wyo_brew wrote:
Well as a noob brewer I was hoping maybe the Army could throw out some suggestions as I have no idea where to start other than culturing some the yeast from some nocturnum bottles. Any help would be appreciated.
I can't tell you exactly how to make it, but I wouldn't worry about harvesting their yeast until you have a sound malt recipe. Even using the same yeast won't help you clone something if your grain bill is way off. Here are a few steps that may help you develop a recipe.
1. Narrow down the numbers and "style" of beer. OG, FG, IBUs, ABV, SRM, etc... The website mentions 8.5% ABV. If you use Beersmith, Pro Mash, etc.. you can balance out your recipe to closely match these numbers. The style can be tricky to figure out with Belgian craft beers, but narrow it down as much as you can. This will help you figure out a starting point for what type of ingredients are typically used. If you find 95% of Belgian Dark Strong Recipes are using Continental Pilsener, Munich Malt, Wheat Malt, Special B and Cane Sugar, chances are you should throw some in your recipe.
2. Piece together clues from descriptions on the brewery website and reviews from beer drinkers. http://www.delirium.be/bier/1/0/delirium.html
Alcohol volume: 8.5% ABV
Colour and sight: Dark brown-red. A compact white-yellow, stable and lacing head.
Scent: Touches of caramel, mocha and chocolate. Spices such as liquorice and coriander are also present.
Flavour: Initially, a very good mouthfeel of alcohol and softness. This is followed by an increasing bitterness, partially from the hop, but also from the roasted malt and chocolate malt. Towards the end a nice balance between bitterness, sour and sweet.
Delirium Nocturnum is an 8.5% ABV, dark Belgian Strong Ale. It is a triple-fermented dark ale using 3 different yeast strains and 5 different malts. Delirium Nocturnum pours a rich brown/ruby color, with a thick tan head that leaves a slight lace on the glass. It is mostly clear and has some carbonation. The hops in Delirium Nocturnum become more present as the beer warms to room temperature while the alcohol smell becomes more present as well. While drinking, the ‘mouth feel’ has a full, rich feel with little carbonation, but runs fairly smoothly, with a soft, medium-bodied feel. The taste is complex. It has a bouquet of aromatic sweetness with apple, berry, and honey maltiness and a hint of sourness (the smell can be a little similar to a brown ale). The flavor immediately bursts with raisins, bittersweet chocolate and aniseed. Halfway through tasting, one can detect plum and raspberry with an underlying yeastiness. The finish is long, with a fruity, plummy aftertaste with some spiciness.
3. There is a wealth of info here so ask yourself what sort of ingredients will help get you a dark brown red hue, caramel aroma, alcohol mouthfeel and so on. For the alcohol mouthfeel that probably means they pitched a higher temp, fermented higher, or stressed the yeast out. Ask yourself how do the hops taste? Is it a mild or strong bitterness, fruity or earthy taste, mild or strong aroma. I haven't had a Delirium in years but I will go out on a limb and say it was a mild bitterness likely due to noble hops.
4. Drink a lot of Delirium Nocturnum until your palate is very comfortable identifying which flavors are dominant and which ones take a back seat. This will help you figure out the trickier calculations like using .25 oz. vs 1 oz. of Coriander, Anise, Raisins, Orange peel or what have. By the way, I'm by no means saying the beer uses all of these fruits and spices. For specialty malts like CaraMunich, Special B and Aromatic. Unless the flavor of one particular malt hits you over the head when you taste it, start with equal amounts for each specialty malt, maybe 3-6% of each of them. After you brew that beer decide which malt you need more or less of and adjust accordingly.
Lastly, unless you've been brewing for years, there is no simple or straightforward way to pin down a complex taste such as Delirium Nocturnum. If it was easy every brewery would have a clone. Chances are it will take you a few batches to get something you think is close. In Stan Hieronymus' book Brew Like A Monk, he mentions most Belgian recipes are more simple than you would think, the yeast really does the "magic" so to speak. This will be a tough clone, but not impossible. As for the Triple fermentation, I can't give you much guidance on that. Good luck, I hope this helped!
