Belgian Golden Strong Ale Pink Elephant (Delirium Tremens clone)

[demagxc]

I bottled this last week and just opened a bottle "to test carbonation" and its fantastic. I dont have a bottle of the real thing in front of me to compare just yet but regardless of how close it really is this is a fantastic clone :rockin:

 

[sudsmcgee]

Making this tomorrow with Wyeast 1388 as my only yeast. Hoping it's great.

 

[sudsmcgee]

I'm not sure what's going on, but this beer tastes the same as my last time making it (IOW, not at all like Delirium Tremens). It's very good, but lacks any noticeable Belgian character. I used Wyeast 1388 fermented at 74 degrees.

 

[opteek]

It's because of the yeast used. The BIG thing in getting that DT flavor is to actually use the DT yeast from the bottle. I cultured it from the dregs of two bottles when I made mine and also added S-04 and the flavor was very much spot on. Even the yeast starter had a distinctly DT flavor to it.

 

[sudsmcgee]

I guess I'll have to give that a try next time, because nothing else has worked for me.

 

[cmybeer]

I went through a handful of pages on this thread and didn't see anything mentioned so I'll ask: Did you ever enter this into the competition you were planning.
I might have to schedule this as my next brew, I love this beer!

 

[enricocoron]

I entered in the local NHC San Diego qualifier and took Silver, but its different than the OPs version. For instance the WLP570 alone is a fantastic beer. 570 is from the Moortgat brewery (Duvel) and its going to give you a very similar flavor profile to DT. The problem with culturing yeast from a bottle out is that Belgian breweries often employ a second or even third yeast strain for bottle conditioning than those used in primary or secondary fermentation. You may not end up with anything close to the pure primary yeast strain. I feel the best option is to use a pure strain such as the one from White labs. I would hazard a guess that these yeasts from Hughye, Westmalle, Moortgat, Van Steenberge etc. all originated from a common ancestor.

Also, having been to Hughye last month, and several other breweries, a common thread was:

1) 75 minute boil to minimize color reactions, DMS was gone by then
2) no candi syrup or rocks in light colored beers....table sugar only
3) minimal specialty grains, mostly Pilsener
4) no spices, all yeast derived

There was a high temp finish on the golden ales and a significant lagering period but often the lagering was off the yeast cake with a fresh dose of yeast and a 'small' amount of additional sugar (pre bottle).

 

[LakewoodHomeBrew]

Kicking an old thread - thanks for the recipe. Brewed this yesterday and I'm pretty excited about it. Brew day went well and I have 5 gallons 'no-chilling' in the basement. I'll pitch today with a mix of 1388 and harvested DT yeast. I've got starters of both ready to go! Cheers.

 

[zman]

I brew this fairly often and love it but as I sit her with a DT in hand I notice that the real deal is considerably darker than my version. Thoughts?

 

[enricocoron]

I'm not sure what's going on, but this beer tastes the same as my last time making it (IOW, not at all like Delirium Tremens). It's very good, but lacks any noticeable Belgian character. I used Wyeast 1388 fermented at 74 degrees.

Use WLP570 (the Duvel strain) if you pitch enough healthy yeast I cannot imagine you will not gain a Belgian flavor profile. Use a pitching calculator.

It's because of the yeast used. The BIG thing in getting that DT flavor is to actually use the DT yeast from the bottle. I cultured it from the dregs of two bottles when I made mine and also added S-04 and the flavor was very much spot on. Even the yeast starter had a distinctly DT flavor to it.

Hughye bottle conditions with a different strain of yeast than the primary strain. Nearly all Belgian breweries do this. There is always going to be some of the primary strain left in the bottle though.

I brew this fairly often and love it but as I sit her with a DT in hand I notice that the real deal is considerably darker than my version. Thoughts?

Are you adding the Aromatic, Biscuit, and Munich? This should be enough and it's really on the darker side of a 'blonde' already so I wouldn't add any more. Boiling longer and more vigorously could aid color development. Or you could take your sugar and make a darker syrup by heating it up and using an acid.

 

[tmm0f5]

Brewed this back in February. Just had my final bottle..... Oh geez, why didn't I save them all for 10 months of aging. This is freaking amazing!

I'm going to have to brew this again, bottle them and simply "forget" about them. So so good.

 

[Nubster]

Getting ready to try this. Maybe tonight. For those that get yeast samples from actual bottles of DT, or any other beer for that matter, what's the process? Just save the last inch or so of beer and make a starter from that?

 

[zman]

Use WLP570 (the Duvel strain) if you pitch enough healthy yeast I cannot imagine you will not gain a Belgian flavor profile. Use a pitching calculator.




Hughye bottle conditions with a different strain of yeast than the primary strain. Nearly all Belgian breweries do this. There is always going to be some of the primary strain left in the bottle though.





Are you adding the Aromatic, Biscuit, and Munich? This should be enough and it's really on the darker side of a 'blonde' already so I wouldn't add any more. Boiling longer and more vigorously could aid color development. Or you could take your sugar and make a darker syrup by heating it up and using an acid.

This was the one that I did and seemed to be more spot on in terms of color and flavor. http://hopville.com/recipe/488832
I used Lyle's golden syrup for the invert sugar

 

[Jimothy]

Good stuff!

 

[Fulcanelli]

Just bottled it last friday, the flavor and aroma are amazing!

 

[jdm88]

I brewed this a couple weeks ago. It is currently cold conditioning in the fridge.

My question is: if I only keep it in the fridge for 1.5 weeks instead of 2 will it make a difference?

I am having a party on Sunday and need the room in the fridge, I would like to get the beer out on Wednesday so I can start stocking up.

 

[tmm0f5]

It'll probably be fine. Mine cleared up quite a bit after a week. I'm sure it'll be okay, maybe a bit yeasty but that'll clear after bottle conditioning for a few weeks.

 

[Cyclman]

I just had a DT a couple of weeks ago, and as I study more about beer characteristics, I couldn't believe the overwhelming bubblegum flavor once the beer came to proper temperature. I have always loved DT, but this realization just kind of ruined it for me. Funny, getting more educated changed my appreciation for the worse!

 

[Bock_Lesnar]

Has anyone used Wyeast Belgian Ardennes yeast with this beer? It was the only Belgian yeast my LHBS had in stock. Having read the descriptions it seems to suit what I'm after, but I may be missing something. Thoughts?

 

[Bock_Lesnar]

And another quick thing - if you have brewed this, did you use a blow off tube or was the airlock enough?

The only other Belgian I've made used the 3787 Trappist yeast and that pretty much painted the inside of my fermentation chamber with an airlock.

 

[stevepp8]

Ingredients
-----------
Beet Sugar 1.00 lb, Sugar, Other
Pilsener (Belgian) 6.50 lb, Grain, Mashed

Styrian Golding 0.75 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes
Saaz 0.50 oz, Pellet, 15 minutes

Coriander Seed 7.20 grams, Spice, 10 min
Ginger 2.40 grams, Spice, 10 min
Paradise 2.40 grams, Spice, 10 min

Notes
-----
Recipe is from a Belgian who supposedly knew the brewmaster at Huyghe.

10 min @ 125F mash-in, 45 min @ 144F, 30 min @ 158F, 172F mashout. I'm frankly skeptical of the effectiveness of this mash schedule, but hey, it's how Huyghe does it, I'm told. 90 minute boil. 7 day ferment (pitch both yeasts), starting at 67F and allowed to rise as yeast desired. 14 day lager at 30F, followed by a 21 day warm bottle condition at 76F.

Is it paradise seed? And ground ginger

 

[Bock_Lesnar]

Is it paradise seed? And ground ginger

The rest of this thread covers that - grains of paradise and fresh grated ginger

 

[Akavango]

I found in my stock of bottle a delirium brewed from this recipe. It was 14 months old. OMG it was great, better than it was when it was 6 months old.
It was a complete surprise because most of my blonde beers didn't pass the taste test after a year. This one was even better than the original. I had a couple more bottles and after tasting the first one I rushed to the liquor store to get the original to compare.

I used to complain about this recipe that i didn't reach the same level of spiciness than the original but the bottle I opened tonight was way better than the real thing.

So the true lesson here is be patient. I don't know when it went awesome because I didn't drink any for 6 to 7 months or so and it was close to the real thing but was lacking in spiciness. I'm still in shock at how good this beer was after all this time.

 

[Bock_Lesnar]

I found in my stock of bottle a delirium brewed from this recipe. It was 14 months old. OMG it was great, better than it was when it was 6 months old.
It was a complete surprise because most of my blonde beers didn't pass the taste test after a year. This one was even better than the original. I had a couple more bottles and after tasting the first one I rushed to the liquor store to get the original to compare.

I used to complain about this recipe that i didn't reach the same level of spiciness than the original but the bottle I opened tonight was way better than the real thing.

So the true lesson here is be patient. I don't know when it went awesome because I didn't drink any for 6 to 7 months or so and it was close to the real thing but was lacking in spiciness. I'm still in shock at how good this beer was after all this time.

Glad to hear this. I was planning on kegging this, but I guess I might bottle instead so I can hold onto some of it. Where do you store your beers? Do you have a gigantic cold room, or was it stored at room temps?

 

[Akavango]

I store them all at room temp but being in Ireland, it is never really hot.

 

[Bock_Lesnar]

I store them all at room temp but being in Ireland, it is never really hot.

I'm in New Zealand so I guess much of a muchnees, right?

 

[TheWitGuy]

Ingredients
-----------
Beet Sugar 1.00 lb, Sugar, Other
Pilsener (Belgian) 6.50 lb, Grain, Mashed

Styrian Golding 0.75 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes
Saaz 0.50 oz, Pellet, 15 minutes

Coriander Seed 7.20 grams, Spice, 10 min
Ginger 2.40 grams, Spice, 10 min
Paradise 2.40 grams, Spice, 10 min


Notes
-----
Recipe is from a Belgian who supposedly knew the brewmaster at Huyghe.

10 min @ 125F mash-in, 45 min @ 144F, 30 min @ 158F, 172F mashout. I'm frankly skeptical of the effectiveness of this mash schedule, but hey, it's how Huyghe does it, I'm told. 90 minute boil. 7 day ferment (pitch both yeasts), starting at 67F and allowed to rise as yeast desired. 14 day lager at 30F, followed by a 21 day warm bottle condition at 76F.

Any chance you could clarify what were the water volumes?

 

[cheesemoney]

I brewed this over the weekend with adjustments to get 6 gallons post boil (BIAB) and ended up with 5.75 gallons transferred into the no-chill cube.

I was withholding the table sugar for the fermenter and still managed to hit 1.075 OG post boil (sugarless). The scaled recipe calls for 2.3lbs of table sugar which at 5.75 gallons will contribute something like .018 gravity points which gets me a calculated OG of 1.093!!!!!

Did I goof? May need to water it down as much as possible when I add the boiled sugar (maybe toss in a handful of hops to the boil). Thoughts? Should I cut down the amount of table sugar?

My BIAB efficiency has been ridiculously high.

 

[Kee]

Great thread. I brewed a 5 gallon batch. Used only the WL570 yeast and did not have the ginger root, but tried to follow the original recipe otherwise. My new mash tun was not pre-heated enough, temp drift mid to low 140's. OG way low (1.06). FG 1.003. Result: drier than delirium but very tasty. I will do this again (and maybe again).

 

[mjackson]

Question? Probably a stupid question. I have never brewed a beer that called for sugar in the grain bill. Is the sugar added to the boil and is the a special process or is it cut measure and pour?