Treehouse Human Condition Clone

[delcosansgluten]

Before my basement gets too hot, I am going to do a test batch of a dessert stout I recall fondly before I was diagnosed with celiac. Based on how this turns out, I plan on brewing it again in September so that I can give it out as holiday gifts. The beer I am going to try and clone is this one from Treehouse - Human Condition.

Here is the grain bill I think will get the flavor profile, but I'm not sure how to control the flavor sequence on the palate, if that makes sense. In the description the flavor is, Chocolate & Coconut > Creamy Coffee > Caramel.

5 lbs Pale Millet Malt
5 lbs Biscuit Rice 4L
2 lbs Toasted coconut
1 lbs Caramel Millet Malt
1 lbs Lactose
0.6 lbs Gas Hog Rice Millet
0.5 lbs Dark Rice Millet
0.5 lbs Dark Millet Malt
2oz Northern Brewer Hops
1 sachet Safale S-04 yeast

Thoughts?

 

[skleice]

Ahhhh, I miss drinking TH brews on the reg (I'm only 45 min away). I've never had this one though.

Anyway imo, the dark rice, gas hog and dark millet are redundant and they will sway to a more acrid flavor. I highly recommend 240L millet for color and a richer/smoother chocolate flavor along with a bit of 1 of the dark grains you have listed. I really like the 120L too, but not sure if you want rhat dark fruit note in the mix. I would also recommend a good amount of buckwheat or roasted buckwheat for body (beta glucans FTW!).

 

[delcosansgluten]

Ahhhh, I miss drinking TH brews on the reg (I'm only 45 min away). I've never had this one though.

Anyway imo, the dark rice, gas hog and dark millet are redundant and they will sway to a more acrid flavor. I highly recommend 240L millet for color and a richer/smoother chocolate flavor along with a bit of 1 of the dark grains you have listed. I really like the 120L too, but not sure if you want rhat dark fruit note in the mix. I would also recommend a good amount of buckwheat or roasted buckwheat for body (beta glucans FTW!).

Thanks for the heads up on the buckwheat i'll add some for sure. I've been to the Treehouse brewery twice, each time was a joy. I've read that the Treehouse brewers do a 2 hour boil w/ 7 gallons worth of wort. Im going to give that a try on this batch.

 

[delcosansgluten]

@skleice i should have also asked, would you keep the Caramel Millet I originally listed or would the 240L totally replace it?

 

[skleice]

@skleice i should have also asked, would you keep the Caramel Millet I originally listed or would the 240L totally replace it?

I would keep it to layer in those caramel flavors.

 

[muddy1015]

Love that beer!! I know Burial near me does a 6 hour boil for their 15% super thick stouts. You probably don't want to do 6 hours....but I think starting with 2-3 hours like you mentioned would be worth it. I've also seen them mention using dark candy sugars in almost every one of them, so that might be something to consider.

Not sure on your batch size but maybe use 2 packets of s04?

Edit - definitely let us know how this goes, I'm very interested in making a stout in this vein

 

[delcosansgluten]

Yesterday I had the chance to make the Samoas, or Caramel Delight, stout from Treehouse Brewing. If this beer tastes half as good as it was fun to make its going to be a regular in the rotation. The entire house smelled like Caramel Delight cookies while this was brewing. Below is the grain bill, adjusted based on Skleice's suggestions.

For the cocunut, Weldworks has a youtube video where they suggest roasting coconut at 400 degrees in 4 minute batches. After seeing how much toasting occurred during the first 4 minute run in the oven, I only did a 3 minute second run. What a fun beer to make.

5 lbs Pale Millet Malt
5 lbs Biscuit Rice 4L
2 lbs Toasted coconut
1.35 lbs Roasted Buckwheat
1 lbs Caramel 240L Millet Malt
1 lbs Caramel Millet Malt
0.6 lbs Gas Hog Rice Millet
0.5 lbs Lactose
2oz Northern Brewer Hops
2 sachet Safale S-04 yeast

 

[skleice]

Can't wait to see how it turns out! I may have to give this a try...

 

[delcosansgluten]

Can't wait to see how it turns out! I may have to give this a try...

Thanks man, I'm really excited to try these as well. Having never added sugar to my beers, I decided to go with only half a pound of lactose so hopefully I'll end up with a creamy thickish stout. Now I just need to find another type of dessert stout to try.

 

[delcosansgluten]

Can confirm this beer is delicious. The flavor sequence is subtle coconut, caramel, coffee and ends with milk chocolate. I'm going to brew this again for sure. and The things I'll do next time is to add more creaminess, full pound of milk sugar and will use munich millet instead of pale millet. The finish is dry and i think thats due to the pale millet. All is all its a delicious beer, happy with how this turned out.

 

[delcosansgluten]

I decided I wanted to get another round of experience on this beer before making it as Christmas gifts. Switched up the grain bill this time;

5 lbs Munich Millet Malt
5 lbs Biscuit Rice 4L
2 lbs Toasted coconut
1.35 lbs Roasted Buckwheat
1 lbs Caramel 240L Millet Malt
1 lbs Caramel Millet Malt
0.6 lbs Gas Hog Rice Millet
1.0 lbs Lactose
2oz Northern Brewer Hops
2 sachet Safale S-04 yeast

This batch is noticeably lighter and very sweet, in hindsight I think 0.75 lbs lactose and a 50/50 split between pale and munich millets will make this a bomb stout, which it already is.

 

[glutarded-chris]

You are a brewing machine! I am waiting for the superheat of Florida summer to subside before brewing again. It will take a few months for this one to condition into its sweet spot I expect, so November/December will be perfect.

 

[Silly Yak]

Wondering if the lactose gave you a thicker mouthfeel as that's the biggest missing piece I find with GF stouts is that they're always super thin mouthfeel.

 

[delcosansgluten]

Wondering if the lactose gave you a thicker mouthfeel as that's the biggest missing piece I find with GF stouts is that they're always super thin mouthfeel.

It certainly helped make it thicker but the 2 hr long boil I think is more responsible for the thickness.

 

[delcosansgluten]

On Sunday I made the holiday gift batch of the Human Condition clone. I've decided to call this one Sisterly Stout in honor of my two dogs who both turned three this year. I feel like it coincides nicely with this being the third iteration of this beer. I didn't have any caramel millet so i substituted caramel 120L and medium roasted vienna millet. This time I dialed it down .5 lbs of lactose because for some reason 1lbs of it makes my face turn red.

My new favorite thing to do is make a yeast starter with left over mash drippings. I added 0.5 teaspoons yeast nutrient to 800ml of wort. I've never had such a powerful and fast krausen period and I can only attribute that to this yeast starter.

5.0 lbs Biscuit Rice 4L
2.5 lbs Pale Millet Malt
2.5 lbs Munich Millet Malt
2.0 lbs toasted coconut
1.5 lbs roasted buckwheat
1.0 lbs caramel millet 240L
0.75 lbs medium roasted vienna millet
0.5 lbs caramel millet 120L
50 grams dark rice malt
2 oz northern brewer hops
2 sachets S-04 yeast
25 ml Ceramix
25 ml Ondea Pro

 

[glutarded-chris]

Very nice! Would be interest to know other info like yield, OG...

So for your yeast starter, did you start it during the mash and then pitch it later after it became active? Maybe that is a benefit because you let the wart set and come to steady state temp before introducing the yeast. Just curious. Hope you will share your process. I have been lazy and just pitch the dry yeast on top before I close up the conical. I try to get the temp a little below the target temp for the fermentation fridge controller so that it has time to sit and sink into the wart before the temp control cycling starts. I have considered moving to a starter.

We just got a puppy so that we will have a youthful companion to our older dog. I too am brewing gift batches. Last week it was my basic pale but next week I will brew my typical amber but will call it "Reina Red" as the new puppy is probably a Redbone Hound. She is a 5 month old rescue so we don't know for sure.

 

[delcosansgluten]

Very nice! Would be interest to know other info like yield, OG...

So for your yeast starter, did you start it during the mash and then pitch it later after it became active? Maybe that is a benefit because you let the wart set and come to steady state temp before introducing the yeast. Just curious. Hope you will share your process. I have been lazy and just pitch the dry yeast on top before I close up the conical. I try to get the temp a little below the target temp for the fermentation fridge controller so that it has time to sit and sink into the wart before the temp control cycling starts. I have considered moving to a starter.

We just got a puppy so that we will have a youthful companion to our older dog. I too am brewing gift batches. Last week it was my basic pale but next week I will brew my typical amber but will call it "Reina Red" as the new puppy is probably a Redbone Hound. She is a 5 month old rescue so we don't know for sure.

To create my yeast starters, I do the following.

1. Place the grain basket into the empty 5 gallon pot I use for sparge water.
2. Collect as much wort as you want (pic SS#3 above)
3. Boil it on the stove top for 15 minutes
4. Add yeast nutrient and boil for another minute or so
5. Allow to cool to 75ish degrees
6. Pitch yeast and turn on magnetic stir plate

Congrats on the new dog, I can't imagine living without mine. This is a 4.5 gallon batch, OG 1.068.

 

[delcosansgluten]

To create my yeast starters, I do the following.

1. Place the grain basket into the empty 5 gallon pot I use for sparge water.
2. Collect as much wort as you want (pic SS#3 above)
3. Boil it on the stove top for 15 minutes
4. Add yeast nutrient and boil for another minute or so
5. Allow to cool to 75ish degrees
6. Pitch yeast and turn on magnetic stir plate

Congrats on the new dog, I can't imagine living without mine. This is a 4.5 gallon batch, OG 1.068.

It is also worth noting that after the mash, I turn off my mash and boil and thats when i collect the wort.

 

[glutarded-chris]

So how long does it typically take before the starter is active enough to pitch?

 

[delcosansgluten]

So how long does it typically take before the starter is active enough to pitch?

i usually let the yeast stir around for 15-30 minutes. Its difficult to let it go longer because of the time it needs to cool down to be pitchable.

 

[delcosansgluten]

Bottled these up the evening. Happy with how the labels turned out and how the wort and yeast trub smells. Let's see how these turn out, I plan on aging these until Christmas before trying them. Cheers!