Tweedle Beetle Imperial Stout (previous recipes)
Tweedleicious to the max. Intensely roasty with significant bitterness to balance out the high gravity maltiness. Great beer to age.
For the current recipe, see Tweedle Beetle Imperial Stout.

Tweedle Beetle Ale --- Batch 1 |
Style | Imperial Stout | Batch Size | 2.40 gal | |||
Type | Extract | Boil Size | 1.92 gal |
Recipe Characteristics
Recipe Gravity | 1.083 SG | Estimated FG | 1.020 SG | ||||
Recipe Bitterness | 81.1 IBU (Rager) | Alcohol by Volume | 8.22 % | ||||
BU : GU | 0.976 | ||||||
Recipe Color | 44.9 SRM |
|
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Actual OG | 1.089 | Actual FG | 1.026 | ||||
ADF: | 70.8% | Measured ABV: | 8.45% |
Ingredients
Amount | Item | Type | % or IBU |
---|---|---|---|
5 lbs 4.0 oz | Briess Pilsen Light LME (2.0 SRM) | Extract | 80.77 % |
10.0 oz | Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) | Grain | 9.62 % |
6.0 oz | Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) | Grain | 5.77 % |
4.0 oz | Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) | Grain | 3.85 % |
0.63 oz | Columbus [14.20 %] (60 min) | Hops | 63.1 IBU |
0.63 oz | Pearle [8.00 %] (20 min) | Hops | 14.2 IBU |
0.13 oz | Columbus [14.20 %] (60 min) | Hops | 4.4 IBU |
0.25 oz | Fuggles [4.80 %] (10 min) | Hops | 1.7 IBU |
0.25 oz | Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) | Hops | - |
1 Pkgs | American Ale II (Harvested) (Wyeast Labs #1272) [Starter 125 ml] [Cultured] | Yeast-Ale | |
1 Pkgs | SafeAle American Ale (Fermentis #US-05 | Yeast-Ale |
Steep grains as desired (30-60 minutes)
Remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Recipe Notes
Started as a BYO recipe. Will probably want to use this as a beer
to use up
different types of hops I have sitting in my freezer. Want
to keep the IBU/SG
ratio between .90 and 1. Originally .75oz Horizon @60; .5
Kent Goldings @20;.5
KG @5
Will probably build up my starter for 2 or 3 iterations on this
high gravity /
high alcohol beer.
Ferment 3 days ~65F at which point will dry hop and let warm up to
70 followed
by 18 days in fermenter.
Batch prime with 2.25 oz table sugar boiled in 1 cup water. Add in
some Mr. Beer
dry yeast to help with carbing.
Date | Note |
12/22/2009 Tues | Last night, I made up a starter with 1/2 cup extra light DME (the last of what I had) and 2 cups water. Also used yeast nutrient. The plan is to use this in another starter twice as big in a couple of days and then use that starter for fermentation of this ale. |
12/28/2009 Mon | Did another starter (I think this was Friday 12/25) but have no ingredients so it looks like I will not actually make until tomorrow. I should probably do another starter tonight. |
01/02/2010 Sat | Finally mixed this up into Tuke. Decided to add some US05 yeast just to be sure we get as much attenuation as possible. Had less Pearle than I thought, so added some of the Columbus in with it at the 20 minute mark. Got the wort down to 66 deg no problem. OG was 1.089 which is quite a bit over the expected 1.083. I'm a bit worried about a krausen overflow, but I guess we'll just see how it goes. |
01/03/2010 Sun | Well, as expected, this was a very active ferment. I "top cropped" some of the krausen into a glass jar which I may or may not use to ferment my next beer. |
01/04/2010 Mon | Came home and looked in the cooler. More krausen had clogged up the air lock area and enough pressure had built up to force a bit of beer out the spigot area. Opened the top to a rush of CO2 coming out. Cleaned up a bit. Looks to be calming down a bit, so just need to let it all dissipate. Might hold off on the dry-hop tomorrow. We will have to see. |
01/05/2010 Tues | In the morning, moved the keg out of the cooler. In the evening, dry hopped .25 oz cascades. Sanitized a hop sack and weighed it down with one of Tyler's marbles. Still quite a bit of thick krausen on top of the beer. |
01/16/2010 Sat | Snuck a little 1/2 shot glass taste. I love the way the hop bitterness and maltiness come together in this beer! Even this small little taste gave me a bit of a buzz. I did not take a gravity reading, but it tastes like it could be 1.020. Let it sit another week and bottle it up. |
01/28/2010 Wed | Bottled this up in 1 liter PET and 21 12 oz bottles.
FG was 1.026 which is significantly above the estimated, but
considering where I started, I'll take it. This gives me
an 8.26 ABV which is certainly respectable and about exactly
what I estimated at the beginning . The sample was sooooo
good. The hoppiness and the roasted malts really
complimented each other. The stout coffee flavors seemed
pretty restrained compared to the strong hops and roasty barely.
This time, I used "oxygen barrier" caps. I hope to be able
to condition this for a long time. Now, I need to concentrate on getting better attenuation. I tried an electric beater to aerate the wort of Leprechaun Stout. I will have to see if that starts getting my FG's down some. I might have to start putting in some sugar with the wort so the yeasties have an easier time. Of course a huge beer like this isn't a good indication of my attenuation, but all my beers seem to finish a bit high. |
02/24/2010 Wed | Got a request for an update on the Mr. Beer forum, so I put the LB and 3 others into the beer fridge. Probably taste this weekend. Put the rest into the conditioning cooler. |
02/27/2010 Sat | Tasted the LB. WOW! The roasted and chocolate malts work together to provide a wonderful roasted coffee flavor. The hops provide just the right amount of balance to the malts. Thick, long lasting head. Wonderful in every way. Cannot taste the alcohol, but can certainly feel it. |
03/06/2010 Sat | Put 3 into beer fridge. |
03/14/2010
Some more went into the beer fridge.
03/19/2010 esheppy
Tried another. Still love the intense dark roasty coffee and chocolate malt flavors and flavorful hops.
04/01/2010 esheppy
Tried another. Might be starting to mellow. Really hope to be able to save some of these for a year or more, but it will be difficult.
04/08/2010 Tweedle Float esheppy
Tried an ice cream float in my Tweedle Beetle Stout. Not really something I'll try again... but Leprechaun Stout might be worth trying.
04/15/2010 esheppy
Had one last night while watching the Avs win game 1 against the Sharks. Am giving one of these to a coworker today. Still intense hoppy and roasted flavors, although I think the blending of the tastes is starting to happen.
04/22/2010 esheppy
Compared to an Old Rasputin. Mine seems to have a more substantial head, but the color of the head is identical. The body of the beers are also identical as are the roasted dark malty character. Mine has a bit more hoppiness, but I think as mine conditions it will fade to be extremely close.
07/20/2010 esheppy
Had one. Wonderful beer. Think it has actually improved. So nice.
09/28/2010 esheppy
Thought it would be appropriate to try one on National Beer Drinking Day. Really like the way this beer tastes. Probably should think about getting this one on the schedule again.
12/09/2010 esheppy
Been awhile since I had one.Still wonderful.Sweet malty roast flavor balanced with significant hop bitterness.
06/21/2011 esheppy
Had one. Really a wonderfully rich roast and malt flavor balanced still with hop bitterness. Such a wonderful treat. Hid the rest behind the keg in the kegerator.