Clone Beer Dog Fish Head - Midas Touch

[EBrewFro]

I think the recipe in Extreme brewing is for Liquid malt extract. If you are using DME I think you should multiply by 0.8.

HMM really...I thought I read a post some pages back that used liquid and was disappointed. I'll have to investigate, thanks for the heads up.

I used DME but did a 5gallon batch and hit the gravity on the nose. What was your initial gravity with the liquid malt extract? And did you have a 6gallon batch?

 

[millaj92]

Remember- the recipe in the book is not for an exact clone. That's a recipe based on one of the test batches (10 gallons) used to formulate the final AG recipe for this beer. The brewery also buys ingredients in bulk so there are lots of unknown variables.

 

[CastorRJ1]

Looks like I can by a half a gram of saffron for 7 bucks. Is a half a gram enough?

You have to be cautious with Saffron. There are definitely some
Saffrons that aren't full-blown Saffrons. If I remember correctly,
what constitutes REAL Saffron is the stigma and ONLY the stigma of the crocus
flower. Some companies mix the stigmas in with other parts of the
flower as a sort of "filler" which drives the cost down from way high
to reasonable. I remember watching and episode of "Good Eats" with
Alton Brown one night when he was making paella and he explained the
Saffron industry and what to be aware of. It's definitely worth a
watch in your spare time. Here's a link to his little bit on Saffron: http://bit.ly/orBGLs

 

[DoubleAught]

I finally got around to brewing this today. The only deviation from the recipe is I did the 75 min boil with 2.5 gallons, as I don't have anything big enough yet to brew 6 gallons. Other than that I followed the instructions and topped off to 6 gallons. Pitching temp was 68 degrees. Target OG was supposed to be 1.086, mine came in at 1.058. Any ideas what could have happened? I mixed and stirred the wort and top off water for about 5 minutes to ensure it mixed well. The only thing I can think of is it was supposed to really be 5 gallons? Would boiling 6 gallons for 75 minutes boil off 1 gallon? However it shows it being a 6.5 gallon batch. Or is the Muscat grape juice figured into the formula even though you add it after 3 days?

I'm sure it's still going to turn out great, just confused why the OG came in so low.

 

[Revvy]

I still haven't done this one. SOmeday.

 

[DoubleAught]

I finally got around to brewing this today. The only deviation from the recipe is I did the 75 min boil with 2.5 gallons, as I don't have anything big enough yet to brew 6 gallons. Other than that I followed the instructions and topped off to 6 gallons. Pitching temp was 68 degrees. Target OG was supposed to be 1.086, mine came in at 1.058. Any ideas what could have happened? I mixed and stirred the wort and top off water for about 5 minutes to ensure it mixed well. The only thing I can think of is it was supposed to really be 5 gallons? Would boiling 6 gallons for 75 minutes boil off 1 gallon? However it shows it being a 6.5 gallon batch. Or is the Muscat grape juice figured into the formula even though you add it after 3 days?

I'm sure it's still going to turn out great, just confused why the OG came in so low.

anyone?

 

[Xcorpia]

I think the muscat juice sugar is factored in. Mine came out with a high abv. Brewed 6 gal in Feb and its still a little hot. I used dme instead of lme and my OG was 1.070.

 

[DoubleAught]

I think the muscat juice sugar is factored in. Mine came out with a high abv. Brewed 6 gal in Feb and its still a little hot. I used dme instead of lme and my OG was 1.070.

Thanks I used LME. Glad to see I'm not the only one to miss TOG.

 

[DoubleAught]

Mixed in the Muscat last night. Holy heavy Krausen, yeasties are having an orgy with that stuff

 

[DoubleAught]

Krausen is finally going down a little. Had me concerned for a minute. I have it in one of the new Coopers fermentors which is holds somewhere between 7-8 gallons with no airlock, it came right up to the lid before going back down some....whew!

 

[PintCarnage]

Wellllll...... After perusing all 13! Pages of this thread... I'm brewin this one:rockin:

 

[beerdawg]

Something interesting I noticed...I was looking around Dogfish's website and under their Alehouse page I noticed they say Midas Touch is brewed also with thyme.

Midas Touch
This recipe is based on ancient findings. Brewed with barley, white muscat grapes, thyme honey, and saffron, it has the smooth dry body of a beer but finishes fruity like a fine white wine. 9% ABV

http://www.dogfishalehouse.com/beers.html

However, there is no thyme listed here as an ingredient. Anyone else notice this and if so have you tried adding thyme to this recipe? How much would you guess is needed?

 

[tmains]

I just wanted to confirm that this recipe calls for DME and NOT LME. I have 8 lbs of DME ready to go and I don't want to plop all 8 lbs in the kettle if LME is what's needed.

Also- My kettle is around 4 gallons. It should be okay to do the recipe with 3 gallons then add 2 gallons of water to the wort?

Thanks

 

[tmains]

Bump for the evening crowd.

 

[cygnus2048]

I just wanted to confirm that this recipe calls for DME and NOT LME. I have 8 lbs of DME ready to go and I don't want to plop all 8 lbs in the kettle if LME is what's needed.

Also- My kettle is around 4 gallons. It should be okay to do the recipe with 3 gallons then add 2 gallons of water to the wort?

Thanks

I'm pretty sure the recipe is for LME. If you look back at one of my previous posts I used LME and even though the final gravity is lower than what is listed, if you then add in that from the muscat addition I pretty much nailed it dead-on.

I ended up with a much dryer product than the real Midas. My final gravity was lower than the 1.026 target and I ended up with about 11.2% ABV (after carbonation). Carbonation was slow. I suspect this is due to the 1056 yeast being at it's upper limit of 11%. However, after two months in bottles the carbonation is sufficient. It is good but definitely not the authentic Midas. Most notable are the aroma differences. I suspect since mine fermented more completely a lot of the aroma compounds are gone.

Anyhow, I definitely recommend using LME. I'll definitely try this again some day but I need to first figure out how to keep it from fermenting completely. I suspect short of buying lots of equipment to filter out the yeast and then force carbonate, I need to find a yeast with a lower attenuation or one with an upper ABV limit around 9%.

Good luck!

 

[tmains]

I wound up using DME. I guess we'll see what happens.

So I got this Global white grape concentrate. Well.. my girlfriend did. Is it the right sort of concentrate to use here?

http://www.thegrape.net/browse.cfm/white-grape-concentrate/4,12287.html

 

[cygnus2048]

I wound up using DME. I guess we'll see what happens.

So I got this Global white grape concentrate. Well.. my girlfriend did. Is it the right sort of concentrate to use here?

http://www.thegrape.net/browse.cfm/white-grape-concentrate/4,12287.html

It's not the muscat that the recipe calls for but it appears to be an equivalent grape concentrate made for wine. I suspect you will be fine with this.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[DoubleAught]

I used LME as well. My OG was 1.058, left it in the primary for 4 weeks, racked to secondary last night (just because I'm short on bottles at the moment). Checked my FG and it's 1.006. Tasted pretty amazing though. A little different from the original but still a good brew. Not sure why my numbers are so different than the target, followed instructions perfectly. Still turned out good..

 

[tmains]

Welp today I'm gonna put the concentrate into the fermenter, let's see what happens. Had a minor leak through the airlock a few day ago. Tells me I'm on the right track.

 

[DoubleAught]

I bottled mine today, FG was 1.006. I missed all my numbers, but from the gravity samples I have tasted this is going to be one down right amazing beers. I've had the original and so far I like mine more

 

[tmains]

Nice, when it carbs up you should post a picture. Mine seems like it is going to be MUCH darker than the original.

 

[DoubleAught]

Nice, when it carbs up you should post a picture. Mine seems like it is going to be MUCH darker than the original.

Yeah mine is very amber almost red in color. I'm excited for this one to condition!

 

[Xcorpia]

Here's mine!

 

[DoubleAught]

Here's mine!

Looks delicious!

 

[Xcorpia]

At first I kind of hated it, but now (8 months later) it's delicious. It ages very well.

 

[Moosehunter]

After reading some feed back, I brewed a little diffrent.

4 lbs of 2 row
4 lbs of Malt Exctract
1 oz chinnok hops
1 qt Fresh concentrate Concord Grape juice
2 lbs of Honey
Container of Saffron threads
Wyeast American ale

OG 1.068
FG 1.004
8.37 abv

The standard brew requirements, boiled hops for 60 min. At end of boil added 10 threads of Saffron.

On second day of fermentation added Grape juice, and the rest of the Saffron(in the container).

When I transfered to secondary, I pulled a 8oz of beer. WOW I drank several glasses full. This beer is too good even uncarbonated. I made a 6 gal batch and by the time I bottled I had 4gal left. My buddies that brew, also pulled off of the secondary.

This beer is one that You need to brew!

Note: after brewing this beer, I read "SACRED HERBS IN BEER" book and found that Saffron has tendencies to add to the drunkeness.

Also I bought my Saffron from Fred Myers or Krogers to some, it cost 17.99 for a 10th of an oz. San Fransico Bay Herb Co dist. it. When You see it You'll know by what I mean by container.

Cheers

 

[azoteman213]

Hello:

I was reading an interview of one of the Dogfish Head brewers and he said that to keep the saffron aroma they added it post fermentation to preserve the aroma. When I do this recipe I will add the saffron to the secondary and smell the results. I will attempt this brew in November so if anyone tries this before let me know if it improves the aroma versus adding the saffron to the boil. Thanks and good luck with your Midas. Here is the link to the aforementioned interview: http://www.brew-monkey.com/articles/interview.php?id=2

P.S. The interview also contains some insight into the brewing 60, 90, and 120 IPA's.

 

[DoubleAught]

Going to be cracking one open this weekend just to "test the carbonation" lol...can't wait to see what it tastes like.

 

[DoubleAught]

I'm drinking my first one now...it's a lot like wine, in fact if I didn't know I'd think it was a glass of wine. It's not bad, just different.

 

[Xcorpia]

Age it for 6+ months and it will taste 100 times better, just like wine. Trust me I hated mine at first.