Cloning a Golden Dragon Part 7 - Monitoring Fermentation

In the earlier parts of this series of posts, I talked about how I captured a yeast sample from four bottles of Gulden Draak ale, grew that tiny sample into a quantity large enough to brew with, selected a recipe and created a wort, pitched the Gulden Draak yeast into that wort, and began fermenting it into a beer.

Tonight, I'm providing an update on the progress of fermentation.  The vertical axis of the chart at the left shows the standard gravity of the beer from the start of fermentation (original gravity) to today (day 12 in the left-right axis).

The yeast has done very well, having consumed about 55% of the sugars in the wort at the end of its boil.  Most of this work was done in the first seven days, which is not unusual, but fermentation continues... which is good.

The red (and flat) line in the chart represents the Final Gravity I hope to achieve with the beer.  Assuming the yeast continues consuming sugar at approximately the pace they have over the last few days, they should reach the goal in about two weeks.  At that point, I'll bottle the beer.  I should get approximately a 24-bottle case of 12-ounce beers out of the batch I brewed.  Those bottles will need to spend at least two weeks carbonating, and 2 months or more conditioning in the bottle.

Brewing a high-gravity (high-alcohol-content) beer like this is an exercise in patience.

Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale (7/10)

Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale is a limited edition brew released during the winter.  It’s brewed from only water, malted barley, yeast, and hops.
The beer pours a cloudy reddish medium-brown with finger-thick tab head that fades to a fine layer fairly quickly and hangs around a while, like an unwanted relative.  It leaves behind a thick ring of lacing that starts out sheet-like and gradually turns into rings.

The aroma is malty but not sweet.  There’s a mild hint of possible spices, but nothing strong or clear in it.

The flavor matches up to the aroma.  It’s not sweet.  It’s a decent balance of malt and hops.  There is a mineral element here, perhaps coming from the “stone Yorkshire squares” that it’s brewed in.  There’s not much else to it.  It’s got the malt and hops elements of a traditional winter warmer without the spices tossed in.

Rate Beer gives Winter Welcome Ale a 72 overall.  Beer Advocate gives it an 83-84 or “good” rating.  I’m right in there with them on this.  Like most Samuel Smith products, I like Winter Welcome.  On the other hand, I’m not exactly loving it, either.  It’s better by far than a macro brew, so it earns at least a 6.  It’s not as good as some of the other winter and Christmas ales I’ve reviewed, so it’s not quite an 8 or a 9.  I’m going with a 7 out of 10 on this.  It’s a good, solid beer, and one I’d be happy to drink.  It’s just not one I’m in any particular hurry to have again.  It would probably be an easy “gateway beer” to get a macro brew drinker to try at a party.  There’s nothing here to scare them away, like exotic spice flavors or overpowering hops.   It’s a decent, basic beer with a fairly “normal beer flavor” to it.

You can pick up an individual bottle of this for around $2.69, and for perhaps a bit less in multi-packs and cases.

This beer can be found at Kenny Road Market.  I’ve not seen it at other local retailers, but I’ve not made an exhaustive search for it, either.

Flavor Profile:
Sweet, Malty, Dry, Bitter, or Sour:  Malty
Spice Level:  Non-existent
Hops Level:  Low to Moderate
Dominant Flavors:  Malt and hops in a good balance
ABV: 6%
IBU: 
My Rating:  7/10

Aegir Bryggeri Julebryugg Christmas Ale (8/10)

Aegir Bryggeri is located in Flam, Norway.  Julebrygg is a Belgian Dubbel style ale that is produced by the brewery as a Christmas beer.  The brewery describes it as "light brown in color, medium heavy with a flavor of dried fruits and spices from the yeast."

To me, the color is more a dark brown than a light brown.  The head is beige, very thick, and creamy.

The aroma is sweet, with a strong dark fruit element and a definite warming alcohol presence.  Spices are there but subtle.

The flavor is not as sweet as the aroma would hint.  It's more dry and malty than sweet and fruity.  Still, it's an excellent beer and very enjoyable.  A nice example of the Dubbel style.  Bitterness is mild.

Beer Advocate gives it an 86 or "very good" rating with 16 people weighing in.   RateBeer gives it an 88 overall.  Both of these fall in line with my 8/10 rating.

I purchased this particular bottle in 2013 at Whole Foods in Dublin.  I suspect it's available there this season as well.

Flavor Profile:
Sweet, Malty, Dry, Bitter, or Sour: Malty, Dry
Spice Level:  Low
Hops Level: Low
Dominant Flavors: Malt, subtle dark fruit and spice
ABV:  7%
IBU:  Unknown, but I’d estimate mid 20’s to low 30’s
My Rating: 8/10

Staas Brewing - Delaware, Ohio

The Staas Beer Menu

Back in June, I visited Wolf's Ridge Brewing in Columbus at their restaurant near the Convention Center.  As I sat there at the bar sipping my beer and having lunch, a couple across the bar were discussing the Belgian ales offered by Wolf's Ridge.  We talked briefly, and they recommended that I make the trek to Delaware to Staas Brewing.  I wasn't disappointed.

Staas is located in a small, unassuming little space near the main drag in Delaware.  When I visited in late August, there wasn't even a sign on the outside of the place.  Liz and Donald Staas (husband and wife) own and run it.  Liz does most of the brewing, and Donald does most of the serving.

They brew all their beers with grain only, no extracts.  Their motto "Classic styles, true to style"

Their list of beers during my visit included a Belgian Quadrupel Ale, English Extra Special Bitter (ESB) Ale, Belgian Golden Strong Ale, Pale Ale, Oatmeal Stout, American Double IPA, German Weizen, American Cream Ale, Saison Farmhouse Ale, American IPA, and Apricot Wheat Ale.

Left to right, Saison, Belgian Golden Strong Ale, Belgian Quad, and Apricot Wheat

There wasn't time during my visit to sample everything they offered, which was unfortunate.  The husband and wife team running Staas have done an excellent job with their beers. I have no doubt that every one of them is an excellent example of the style of beer they represent.  Still, I was able to try their The Evangelist Belgian Quadrupel, Golden Delicious Belgian Strong Ale, Wildcat Sally Saison Farmhouse Ale, and Apridisiac Apricot Wheat Ale.  All of them were good.

Being a Belgian beer fan, Golden Delicious and The Evangelist stood out.  I absolutely loved The Evangelist and would happily have sat there drinking that quad until someone had to carry me out of the place.

If you get the chance (or better yet, if you live in or near Delaware), I can't recommend making a visit to Staas Brewing strongly enough.  Before or after your visit, head around the corner to Thurman Burger's Delaware location and to the beer and homebrew shop nearby.

Donald Staas, Serving Beer

Staas Brewery - From the Street

Beer Menu - Showing The Evangelist, The Runner Up, Golden Delicious, The Pacer, and Flood Water

Senior Status, Baumholder, Staas Ice, Wildcat Sally, Presidential, and Apridisiac

Lil' Belgian, Blue Spruce Spring, and the Designated Driver Menu

The "About Us" page on the back of the beer menu

Toxic Brew Co. - Dayton

Toxic's EXCELLENT Belgian Quad

Back in October, my wife and I visited the Toxic Brew Company in Dayton's historic Oregon District.  Toxic specializes in beers with Belgian, Bavarian, and American backgrounds.

During our visit, their list of drafts included an Oktoberfest, an IPA, dark wheat, Belgian Quad, Belgian Blonde, Double IPA, Belgian Tripel, Stout, Wee Heavy, and Pepper Ale.

Since my wife was the designated driver on this trip, I had the opportunity to sample almost everything they offered.  Not being a fan of the hoppier styles, I avoided the ISO Heaven IPA and Cap City Hustler Double IPA... but I did get to try pretty much all the rest.

Toxic offers 4, 8, and 16 ounce drafts of most of their beers - as well as growlers.  The higher-alcohol beers like the quad aren't offered in 16-ounce glasses or growlers.   Prices ranged from $2 for a four-ounce draft of some beers up to $8 for a 16-once draft of their Double IPA.

The atmosphere is pleasant.  Music isn't too loud and was good.  The bartender was excellent.  She offered recommendations and advice, but wasn't at all pushy.

Their taproom doesn't offer food, but you can order in from a number of restaurants nearby.  They have a popcorn machine in the corner that provides free popcorn while you drink.

In the end, I left Toxic thinking that this might well be my favorite brewery in Ohio.  Their beers, apart from the IPAs, aren't overly hopped.  Most come in between 17 and 35 IBUs, which is well inside my range.  Pricing is good.  The beer is good.  My only complaint is that they're in Dayton and I'm here in Columbus... which is hardly their fault.

If you find yourself in Dayton, I can't recommend visiting Toxic strongly enough.  If you only get to go to one brewery or beer destination in Dayton, it should be Toxic Brew Co.  Period.  Do not pass go, do not collect 200 growlers...

Here are my thoughts on their line of beers:

Their Porn or Pawn Pepper Ale pours a clear amber-like brown with a white head. The aroma is strong with habanero pepper.  The flavor is primarily malty with a fresh habanero pepper flavor to it.  Initially, you don't feel the pepper warmth, but it creeps in slowly after you drink it.  I rated it 6/10.

Abby's Cure Tripel pours a clear amber with white head.  The aroma is pure Belgian Tripel, with malt sweetness, fruit, and spice notes.  The flavor starts sweet, fruity, and malty.  There's a warming alcohol note throughout that lingers after you finish drinking.  The finish itself is warming and mildly bitter.  I rated it 8/10.

Dark Dunkel pours a cloudy brown with white head.  The aroma is surprisingly mild for the color, and is malty and sweet. The flavor is a perfect balance of malt sweetness and hops bitterness.  The finish is malty.  I rated it 7/10.

Black Tonic Stout pours a dark black with beige head.  The aroma is malty and has hints of coffee and chocolate to it.  The flavor backs this up.  It starts mildly sweet.  A chocolate flavor swells up, then some coffee.  The finish is coffee.

Abby XXXX Quad is quite simply FANTASTIC!  It pours a clear mahogany with a white head.  The aroma is sweet, malty, and spicy.  The flavor starts with a sweet malty note, followed by fruit and alcohol warmth, with a very mild hops bitterness.  The finish is malty and bitter, and the warming note lingers afterward.  It's definitely one of my favorite quads.  I gave it a 10/10.

Loch Ness Express Wee Heavy pours a nearly opaque dark mahogany with a white head. The aroma is sweet and malty.  The flavor starts out with a strong warming alcohol note with a strong malt backdrop.  It becomes slightly bitter after that, gets a little warmer in the middle, and finishes mildly bitter.  A nice beer.  I gave it 7/10.

Toxic's Octoberfest pours a hazy medium brown color.  The aroma is malty.  The flavor is a dead-on Oktoberfest style beer.  It's malty but not sweet, has a roasted barley element to it, and a good hops balance.  The finish is clean and malty.  I gave it an 8/10.

Cloning a Golden Dragon, Part 6 - Fermentation Continues

In Part 1, we talked about how I harvested yeast from four bottles of Gulden Draak ale like the one pictured at the left.  In Part 2 and Part 3, I talked about raising enough of that yeast to pitch into a wort to make a clone.  In Part 4 we discussed brewing the clone and showed steps in the process.  In Part 5, fermentation had begun.

I had expected to be transferring the beer from the primary fermenter to the secondary this weekend.  As it turns out, that did not happen.

I've been monitoring the gravity of the beer using a refractometer since the original wort was brewed on December 13, 2014.  It started at 1.109.  On the 15th, that dropped to 1.085.  On the 17th, 1.080. On the 18th, 1.078.  Today, it's showing as 1.075.  Since the yeast is still actively chewing away on the sugars in the wort and we're nowhere near the final gravity I'm hoping for (1.026), I'm going to let the beer continue to ferment.  I want to give it every chance to produce an excellent and complete clone of the original Gulden Draak.

Earlier, I mentioned a refractometer.  If you haven't brewed a beer of your own, and even if you have, you may never have heard of this device.  You might find it interesting.  A refractometer uses a prism to measure the amount of dissolved solids (in this case malt and sugar) in a liquid.  It looks something like a light saber from Star Wars:

To use a refractometer, you start by taking a very small sample of your wort or beer-in-progress.  In my case, I do this by opening a valve at the bottom of my fermenter:

It doesn't take very much wort for the refractometer to do its thing.  A couple of drops is enough.  I collect that with a pipette:

Then, I put it on the prism of the refractometer:

Next, you flip the little plastic lid down and hold the refractometer up to a bright light source, preferably a sunny window.  Inside the viewfinder end, you'll see a blue line at the point corresponding to the gravity reading for the sample.

I realize that it's hard to see the blue line in this photo, but it's right around the 20 on the left-hand side.  Getting a photo of a refractometer reading with a cell phone camera under less-than-ideal viewing conditions is tricky, to say the least.

In any case, some interesting things to know about a refractometer...

When properly calibrated, they make measuring the gravity of an unfermented wort very easy.

When alcohol is present, as it is once you've pitched yeast into your wort, they start becoming rather inaccurate.  (I didn't know this until very recently!)  Fortunately, if you own a hydrometer (which I will soon) you can adjust for this.  You use the hydrometer to take a measurement, then use the refractometer on an identical sample.  Do enough of these comparisons, and you'll be able to use a mathematical formula to adjust your refractometer readings to closely approximate a hydrometer.

A question many home brewers ask is "Why would you want a refractometer when a hydrometer is a much more accurate measuring device?"  For me, the answers are simple.  It's common for home brewers to break hydrometers, as they're fragile instruments made of glass.  I'd rather not use any fragile instruments in my brewing activity.  More importantly, a hydrometer may need 6-8 ounces of beer from the fermenter in order to give a reading.  The beer that you use with the hydrometer can't be returned to the fermenter without risk of contamination, so you either have to toss it (which is wasteful) or drink it flat and warm (which isn't appetizing).  If you take several measurements during fermentation, you can easily waste two or three bottles' worth of beer with a hydrometer.  A refractometer needs only a few drops of beer for each sample.  You could perform a dozen measurements with it and not waste as much beer as with a single sample for a hydrometer.  Since I tend to brew smaller batches (2-5 gallons) I'd rather not waste any more than necessary.

When my hydrometer gets here, I'll talk about the adjustment process for ensuring that you properly account for a refractometer's shortcomings when a sample contains alcohol.

Clone Brews by Tess and Mark Szamatulski, Second Edition

From almost the minute I learned it was possible to brew beer at home, I began having little fantasies about what it might be like to brew a beer as good as some of the ones I purchased in the store.  At that time, I'd never seen anyone brew beer at home. I'd never had any beer brewed in anyone's home.  I had no idea how you did it, how long it took, what it cost, etc.  Times have changed.

In the last six years or so, I've probably brewed a dozen batches of beer.  The first several were done with a Mr. Beer kit that I bought from Woot.com on sale.  Later, I realized the limitations inherent in that little 2.5-gallon kit and wanted something more.  This year, I've brewed quite a few things.

In March, I went to North High Brewing and brewed a 15-gallon batch of a Belgian Tripel.  It turned out well, and the simplicity of that particular recipe sparked me to acquire the equipment and ingredients necessary to do some new recipes at home - but not with the canned ingredients from Mr. Beer.

I did a beer in April, another in August, two in September, and one is in the fermenter a few feet away as I write this sentence.  That one is based on a recipe from this book, Clone Brews by Tess and Mark Szamatulski.  The book is available in print and digital formats, with the digital format available from Amazon through their Kindle Unlimited program - which is how I received it.

The book opens with a description of what it takes to clone a beer.  Their advice in this area is pretty straightforward.  Research the beer before you try to clone it, as many breweries share at least some details about the malts, hops, etc., used in their beers on their web site.  Some will even tell you what's in the beer if you ask.  Sometimes you'll find information on the bottle itself.  It also helps to know "generic" recipes for the style of beer you're making, as it's likely that your favorite version of that beer is a variation of the well-known style.

After this, the authors talk about how to calculate bittering units, measuring and storing grains, using extracts to brew, calculating alcohol by volume, using grains, determining the color of your recipe, and a variety of other topics related to brewing in general.

The main section of the book provides the recipes for the commercial beers in the book.  (If you want to see all the recipes listed in the book, go to Amazon.com and click the "look inside" link on the image of the book's cover.  You'll be able to see the full table of contents and recipe list.)  For each recipe, they give the name of the beer the recipe attempts to clone, the name of the brewery that makes the original beer, a description of it, specifications for the beer (such as style, yield, original gravity, final gravity, IBUs, and ABV), serving notes, food pairing notes, and brewing instructions.

The brewing instructions cover all the stages, amounts, times, and temperatures involved.  Most recipes are extract based, but they do provide mini-mash and all-grain recipes at the end of each instruction set so that those who want to do a mini-mash or all-grain clone can do so without additional conversion effort for the recipe.

There are three appendices at the end of the book. The first features the style guidelines for the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) for a variety of beer styles.  For each, they provide the style name, original gravity, final gravity, alcohol by volume, bitterness in IBUs, and color in SRM.  The second appendix lists hops varieties, their origins, their uses, alpha acid ranges, and other hops varieties that could be substituted for them.  The third and final appendix lists the various grains and adjuncts, their color ranges, gravity, characteristics, and beer styles they're used in.

Ultimately, what you buy a book like this for is to get the recipe for a beer you personally enjoy.  Among the 200 recipes in the book, I found recipes for several beers I enjoy and hope to make someday. These include:  Celebrator Doppelbock, Dragon Stout, Left Hand Brewing Milk Stout, Aventinus Wheat Doppelbock, Affligem Abbey Tripel, Barbar Belgian Honey Ale, Bush De Noel (also known as Scaldis Noel), Chimay Red, Petrus Tripel, St. Bernardus Prior 8, Trappistes Rochefort 8, La Trappe Quadruppel, and Magic Hat #9.

If you're an IPA fan, you'll probably appreciate the many recipes for those as well.  Clones of Alesmith IPA, Dogfish Head 60 Minute, Lagunitas IPA, Stone IPA, and other pale ales can be found in the book.

Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve Ale (4/10)

If you’re familiar with Rogue Ales at all, you’re probably aware that they’re known for hop-forward beers.  Most of their brews, whether technically an IPA or not, tend to taste like IPAs.  For a guy like me, who doesn’t care for the IPA style, Rogue’s products aren’t usually part of my regular rotation.  Still, when I am in the rare mood for a hoppier beer, I’ll tend to pop open a Rogue Dead Guy or Stone Arrogant Bastard.  If it’s near the holidays, then I’ll grab a bottle of Santa’s Private Reserve Ale.
Like the other Rogue Ales products, Santa’s Private Reserve is very IPA-like.  It’s a red ale, double-hopped with Rogue Farms Newport, Rebel, and Freedom hops.  All this hopping makes the beer clock in at an impressive 74 IBUs.

It pours a clear dark copper color with finger thick tan head that dissipates fairly quickly. 

The aroma is very much that of an evergreen tree.  This is backed by only the most subtle hint of malt.
The flavor matches up well to the aroma.  It starts, continues, and ends hoppy.  The finish is very pine-like and bitter, and this bitterness will stick with you long after you finish drinking.  There’s not a lot of complexity here… it’s hops and malt, with hops making up probably 90% of what I taste here.  For a guy who likes a nice complex, spicy, fruity Belgian style ale, this is a one-note melody… and that one note is hops.

Since I’m not the typical Rogue Ales customer, you’ll have to excuse my 4 out of 10 rating.  It simply means that this is just too hoppy for me to find it very pleasant.  I’m in the minority, though.  Rate Beer gives it a 92 overall.  Beer Advocate is similarly pleased with it, giving it an 85-91 rating. 
If you’re not as interested in a hoppy beer, you may want to check out the article “The ‘Christmas Past’ Experiment” that I posted back in January.  This article compared a one-year-old cellared bottle of Santa’s Private Reserve to a fresh from the brewery bottle.  The differences are interesting and worthy of note.

Santa’s Private Reserve has been spotted on store shelves at Kenny Road Market, Cost Plus World Market at Tuttle, and a few other local store shelves.  The large “bomber” size is typically around $5.49 and the smaller bottle, reviewed here, will set you back about $2.69.

Flavor Profile:
Sweet, Malty, Dry, Bitter, or Sour:  Bitter
Spice Level:  Non-existent
Hops Level:  High
Dominant Flavors:  Hops, pine
ABV: 6%
IBU:  74
My Rating:  4/10

Cloning a Golden Dragon - Part 5 - Fermenting

In Part 1 of this series, we talked about harvesting actual yeast from a bottle of Gulden Draak.  In the second and third parts, we talked about growing enough of that yeast to pitch into a wort.  In Part 4, we showed the clone beer being brewed.

On Saturday, I pitched yeast that I had harvested from four bottles of Gulden Draak Ale and fed with three separate starter worts to grow its population.  The final wort I pitched it into was based on a Gulden Draak clone recipe.  As of this writing, the young beer is two days old.  This will be my first attempt to truly clone one of my very favorite beers.

While the harvested Gulden Draak yeast was in the starter wort, it seemed to grow very slowly at first, then took off on the second and third starters, blowing through the airlock.  That's something I've never had a yeast starter do before.  It seems to be following that behavior in the fermenter with the actual wort. It's a yeast that seems to have periods of dormancy followed by periods of rapid activity.

Sunday I saw no activity in the airlock, which I expected because a 2.5 gallon batch of beer in a 6.5 gallon fermenter has a lot of room to work.  Late Sunday I saw the fluid level in the airlock shift, implying a bit of pressure in the fermenter.  This morning, the fermenter side of the airlock was almost empty of fluid, while the air side was full.  This meant the CO2 pressure inside the fermenter had reached a point where CO2 needed to escape through the airlock.

Tonight, the fluid levels dropped back to normal. I took a second refractometer reading on the wort, by taking a little out through the spigot in the fermenter.  The wort went into the fermenter at a standard gravity of 1.109.  Tonight's sample was 1.085.  The calculator on Brewer's Friend says this change corresponds to a 3.15% by alcohol level by volume.  Not bad for two days' work by the yeast.  This means it's eaten about 20% of the sugars in the wort (which brewers term "20% attenuation").  I'm hoping it will get to 75% or more before it stops completely.  I tasted the extra wort I had extracted (about a tablespoon worth) and the flavor was excellent, as was the aroma.  I'm hopeful that this cloning experiment will turn out well.

Ideally, by this Saturday it will reach the 75-80% attenuation mark.  Then I'll transfer it to a secondary fermenter and harvest the yeast for a future batch.  In a few more weeks it ought to be ready to bottle.  (Unfortunately, it'll be 2-3 months before those bottles are ready to drink, given the need for a beer of this style to bottle condition and age.)

By the way, if you like Belgian Strong Dark Ales like Gulden Draak, you owe it to yourself to take a trip to The Daily Growler in Upper Arlington.  When I last checked, they had Fat Head's "Pimp My Sleigh" Christmas Ale, an excellent Belgian style dark ale.  It's been almost two years since I had it, and it still holds a fond place in my memory!

And now to Part 6 - Fermentation Continues...

Ominous Coming to Zauber on December 20, 2014

Zauber Brewing on Fifth Avenue is tapping its Ominous beer on December 20 at 6pm.

Cloning a Golden Dragon - Part 4 - The Brewing

In the first three posts in this series, I talked about how I'm attempting to brew a clone of the famous Gulden Draak ale from Belgium.  I captured the yeast from four bottles of the actual beer and fed it to three separate starter worts, each time noting that the yeast got more and more active.  Finally it is time to brew.

I also talked about my planned recipe, but I realized I was looking at a different clone recipe than the one I'd intended to follow.  I made a trek to the Winemaker's Shop in Clintonville to get the ingredients I needed for this one.  Fortunately there was some overlap with the original recipe I'd planned to use, so I didn't have to buy a completely new set of ingredients.

I'm going to brew a 2.5 gallon batch, in part because I want to know how it turns out without wasting all $70+ of ingredients and in part because I don't have a kettle large enough yet to do a 5-gallon boil or my wort chiller to get it down to temp yet.

So here's the recipe I actually did brew with:

• 8 oz. Special B Malt, crushed
• 4 oz. Caramunich Type III Malt, crushed
• 2 oz. Crystal Malt 60L Malt, crushed
• 1 oz. Acid Malt, crushed
• 4 pounds Dry Light Malt Extract (DME)
• 0.5 pounds Dry Wheat Malt Extract (DME)
• 0.5 pounds Rice Syrup Solids
• 16 oz. D-180 Dark Candi Syrup
• 0.4 ounces German Northern Brewer Hops (11.4% alpha acid)
• 0.5 ounces Styrian Goldings Hops (1.4% alpha acid)
• 0.5 tsp Irish Moss
• Gulden Draak yeast cultivated from bottles and starter solution

The above recipe is a derivative of the 5-gallon Gulden Draak recipe in the book CloneBrews, 2nd Edition: Recipes for 200 Commercial Beers by Tess and Mark Szamatulski.  I replaced some of the Crystal Malt with Caramunich and Special B, and added D-180 syrup in place of some of the dry light malt extract to make it a bit darker and add the Candi sugar flavors.

Below are the ingredients, awaiting steeping temperature to be reached for the water on the stove (note that the fruit and squash pictured were not included).

Below you see the grains steeping.  I got the water up to 160 then set it off the heat with the lid on, which kept it in the 150-160 range for 10 minutes or so.  I had to return it to low heat for the next 25 minutes, which kept it in the 150-160 range.

I used the boil in a bag (BIAB) method to steep the grains.  After 35 minutes in the water, I sparged them with enough 160 degree water to get the boil volume up to about 1.25 gallons.

The finished initial mash:

This was brought to a boil, then the addition of 11.4% German Northern Brewers Hops in a muslin bag:

After 15 minutes, Styrian Goldings hops, yeast nutrient, and Irish moss were added per the recipe, also in a muslin bag.

At the 15 minutes left mark, I began gradually adding the rice syrup solids, D-180 Candi Syrup, wheat DME, and light DME until it was all in there.  Because the boil volume was so low, I had to add another 5-10 minutes to the boil to dissolve all the DME clumps.

Once this was complete, I chilled it down to yeast-pitching temperatures in the pot by covering it and placing it outside in the 40-degree weather.  This took about 3 hours.  Not ideal, but since I don't have a wort chiller (and had to leave the house at the time) it was the best I could manage.

This mixture was poured into my 6.5 gallon plastic fermenter.  I added in enough chilled and previously boiled water to get the quantity up to 2.5 gallons and the temp down to pitching level (about 76 degrees in this case).  Then, I drained the spent wort off the Gulden Draak yeast culture and tossed that into the fermenter.  I stirred the mixture with a sanitized steel spoon to ensure that the yeast, water, and concentrated wort were distributed well within the fermenter.  Finally, I sanitized and inserted my oxygenator and pumped oxygen into it for about 45 seconds.  The lid was snapped on the fermenter and an airlock placed in the lid.

For those who like to see the numbers, here's what Clone Brews has for their Gulden Draak recipe, plus what Beer Tools Pro estimates for my variant, and my actual readings.

Measurement	Clone Brews Book	Beer Tools Pro Estimate for my variant	My Actual Readings
Original Gravity	1.107-1.109	1.109	1.108 (refractometer)
IBU	26	25.6	n/a
SRM (Color)	26-28	29.21	n/a
ABV	10.5%	10.92%	n/a
Final Gravity	1.025-1.026	1.027	n/a

Per the Clone Brews recipe, this will ferment in the primary fermenter for 7 days or until fermentation slows.  Then it needs to be racked off to the secondary fermenter.  It will remain in the secondary for at least another two weeks.  It would be ready to bottle at that point, and ready to drink about two months after it's carbonated.  It's flavor is expected to peak at 3-10 months and will keep at cellar temperatures for as long as 18 months.

On to Part 5, the Fermenting...

Lakefront Holiday Spice Lager (9/10)

Lakefront Brewery of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, makes this Holiday Spice Lager Beer.  Lakefront describes it as “our version of a winter warmer: brewed with cinnamon, orange zest, clove, and generous amounts of honey.”

It pours from the bottle a very slightly reddish dark brown with a finger thick off-white head that dissipates within seconds.

The aroma is malty, sweet, and shows off the nutmeg and orange.

The flavor starts strongly malty, then gives way to the honey sweetness, followed by the nutmeg, orange, cinnamon, and cloves – in more or less that order.  The finish is sweet and malty.  A very smooth and easy to drink beer.

Beer Advocate rates it an 84 or “good”.  Rate Beer likes it a bit bitter, giving it a 91 overall.  I’m going to side with Rate Beer on this one.  It’s a very pleasant winter warmer.  It’s sweet, malty, fruit, and spicy.  It’s a great winter beer and a nice holiday flavor combination.

I purchased this bottle at Kenny Road Market.  I’ve not seen it at other local retailers.  I look forward to picking up more of it in the near future.  It’s a really nice beer and a good holiday brew to share with others.  (It’s also not terribly expensive.  This single bottle set me back $2.69, though it would be cheaper in 6-packs and cases.)

Flavor Profile:
Sweet, Malty, Dry, Bitter, or Sour:  Sweet, Malty
Spice Level:  Moderate
Hops Level:  Low
Dominant Flavors:  Honey, Nutmeg, Orange
ABV: 9.4%
IBU:  19
My Rating:  9/10

Cloning a Golden Dragon - Part 3

In Part 1 of this series, I talked about harvesting the yeast from four bottles of Gulden Draak and trying to raise them in a starter wort.  Part 2 continued that effort.  Tonight in Part 3, we'll talk about the recipe.

Despite spending the night in a nice warm place (not too warm, of course), the yeast seems to have eaten all of the starter wort that it's going to.  Tonight, I allowed it to settle as much as possible and then drained off the clear portion of the wort.  That left me with what you see in the flask to the left.  It was about a half-inch of wort with the magnetic stir bar in it and (hopefully) the lion's share of the Gulden Draak yeast I've grown since Sunday.

I mixed up my third batch of starter, with one-half cup of amber dry malt extract, four cups of water, a little splash of D-45 candi syrup, and a half-teaspoon of yeast nutrient.  This was boiled for 10 minutes and then chilled down to about 75 degrees Fahrenheit in an ice bath.  It was then poured into the flask.

While I was doing this, I took the opportunity to clean out the airlock and refill it with sanitizer.  The cleaned and sanitized airlock was replaced on the flask, and the flask put back on the magnetic stirrer.  The yeast will remain here until tomorrow night when I see if we need to give it another new starter.

The home brewers out there might be wondering what recipe I'm planning to use for this clone.  The recipe will be:

The airlock, cleaned of last night's blow-off

5 pounds of Amber DME
3.1 pounds of Pale LME
2.5 pounds of Pilsen Light DME
13 ounces of Wheat DME
0.4 pounds of Aromatic Malt
0.5 pounds of Special B Malt
0.2 pounds of Caramunich Type III Malt
0.7 pounds of Dark Candi Sugar
0.75 ounces of Northern Brewer hops pellets
0.5 ounces of Fuggle hops pellets

The specialty grains will be steeped in 150 degree water for 60 minutes.  They'll be removed.  The extracts will then be added.  Then I'll sparge the grain to get the water total up to where it needs to be for the main boil.  

The Northern Brewer hops will go in at the boil, and the Fuggle hops during the last 15 minutes along with the Candi sugar.  I'll pitch the Gulden Draak yeast I've been farming here, and if it doesn't look like enough toss in some White Labs WL545 yeast to keep it going.  

It'll spend 4-8 weeks in the fermenter. Then I'll bottle it, and leave it there for probably another month.  In other words, I may not actually taste it until February...

Here's where to find Part 4...

The flask, with new starter wort, on the magnetic stirrer

Cloning a Golden Dragon - Part 2

Krausen from the Gulden Draak Yeast

As I discussed in the previous post in this series, on Sunday I captured the yeast from the bottoms of four bottles of Gulden Draak Ale and placed it into a weak starter wort.  I was pleased to see some bubbles passing through the airlock a few hours later.  On Monday and Tuesday, however, there seemed to be no activity at all from the starter.  I'd begun to lose hope that it was going to yield any yeast for brewing.

That changed tonight.  I picked up the flask, thinking I'd drain off all but the bit at the bottom of the flask (in case there was something useful left in there) when I noticed something.  There was a krausen at the top of the flask!  And there were bubbles coming up from the bottom.  The yeast was alive after all, it had just taken a while to reach critical mass.  There were even bubbles in the airlock every so often to let me know it was working!

I put the flask back on the magnetic stirrer and set it to work.  This time, I saw big chunks of white yeast being stirred up from the bottom. Before long, there had even been a bit if blow-off into the airlock.  This yeast was finally getting to work on the sugar!  Needless to say, I was pleased.

Airlock showing wort blow-off

Here's what we had in the flask two days ago:

December 8 Yeast Level

And, before all the yeast had even settled to the bottom, here's what I found tonight:

December 11 Yeast Level - Time for Another Starter?

Notice that there's a lot more in the bottom of the flask, and that it's not as thin as it was a couple of days ago.  The yeast has managed to grow.

Tomorrow night, I'll be creating another starter wort for the yeast.  I want to be sure I have a large enough colony of this stuff to handle a 2.5 gallon or 5 gallon batch of Gulden Draak clone beer.  My goal is to take a stab at it this Saturday (December 13, 2014).

Here's Part 3 - The Brewing...

Cloning a Golden Dragon - Part 1

It's no secret to those who know me that Brouwerij Van Steenberge's beer Gulden Draak (Golden Dragon) is one of my favorite brews.  (I'm not alone.  Beer Advocate rates it a 99 or "world class" beer, and RateBeer does the same.)  It's probably no surprise to those same people that I've been putting some effort into brewing a Gulden Draak clone beer.

I made an attempt earlier in 2014 to brew a Belgian Strong Dark Ale.  It wasn't specifically meant to be a Gulden Draak clone.  While it wasn't bad, it was certainly nothing like Gulden Draak.  Since then, I've acquired two recipes from different sources which purport to be solid clones of the beer.

A few days ago, I acquired the ingredients to brew a batch of one of those clones.  I bought all the grains, extracts, adjuncts, and hops recommended in the recipe.  As you probably know, the primary components of a beer's flavor come from the barley, water, hops, and yeast.  Belgian brewing also includes Candi Sugar (beet sugar) and sometimes spices.  In Belgian brewing, yeast is a very critical part of the mix, as it often contributes fruit and spice flavors and aroma.  My clone recipe called for White Labs' WL545 yeast, which is a good product that I've used before.  But I wondered if I could do a bit better.  Could I incorporate some actual Gulden Draak yeast into the beer?  If I could, that ought to improve the quality of my clone.

I did a bit of research, and the consensus opinion was that it is possible, though difficult, to cultivate enough yeast from bottles of a bottle-conditioned beer like Gulden Draak to use for brewing.  That was enough for me to at least consider taking a shot at it.  Worst case, I'd pitch the fresh White Labs yeast and whatever I managed to cultivate of the real Gulden Draak yeast...

I started by getting my yeast starting equipment together.

Yeast Starting Equipment, Sanitized and Ready to Go
(once I leveled out the sanitizer in the airlock)

Next, I prepared a yeast starter by boiling 32 ounces of water, 4 ounces of dry amber malt extract, yeast nutrients, and a spoonful of Belgian candi syrup for 10 minutes. This yields a weak wort that wouldn't be terribly tasty to drink, but is quite delicious to yeast.  I chilled this down to about 80 degrees.

Yeast Starter, Cooling to Pitching Temperature

Once the starter hit the right temperature, I poured it into the sanitized flask and placed the stopper and airlock on top.  We were now ready to begin the hard part...

My wife, my brother, and I then made the supreme sacrifice of drinking an entire four-pack of Gulden Draak, minus the last 1/4 inch in each bottle.  This last bit, which contained most of the yeast used to referment the beer in the bottle, went into the wort.  The magnetic stirrer was powered up, and the whole concoction began to swirl around the flask.

Yeast Starter, loaded with Gulden Draak yeast, swirling on the magnetic stirrer

A few hours later, I was thrilled to see a the airlock bubbling about every two minutes.  This meant the yeast was alive and well, and gobbling up the sugars in the starter wort.  I began to cackle like Dr. Frankenstein in his lab... "IT'S ALIVE!"

After about 24 hours in the flask, here's what we had:

Gulden Draak Yeast and Sediment

In the bottom of the flask you see the white plastic of the magnetic stir bar.  You should also see a mix of sediment and yeast, which looks something like a tan slime in the bottom.  That's where our yeast dropped out of the wort overnight (or "flocculated" in brewing terms).

Tonight, I poured off almost all of the starter wort, then poured in a fresh batch.  If I do this another time or two, I may just grow enough yeast to try brewing my own Gulden Draak clone.

Here's Part 2...