Dogfish Head 120 IPA - how??

Try some of these great recipes out, or share your favourite brew with other forumees!
Post Reply
BarryNL

Dogfish Head 120 IPA - how??

Post by BarryNL » Sun May 20, 2007 11:03 am

Just came across the Dogfish Head 120 minute IPA; as their website says:

"Too extreme to be called beer? Brewed to a colossal 45-degree plato, boiled for a full 2 hours while being continuously hopped with high-alpha American hops, then dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month & aged for nother month on whole-leaf hops!!! Our 120 Minute I.P.A. is by far the biggest I.P.A. ever brewed! At 20% abv and 120 ibus you can see why we call this beer THE HOLY GRAIL for hopheads!"

Anyone ever try to make something like this? And what on earth you you use for yeast - I've never seen an ale yeast with alcohol tolerance about about 11%; can even champagne yeasts go this high?
Top
User avatar
Garth
Falling off the Barstool
Posts: 3565
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:00 pm
Location: Durham

Post by Garth » Sun May 20, 2007 11:52 am

H&G do an Alcotec 48 yeast that can go up to 20% but I'm not sure whether they use this for ale....
Top
mysterio

Post by mysterio » Sun May 20, 2007 11:54 am

White Labs do a high gravity yeast (WLP099), which goes up to 25% alcohol apparently. I think it's the Thomas Hardy barleywine yeast? Obviously you'd need a large amount of yeast, probably pitching on top of a previous batch along with lots of oxygen.

I'm not really interested in making beers that big personally. I always thought the Dogfish Head beer seemed a bit gimmicky but I can't comment having never tried it.
Top
steve_flack

Post by steve_flack » Sun May 20, 2007 12:49 pm

The key for that whitelabs yeast is to start at a lower gravity 1.100 say and gradually feed the yeast more extract as time goes on. There's a document on the whitelabs yeast on how to use it. Personally I probably wouldn't bother. I find many all-grain barley wines too syrupy any way.
Top
Wilbur

Post by Wilbur » Tue May 22, 2007 2:20 am

I've never had the 120, I've had the 60 minute IPA and thought it was just way out of balance, the hop flavor and aroma is so muddled that it taste like turpentine. There isn't any malt backbone its just insanely hoppy, and thats just the 60 minute IPA.
I always thought the Dogfish Head beer seemed a bit gimmicky but I can't comment having never tried it.
That describes it perfectly :D
Top
BigEd

Post by BigEd » Tue May 22, 2007 3:41 am

Wilbur wrote:I've never had the 120, I've had the 60 minute IPA and thought it was just way out of balance, the hop flavor and aroma is so muddled that it taste like turpentine. There isn't any malt backbone its just insanely hoppy, and thats just the 60 minute IPA.
I always thought the Dogfish Head beer seemed a bit gimmicky but I can't comment having never tried it.
That describes it perfectly :D
Have to agree with those takes on the Dogfish products. Lots of alcohol and high alpha hops are two of the earmarks of the extreme beer trend right now. Unfortunately there are many American drinkers who have come of age during this era and think that these attributes automatically make a great beer.
Top
iowalad
Under the Table
Posts: 1120
Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:22 am
Location: Iowa

Post by iowalad » Tue May 22, 2007 4:34 am

Agree with Ed and the rest on this.
Top
monk

Post by monk » Tue May 22, 2007 6:00 am

Count me in as well. I sometimes enjoy a pint of something very hoppy, and in that case I like the malt to be bigger, but the Dogfish Head beers are way over the top for my tastes. I enjoyed Pliny the Elder very much, by Russian River. It is a balanced, but very hoppy, American style IPA (http://www.russianriverbrewing.com/page ... elder.html). I don't think I'd mind buying this in a half-pint glass, though. :)

monk
Top
Post Reply

Return to “Beer Recipes”