The pursuit of Utopia...

[Grainer]

Well, I am very well known now for pushing the limits and it is now time to go BIGGER ! and do I mean BIG!! 27% - aged for many years in a variety of oaks ! This is the accumulation of all my brewing..

I have started the journey to design a clone of Utopia by Samuel Adams.

I am looking at the receipes from PTN and Yeager1977 and a few others that have attempted this huge Barleywine. I was wondering if anyone is Australia has attempted a clone of this beer and any tips they would recommend moving forward. From what I have seen most of it comes down to healthy yeast feeding programs and staggered wort additions to keep the brew pumping and also reducing oxygenation over time. First steps are to culture up a starter brew .. so I am going to repeat Yeager1977 Northern English Brown to get a BIG yeast slurry for this bad boy and cancel all future brewing to get this thing right!

 

[Bribie G]

Push that envelope :super:

 

[Grainer]

Looks Like this is a unicorn beer... good thing Im pushing the envelope.. no comments yet !

 

[manticle]

Last utopia I tried was like thick, sweet vegemite mixed with soy.
Lovely looking bottle.
Hope yours turns out way better - treat it gently and well.

 

[BottloBill]

Reminds me of the 'cause of death' beer featured in 'Brew' Magazine. I wonder if it uses beano tabs in the utopias recipe??

 

[Grainer]

nope.. avoid it

 

[BottloBill]

nope.. avoid it

Can be pretty evil stuff if used wrong...

 

[Grainer]

Well I made a 14% English Barleywine today that will be the yeast starter for this big brew.. getting the yeast conditioned is even a huge job !

 

[AJ80]

Good luck man - a 14% beer is friggen huge in its own right and this is a starter beer.....wow!

 

[Markbeer]

What yeast are you using? White labs super high gravity?

 

[Grainer]

yes amongst 2-3 others..

 

[Matplat]

I thought you weren't supposed to re-use yeast that had already been through the [14%] ringer?

What's the theory behind using such a strong beer as a starter? Wouldn't it be better if you use the yeast cake from a double batch of a lower abv beer (on what I'm assuming will be a single batch).

 

[Mardoo]

Yob recently did a string of RIS ferments, all around 12%, reusing the 1728 each time. No problem.

 

[Markbeer]

Good to know.

Yob recently did a string of RIS ferments, all around 12%, reusing the 1728 each time. No problem.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

I've Jacked Barley Wine. Is this in the ball park? Frozen run off from 11% Barley Wine beer. Guess the alcohol percentage between 20 to 30%?
I rarely drink anything that high but its as good as spirits for culinary things etc. Its milder than spirits to sample.