter with plenty of head space I just throw a blow off tube on it and leave the airlock for secondary.

 

[mister704]

In my experience it is never a mistake to use a blow off tube but defaulting to an airlock can be a big messy mistake! Unless it is a mead, lager or I use my larger fermenter with plenty of head space I just throw a blow off tube on it and leave the airlock for secondary.

Thanks a lot....I just did the blow off tube trick. Its bubbling like crazy right now. I do think this was a good idea for sure.

Now even better, I can hear it through the ferm chamber so i can tell when it slows down. Just switching the bunges out, I could see foam basically all the way to the top.

 

[mister704]

Just checked the gravity and I was crazy enough exactly at what my calculations in BrewersFriend said.

Started at OG 1.083 and was 1.022 today after 9 days. Its sitting at 75F which I plan to leave it. I am in no rush as I do not plan to bottle this until mid June. I am hoping she drops on down to the numbers you all are seeing. 1.005-1.008 would be EXCELLENT

The oak is just sitting here in front of me making my mouth drool just thinking about it.

 

[1Mainebrew]

Sounds delish!

 

[mister704]

So I plan to check the reading again today. It has basically been sitting in the fermentation chamber since April 5th. Started at 68...went up to 75 and been at 75 since April 10 so about 15 days.

I am really hoping I got that drop because 9 days into fermentation, I was at 1.020 down from OG 1.083.

My plan is take it out the chamber because I am brewing 2 new beers tomorrow and would like to put one in it since it requires a little more temp control. It should basically be done, so I was going to remove the blow off tube and replace with air lock and put it in the basement (roughly 65 degrees).

Any thoughts?

 

[jabergess]

I checked back over my notes to see what I got on my 2 times making this beer. My OG was lower than your OG (1.070) and my FG was lower than your FG on both beers (roughly 1.004). I suspect you may have mashed at a higher temp than I did and have some unfermentable sweetness in there. I think it will turn out just fine though. The wood and bourbon will give it some perceived dryness. Again on the second go of this beer I held back 1 gallon to blend hoping it would keep the beer from being so dry. You may not have to do that or you may still want to, I don't know. It is getting close to decision time because you should be moving it into secondary soon.