Utopia Clone #3 Perfecting Nirvanha

[Brewmex41]

Been a few years now, but is there any of this stuff still around aging?

 

[paulthenurse]

U3 didn't quite rise to our level of expectations. (And they say that I can be too blunt. How's that for politically correct mushmouth talk?)

Ya, the long and the short of it is that it fermented 2/3 of the way and croaked. We did everything short of bringing in unicycle riding midgets but couldn't get it to finish. It was probably around 18% ABV but still WAY too sweet. It was undrinkable as it was, so we gave it to a friend and he ran it through his Wooba Gooba machine and seperated it into it's componet parts. We took the first 18% or so of the liquid that came out of the Wooba Gooba machine and kept that seperate form the rest.

I haven't actually tried it yet, this occured over the winter and the stuff was just dropped off at TWB last week. I plan on heading there this evening and trying it. I'll probably put in some charred oak sticks into the jug (my share is around a gallon) and wait and see what develops. If any of you local guys are interested in trying it come by TWB tonight. I'll probably be there around 6.

 

[weirdboy]

I will never forget the bit that I was lucky enough to try at NHC a few years ago. I am not sure which batch that was from...whatever Cape had brought with him. It was absolutely delicious.

Since it has been a couple of years since the last attempt, I take it there are no more Utopia batches on the horizon?

 

[Melana]

U3 didn't quite rise to our level of expectations. (And they say that I can be too blunt. How's that for politically correct mushmouth talk?)

Ya, the long and the short of it is that it fermented 2/3 of the way and croaked. We did everything short of bringing in unicycle riding midgets but couldn't get it to finish. It was probably around 18% ABV but still WAY too sweet. It was undrinkable as it was, so we gave it to a friend and he ran it through his Wooba Gooba machine and seperated it into it's componet parts. We took the first 18% or so of the liquid that came out of the Wooba Gooba machine and kept that seperate form the rest.

I haven't actually tried it yet, this occured over the winter and the stuff was just dropped off at TWB last week. I plan on heading there this evening and trying it. I'll probably put in some charred oak sticks into the jug (my share is around a gallon) and wait and see what develops. If any of you local guys are interested in trying it come by TWB tonight. I'll probably be there around 6.

Two words... Jet fuel.

 

[paulthenurse]

No we'll do it again but our lives have changed considerably since then. I have a new job and I'm in grad school and Chris has three very young kids. Our time is limited. But we'll do more. It is too good to stop making it.

 

[paulthenurse]

And Melana is right. The guy who ran it through his Wooba Gooba machine ran it through three times as reflux runs. It is highly pure, about 178 proof according to the special hydrometer we floated in it. It was pretty funny. I grabbed one off the shelf and started to pour the stuff into the tube when I realized how foolish that was. It's not like any bacteria would survive an immersion into this stuff, so I just dropped the hydrometer straight into the jug. Almost a big mistake. There is nothing in there, no solids, no sugars not even much water. The hydrometer bounced off the bottom of the glass jug. Fortunately the thing didn't break.

So it is highly concentrated. The burn is quite strong and it elicits a head shake from everyone who tried it. But there are no unpleasant tastes or aromas. Once it gets diluted down it should be a good starting base. My idea of turning it into a whiskey won't work, there are no remaining flavor compounds to work with. Putting wood to it would just give wood flavored neutral spirits. I'll probably put fruits in a few of them. I figure roughly 8 - 10 bottles of finished product from the one gallon one diluted. I'll post more later.

 

[Trillium]

Just wondering if you guys thought about freeze concentrating the wort before the boil. It would reduce the amount of time required to boil the wort to increase starting gravity.

 

[paulthenurse]

Never even considered it for one moment! You wouldn't either. It would mean a second day cooped up in a garage with Yeager.

You can't see the look of horror and dread on my face but trust me, it's there.

 

[Melana]

Awww... come on Paul Yeager needs friends too...

 

[paulthenurse]

He's got McKenzie.

 

[kcmobrewer]

Hey just to be clear is the recipe on the first page good or it is the other one a few pages in? Might be trying this before too long


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[paulthenurse]

Go find the Way way over the top Utopia clone thread. It's the best of all three versions, took 3rdplace for BIS in the 2010 HBT competition

 

[kcmobrewer]

I'll do that thanks


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[DakotaRules]

Aren't Chris's kids old enough to brew now?!? Hasn't he forced them into Utopias blueberry hell yet???


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[rideincircles]

This post contains dead air.

 

[ComcastWineRookie]

Dude, they are in their 4th or 5th version of this brew, So I know that know what works and what dosent. It is laughable all these advice posts

 

[Cape Brewing]

Wow


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[paulthenurse]

To anyone who is reading this thread... Please ignore the Rookie Ahole who inserts himself into any thread associated with the greater Massachusetts home brewing community. We've been begging Tex and the mods to 86 him for a while. Apparently his 25 buck carries a lot of weight. All I can suggest is that you join with ALL of us and ignore him too. He is a USDA Certified DBag. Do yourself a favor and put him on your ignore list.


No. This is not typical Masshole ball busting, we just can't figure out how to get him to go away

 

[DakotaRules]

Kinda speechless myself, kinda rare that happens.


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[Trillium]

You should think about simplifying your recipe if your trying to produce a true Utopia clone. If your actually crazy enough to brew it again. A lot of the flavour development is created during the long boil so specialty malts are really not needed, especially the Melanoidin. The maple flavour and smokiness you detect in Utopia's is from the barrel aging, and oxidation reactions. All you need is American 2 row Pale malt, crystal 60. (British) and Munich malt, and maybe a roasted malt. Late addition hops are kind of pointless. As soon as I get my new system up an running, and acquire a fresh dumped 15 gallon barrel from local distillery, I'm going to give this a try.

 

[paulthenurse]

Thanks for the advice. We'll consider it the next we brew this.

You do realize that you brought this thread back from the dead, right? It's from 2010

 

[Trillium]

You do realize that you brought this thread back from the dead, right? It's from 2010

Way to go Brewmex

 

[Cape Brewing]

Sistine Chapel


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[paulthenurse]

[QUOT E=Cape Brewing;6314674]

Sistine Chapel


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Farkin' A right.

 

[Brewmex41]

Way to go Brewmex

I wanted to know if maybe they had accidentally stashed a bottle away for aging and forgot about it until I reminded them. Hahaha you never know.

I'm thinkin about brewing a 25%abv brew in November for my 25th bday. There's good advice in this thread.

 

[rideincircles]

Ouch. I just figured i would throw out some notes from Grant wood since he was the head brewer making Utopia at the time and he gave a speach about brewing high gravity beers recently. I did read some of thread since then, but it is still way over my head at moment. Oh well.

I know some of the stuff is general knowledge, but the Bean-O was the biggest surprise when he talked about it.

 

[paulthenurse]

Hey Rides,
Don't worry about it. Really.

Every family has that one guy that the entire family wishes would move to Alaska and have a terrible accident on a fishing boat and get washed overboard before the newspapers get wind of him and you have to spend the rest of your life explaining that "Ya, my name is Dahmer but that guy was from a distant branch of the family. Hell, I'm a vegitarian."

For those of us in Massachusetts Rookie is that guy.


Him and John Kerry.

 

[Cape Brewing]

When am I getting my $*&%in' share of this beer???

 

[paulthenurse]

Him, John Kerry and Cape.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Sorry for pitching in cash for a share (after being asked) and then actually expecting to receive something. Whatta jerk I am!


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