Begin Brewing!

Quite a few years ago, Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione worked with Dr. Patrick (Pat) McGovern to re-create an ancient brew based on a chemical analysis of residue found in 9000-year-old pottery from the Jiahu region of China.  The analysis of that pottery showed a combination of residues from barley, honey, and rice, along with grape and/or hawthorn berry.  Using this information, Dogfish Head and "Dr. Pat" (as he's known to many people) created a beer they called Chateau Jiahu. This was a beer I was very fond of from the first sip.  It has a flavor that immediately invokes a combination of sake (rice wine), beer, and mead, with a mild sweetness from the hawthorn berry.  It's incredibly easy to drink despite the higher ABV. Dr. Pat's book Ancient Brews - Rediscovered and Recreated   contains a malt-extract-based recipe to recreate the beer. I brewed a batch of this a while back , and it turned out quite well.  For this batch, I'm swapping out...

Years ago, working with Dr. Pat McGovern, Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione produced a line of ancient ales, including one based on information found in Egyptian heiroglyphics and (I think) some pottery shards.  The resulting beer, which Dogfish Head labeled "Ta Henket" seemed to do well in the market initially, then vanished, reportedly due to low sales.  I was always a fan of that beer, and bought it whenever I found it.  With it off the market, my only hope is to brew my own version.  Fortunately, Dr. Pat's book contains an extract-based homebrew recipe for Ta Henket. My first attempt at brewing the beer met with some success.  It was a bit darker than the Dogfish Head beer, but nonetheless pretty tasty after it aged for several months.  One of my friends took a particular liking to it, and I only have about three bottles of it left. I've decided for this batch to shift away from malt extract to a Pilsner malt base. This should lighten the color of the ...

Back in 2010, Raison D'Etre was reportedly Dogfish Head's best-selling (or at least one of its best-selling) beers.  Today, you rarely see it on store shelves. It was one of my favorite beers they made, so I decided to see if I could brew a clone of it.  Fortunately, what is purportedly the real recipe appears in one of Sam Calagione's books. I was able to find all the ingredients, except for Vanguard hops.  I substituted Czech Saaz for those, as they're similar.  I also substituted regular raisins for the golden raisins the recipe called for. Ingredients 12 pounds Belgian Pale Malt 8 ounces Crystal/Caramel 60L Malt 4 ounces Chocolate Malt 8 ounces Clear Candi Syrup 6 ounces Raisins 0.65 ounces Magnum hops pellets @ 13.2% AA (60 min.) 0.55 ounces Czech Saaz hops pellets @ 3.0% AA (20 min. Whirlpool) 1 package Wyeast Belgian Ardennes 1/2 tsp. Yeast Nutrient 1/2 Whirlfloc tablet 1 tsp. Gypsum BeerSmith estimates the following characterist...

A finished bottle of Chateau El Dorado As I mentioned in yesterday's post on brewing a Ta Henket clone, another of my most-favorite Dogfish brews is Chateau Jiahu. This beer is loosely based on an ancient recipe for beer from China, uncovered by Dr. Patrick McGovern and published in his book  Ancient Ales: Rediscovered and Re-Created .  I bought the ingredients I needed, thinking that I had some Simcoe hops around from a previous brew (but didn't). Substitution Time When it came down to brew day, I discovered that there were three things I couldn't readily get my hands on at the time:  sake yeast, white grape concentrate, and Simcoe hops. I thought I had Simcoe in my freezer, but didn't.  I did have some El Dorado hops, which aren't a recognized substitute for Simcoe but sound like they might be interesting in this beer. I didn't have another use planned for them, so they made the ingredient list. White grape juice concentrate was something I'd s...

The finished beer In early August, my wife and I visited Dogfish Head's brewery in Milton, Delaware.  We took their tour, which was interesting and informative, and enjoyed a few samples at the taproom afterward. The whole visit inspired me to think about brewing, and specifically about brewing clones of some of my favorite Dogfish Head beers. If you asked most folks which Dogfish Head beer was their favorite, they would probably mention 120-Minute IPA (or 90-Minute or 60-Minute), or World Wide Stout, or maybe one of their others. The ones I really enjoy most from Dogfish Head are the Ancient Ales series. Of those, Ta Henket is probably my favorite.  Judging from the fact that they appear to have stopped making it (according to a book I'll mention in a moment), perhaps I'm one of the few "off-centered people" who liked it. Ta Henket impressed me with its Ancient Egyptian pedigree, its unusual spicy and herbal aroma (which reminds me of what I imagine the i...

The finished beer, after additional conditioning yeast was addded I've been a fan of Dogfish Head's Palo Santo Marron ale since the first time I had it. The strong brown ale, aged in huge Palo Santo wood tanks is a very rich, unique-tasting brew.  I recently encountered a potential clone recipe for it, along with a pound of the Palo Santo wood. The recipe was said to have taken second place at a national competition and some other medals. I ended up adjusting the recipe before brewing, for a couple of reasons.  First, I felt like it had too much wheat in it (4 pounds) and I might have had to add rice hulls to keep wort flowing through it.  I also couldn't get my hands on de-bittered black malt unless I mail-ordered it for around $13 a pound (including shipping). That seemed ridiculous, so I used Carafa III Special instead. Ingredients 11 pounds 2-row Brewer's Malt 1 pound, 4 ounces Cara-Pils/Dextrine Malt 1 pound 2-row Pale Ale Malt 1 pound Carame...