Allagash Curieux Clone

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Copy. I handpicked a few BJCP friends of mine and utilized them as tester on a 1.5 month old batch. The resounding results were too hot in the finish but everything else was tracking. I am an impatient bastard tho. Back to the cellar she goes!
 
Thanks for publishing this recipe, as it's one of my favorite beers. I chose this for my first 5 gallon batch that I brewed last night. I did the BIAB method with 7.75 gallons of water, did my mash for 80 minutes at 151F, mashed out for 15 minutes at 170F, and squeezed out the brew bag to release all the extra goodness. All this was done to increase efficiency. I missed the goal OG of 1.085, but hit 1.080, so I am pretty happy with the first try.

I did read the recipe wrong and was short an oz of herzbrucker hops, so my hop schedule looked like this:
.5 oz tettnang 60 mins
.5 oz hersbrucker 60 mins
.25 tettnang 30 mins
.25 hersbrucker 30 mins
.25 hersbrucker 10 mins
.25 hersburcker 10 mins

I think it will be OK. It took forever to get the brew down to pitching temp and ended up pitching at 70F. My only wish is that I could fast forward time and have this ready to drink now.
 
Thanks for publishing this recipe, as it's one of my favorite beers. I chose this for my first 5 gallon batch that I brewed last night. I did the BIAB method with 7.75 gallons of water, did my mash for 80 minutes at 151F, mashed out for 15 minutes at 170F, and squeezed out the brew bag to release all the extra goodness. All this was done to increase efficiency. I missed the goal OG of 1.085, but hit 1.080, so I am pretty happy with the first try.

I did read the recipe wrong and was short an oz of herzbrucker hops, so my hop schedule looked like this:
.5 oz tettnang 60 mins
.5 oz hersbrucker 60 mins
.25 tettnang 30 mins
.25 hersbrucker 30 mins
.25 hersbrucker 10 mins
.25 hersburcker 10 mins

I think it will be OK. It took forever to get the brew down to pitching temp and ended up pitching at 70F. My only wish is that I could fast forward time and have this ready to drink now.

Hey man...congrats on the first brew. As you will learn as I did RDWHAHB. It will be fine. Also looks like you are somewhere in my area so always happy to see another DMV person.
 
Just took a taste of mine tonight. LAWD!!!! Its freggin outrageous. I mean its too good. That oak is just bursting through with flavor.

This is definitely one of my best brews and have literally proven that when you used soaked wood..it needs a good couple of months before it really shines.

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Welp, I am finally ready to bottle this beauty....

How much priming sugar you all use for the 5 gallon batch? And did you use dextrose or regular sugar?
 
I used 4 oz of corn sugar (dextrose) and it turned out perfectly carbonated. That's pretty much my standard bottling amount unless I am doing something unusual.
 
I used 4 oz of corn sugar (dextrose) and it turned out perfectly carbonated. That's pretty much my standard bottling amount unless I am doing something unusual.

Ok thanks. I know I saw the op say 5oz. Smart wondering seeing mind has sat about 3 months. I plan to add a small amount of Lavlin ec-1118 to ensure it has healthy bottle carbonation. I usually have been using 4.5oz in my 5gal batches.
 
Sorry for the newb question but i've been trying to find mash/sparge water amounts and temps? I just got the ingredients yesterday and am looking forward to making it this weekend. Also, i'm partial to Makers Mark....thoughts on differences between MM and JB? Thanks!
 
I mashed at 150, you want to keep the temp low so it finishes dry, I did BIAB so I can't help with sparge temps/amounts.

I used JB Devil's Cut, for me it was too much oak, I could pick up on a wood taste. I have thought about making this again and using either JD or Makers, but Denny's BVIP is first.
 
Brewed this about 3.5 months ago, mostly following the recipe with the exception of substituting Candi Syrup Simplicity for the kettle sugar. The smell of that first hop addition was amazing, floral and herbaceous, perhaps one of the best smelling boils I remember doing aside from something with Citra in it.

My extract efficiency was not great so my OG was low, 1.070 something if memory serves. Pulled a sample at 30 days and checked gravity. Gravity was almost flat 1.002 and it had a pronounced alcohol note. I added the JB soaked oak cubes and tasted again after 3 weeks.

At that time I could detect a noticeable astringency from the oak and the alcohol presence was very subdued. The JB was extremely evident on the nose and in the flavor, though mostly as a vanilla type character. Since I had a few weeks to wait before I could bottle I racked to a clean carboy.

Bottled using 4 oz. corn sugar and put into cold storage after two weeks. I've noted a small amount of chill haze so I am hoping it will precipitate out over time.

This beer is amazing, period. The best thing I have ever made. I pull it from the fridge about 20 minutes ahead of serving to get to cellar temp and the layers of complexity just keep opening up as it warms in the glass. The JB is well integrated at this point and there is no one flavor that dominates, just a smooth mellow complexity. Can't wait to brew it again and nail my numbers this time, perhaps add a protein rest to avoid the chill haze.
 
Here is my clone attemptAllagash Curieux (Bourbon Barrel-Aged Tripel

Grains/Adjuncts
1 lb Bries Victory - Specialty Malt
1 lb Weyermann Munich Type 1 - Specialty Malt

Dry Malt Extract
2 x 3 lbs of Briess Pilsner Light
1lb of Corn Sugar

Hops
2 oz. German Herkules Alpha - 15.7A%, Beta 5Q% - 60min
1 oz. UK East Kent Goldings Alpha 5.7% Beta 3% - 30min
1 oz. German Saphir Alpha 3.37% Beta 6.3% - 3min

Yeast
Wyeast - 3787 Trappist Ale Yeast HG

Oak Chips - 2 oz soaked in Jim Beam for two weeks

2 gallons of water in kettle. Steep grains from start.

Once at 160 degrees - stabilize the temperature for ten minutes. Once done - remove grains.

Add 3 lbs of Briess Pilsner Light (save the other 3 lbs for later) and corn sugar to kettle.

Once boil is achieved - add 2 oz. German Herkules

Thirty minute into the boil add 1 oz. UK East Kent Goldings

Forty-five minutes into the boil add 3 lbs of Briess Pilsner Light

Fifty-seven minutes into the boil add 1 oz. German Saphir Alpha

After two weeks, transfer to secondary fermentation vessel. Add bourbon soaked oak chips.

Secondary fermentation lasts 6 weeks.:
 
Here is my clone attemptAllagash Curieux (Bourbon Barrel-Aged Tripel

Grains/Adjuncts
1 lb Bries Victory - Specialty Malt
1 lb Weyermann Munich Type 1 - Specialty Malt

Dry Malt Extract
2 x 3 lbs of Briess Pilsner Light
1lb of Corn Sugar

Hops
2 oz. German Herkules Alpha - 15.7A%, Beta 5Q% - 60min
1 oz. UK East Kent Goldings Alpha 5.7% Beta 3% - 30min
1 oz. German Saphir Alpha 3.37% Beta 6.3% - 3min

Yeast
Wyeast - 3787 Trappist Ale Yeast HG

Oak Chips - 2 oz soaked in Jim Beam for two weeks

2 gallons of water in kettle. Steep grains from start.

Once at 160 degrees - stabilize the temperature for ten minutes. Once done - remove grains.

Add 3 lbs of Briess Pilsner Light (save the other 3 lbs for later) and corn sugar to kettle.

Once boil is achieved - add 2 oz. German Herkules

Thirty minute into the boil add 1 oz. UK East Kent Goldings

Forty-five minutes into the boil add 3 lbs of Briess Pilsner Light

Fifty-seven minutes into the boil add 1 oz. German Saphir Alpha

After two weeks, transfer to secondary fermentation vessel. Add bourbon soaked oak chips.

Secondary fermentation lasts 6 weeks.:

Welcome to the forum. I feel privileged to have your first post on this thread. I hope your beer comes out well!
 
Im doing a variant on this today. Same basic recipe except all hallertau & im using JD smoking chips soaked in Angels Envy.

I know chips go alot faster than cubes and I was planning on going 2 weeks with chips, Anyone have any advice on chips?
 
The chips are more one-dimensional in their flavor profile and mouthfeel. If you can get cubes, I'd recommend it, but then again, I'm sure you're going to make a great beer. I'm partial to the cubes, but that doesn't make me right. Enjoy your brew!
 
Hey folks,

I'm sorry if this was already mentioned (just read 30 pages of this...eyes get blurry!) but I want to do Mainebrew's recipe and I have a 10 gallon bourbon barrel from a local distillery to use instead of oak cubes.

How long should I have the brew in the barrel? The Allagash website says 8 weeks (if I recall correctly), but they then blend with non-barrel Tripel so that doesn't quite apply.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Excited for this brew!
 
Go by taste. Could be ready after a week or less in the barrel.

Have a second beer ready to go so you can rack out the Curieux and replace it right away. That second beer will likely need 2-3 weeks to get to same level of oakiness.

I did this with a five-gallon barrel a couple years ago.
 
Hey folks,

I'm sorry if this was already mentioned (just read 30 pages of this...eyes get blurry!) but I want to do Mainebrew's recipe and I have a 10 gallon bourbon barrel from a local distillery to use instead of oak cubes.

How long should I have the brew in the barrel? The Allagash website says 8 weeks (if I recall correctly), but they then blend with non-barrel Tripel so that doesn't quite apply.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Excited for this brew!


Did you end up brewing this recipe and aging it your barrel? If so how long in the barrel and how did it turn out? I just purchased some 5.2 gallon whiskey barrels from a local distillery that were just emptied a couple days ago and was thinking about using them for this recipe.
 
My batch of this has been in bottles for about 3 months now. It was pretty harsh at first but really mellowed around June/July. I say its excellent now.

I might try another batch with oak cubes instead of the smoking chips, but all in all im pretty happy with the way it turned out.
 
I have a suggestion for a variation. Allagash makes a beer occasionally called James Bean. It's Curieux with coffee added. http://www.allagash.com/beer/james-bean/ The don't make it often, and it hardly ever goes outside the brewery, however it is amazing, even better than regular Curieux. The coffee taste isn't super strong, but it's there prominently in the start. If you ever have the chance to visit the brewery when it's on tap, go.

So, if you're looking for a way to try something new with home brew Curieux, try a little coffee.


I need to get a few more brews under my belt before I try this clone recipe, but it looks awesome. Thanks for posting it here.
 
Just a small update, a few weeks ago when I was up at my parents, we opened a bottle of the clone, which is almost three years old now, and a bottle of curieux, and it was almost spot on. I need to brew this again
 
Attempting the James Bean variation with a current batch of this recipe. Half standard Curieux, and half James Bean with coffee added. Will necessitate some experimentation with how much cold brewed coffee to add at bottling, a task I am happy to undertake for the betterment of all! Will report back.
 
After 6-9 months of bottle aging, the balance on this was just about right. Unfortunately, not much was left at that point...
 
After 6-9 months of bottle aging, the balance on this was just about right. Unfortunately, not much was left at that point...

how much coffee did you add at bottling? I will be re brewing this soon as an 8 gallon batch that i will split into 4 gals of regular curiex and 4 gallons of the James bean
 
I wish I remembered. It was slightly ad hoc. I would probably cold brew some coffee and add that, if I were to do over.
 
I haven't read through the full thread yet (only the first 15 pages or so) so I apologize if any recipes updates have been posted. I was listening to a recent podcast episode of Good Beer Hunting where Rob Tod was being interviewed. It was a fascinating interview but he also talked a little about the tripel's simplicity: 2-row, candi sugar, Saaz.

I haven't brewed a tripel in a while, and haven't experimented with oak at all, but this thread has gotten me excited to do so.
 
Wow. Been fermenting this recipe now for 36 hours at 65 degrees and if I'm reading my refractometer and converting right, it's already gone from 1.074 to 1.018. Tried my first double-aeration and learned the hard way what disturbing the dissolved CO2 can do at high krausen...started with 3" of head space in my Catalyst, and ended up with yeast overflowing about 10 seconds in.
 
Wow. Been fermenting this recipe now for 36 hours at 65 degrees and if I'm reading my refractometer and converting right, it's already gone from 1.074 to 1.018. Tried my first double-aeration and learned the hard way what disturbing the dissolved CO2 can do at high krausen...started with 3" of head space in my Catalyst, and ended up with yeast overflowing about 10 seconds in.

Slowly stepped up temps - now at 1.003 on Day FOUR. 9% ABV and I'm hoping it doesn't move much more...
 
Question for the group: if the goal is to extract oak flavor, why not just use the bourbon to do the extraction and pour in the liquid bourbon only? The other aspect of barrel-aging would be the "breathing" of O2 into the beer, which we're not going to get here anyhow. Why not cut out the middle man?
 
I've certainly never heard of achieving oak flavor through extraction rather than aging the beer directly on oak. Though I'm perfectly aware that there are many brewing practices that persist because "it's always been done that way". I think you should work up a double blind experiment and report back!
 
Question for the group: if the goal is to extract oak flavor, why not just use the bourbon to do the extraction and pour in the liquid bourbon only? The other aspect of barrel-aging would be the "breathing" of O2 into the beer, which we're not going to get here anyhow. Why not cut out the middle man?

I think with the oak cubes you are going to get more of the oak flavor for the amount of bourbon flavor being imparted. I think if you pour in some bourbon that's been sitting on the oak, you'll mostly just be getting the bourbon with less oak coming through. Which might be good if that's what you're looking for, but I'd second the suggestion someone try it out and see what the difference might be.
 
Old thread revival.

I finally, finally brewed this yesterday. I have a yeast question. Everything I can find says 3522 and WLP550 are the same strain. LHBS only had 3522, so I went with that. has anyone tried making a batch with both, and then making a batch with only one to confirm if there really is a difference? Not worried about it, just curious if it's a factor you don't really need.

I do have some allagash yeast that I've built up from their white (They bottle white with the house strain, not the bottling strain they use everywhere else), and I think I'll use that next batch. I used it to make my Allagash Odyssey clone and the yeast character was dead nuts on to the real deal, so it's definitely their house strain.

I did miss my OG. My pre-boil gravity was right on. And I boiled off a touch more than I should have, but i still came in 0.01 under... Thinking something was up with the sugar I bought. Still 1.071 OG will make a fine beer. My goal is not a full blown Curieux clone on this round. I've wanted a tripel on tap for a while, and I love Allagash's version. So all 5 gallons are going into the keg when done and I'll add the last ounce of cubes that I've had soaking in Eagle Rare for almost a year. (the smell in that container is out of this world right now). Should be a great tripel with just a touch more complexity.
 
@cegan09 FWIW if you wanted a second strain to add, I ended up pitching wlp575 alongside wlp550, and it turned out wonderfully. Eagle Rare sounds delicious. In my case, pitching 4 oz of the the oak-soaked bourbon itself added some nice character IMO. Good luck with the fermentation!
 
I'm going to let it ride on the one. Pitched last night around 7pm, looks like it really took off midday today judging by the brewpi graph. You can usually tell because it switches from just heating to keep up to temp to cooling as the fermentation launches.
 
Well, my curieux light is finally carbed and tapped. It's fantastic. I added the last 5 oak cubes that I had and a little of the bourbon they were soaked in. Honestly if there is any oak character it's lost in the background, but the beer itself is awesome. It was a little harsh at first, there was some off flavor at the end I didn't like. But it's mellowed out just fine and is incredibly drinkable. My only complain is that it has horrible head retention, but that's something I've been dealing with for a few brews now, i'll get it tracked down.

I don't think this is going to last the several months others are letting theirs sit. It's waayy too drinkable where it is now.
 
Looking to do this one next -two questions:

1. Recently got into water profiles,any suggestions for what to use?

2. Anyone try doing a James bean variant? If so how much coffee?
 
Looking to do this one next -two questions:

1. Recently got into water profiles,any suggestions for what to use?

2. Anyone try doing a James bean variant? If so how much coffee?

I've done a James Bean clone several times. I make cold brewed coffee: 1 cup of beans ground coarse, 3 cups of water at room temp for a day. Refrigerate and then strain. I add 1 cup of this to the 5g keg and rack.
 
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