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The week has finally arrived. The beer has been brewed, the bottles have been filled, corked and labeled and we’re ready to go. The Great American Beer Festival is here and we’re finally ready to unleash our next edition of the Wild Dog Series.

Collaborator Doppelbock is released this week!

Of course the beer will be available for tasting at the Flying Dog Brewery GABF booth, but we will also be hosting FREE party where you can get a complimentary sample of this unique beer. Here are the particulars:

WHERE: Blake Street Tavern - 2401 Blake Street, right next door to the Flying Dog Brewery

WHEN: Friday, Oct 12

TIME: 3PM - 5PM

**Space is limited and the bar will be crowded as non-GABF’ers will be getting ready for the Rockies/D-Backs game that night. Must be 21+ to enter.
And don’t forget, bottles will also be on sale in the Flying Dog Brewery Tasting Room.

We also have a bunch of other things going on, so click here for the full rundown on all of Flying Dog’s GABF Week events.

We just finished the label and hang tag design for the Collaborator Doppelbock and we thought everyone might like to get sneak peek. Of course the TTB (government) has to approve the label, but we don’t expect having to make too many changes.

The silver trim on the label will be a metallic silver and “Wild Dog” will be embossed. It should look pretty sharp.

We will also be putting hang-tags on all 5000 of the bottles. The hang-tags give a little information about Flying Dog Brewery as well as the Open Source Beer Project.

Let us know what you think.

Technorati Tags: open source beer, wild dog beer, flying dog, flying dog brewery, denver brewery, colorado beer, limited beer, extreme beer, beer label, beer labels, doppelbock

We have decided on a name for the Open Source Beer. Keeping in line with the tradition of Doppelbock names ending in “ATOR” (see the 9th paragraph), the Open Source Beer will be called “Collaborator” as a tribute to all of those that helped us create the recipe.

Collaborator will be the latest edition in the Flying Dog Wild Dog Series. Wild Dogs are limited edition beers that come exclusively in hand filled, corked and labeled 750ml champagne-style bottles. Only 5000 bottles will be available.
Everything is on-track for Collaborator’s October release. The label is close to being finished and the raw materials are on their way to Denver. This beer will be entered into the Great American Beer Festival and will also be available for some limited samplings during the event.

If anyone brews up a batch using the recipe, let us know how it goes!

Technorati Tags: open source beer, beer name, beer names, beer recipes, homebrew, homebrewers, beer recipe, homebrewing, create beer, beer project

As far as malt we have decided to go with Wyerman malt. We incorporate this malt in some of our other beers and we have had medal winning success. As far as verities, we are going to keep things on the simpler side. For the base malt we will be using Munich Type 1 this will constitute 75% of out total grist bill. The remaining 25% will be as follows: 9% Munich Type 2, 2% Cara Munich, and 2% Cara Amber, and 2% Melanoidin.

As discussed earlier we have decided to use American grown hops in our Dopplebock. We have decided on Warrior for our bittering addition and domestic Mt. Hood for our late additions. Our wort boil will be two hours and our Warrior addition will be 30 minutes into the boil, with a flavor addition at 30 and 15 minutes before end of boil. We will omit any aroma additions as we are looking to focus on malt aroma.

As far as our yeast selection we have decided to go with Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager, which we found to have performed well in our test fermentations. We experienced a good strong fermentation using this yeast, producing a clean well attenuated lager during our test fermentations.

Although we are not capable of decoction mashing, we are able to steam heat our mash mixer. Using a suggestion by one of our brewers we will mash this brew in at 140F then heat it to our 155F conversion temperature.

Our primary fermentation temperature will be 52F and will be lagered at 34F in our cellar for 8 weeks.

Also based on one of our brewer’s suggestions, we will do something a little different for packaging. We will give our Collaborator Doppelbock a light filtration then bottle condition in our signature Wild Dog Champagne bottles. Bottle conditioning may not be a traditional technique for a lager like this, but everything about this project is about being unique.

To simplify the scaling down of our production recipe, percentages will be given in addition to our 50bbl brew recipe (two mashes to fill kettle) to allow brewers of any size system to adapt their recipe.

Flying Dog Open Source Beer Recipe
50 bbl (mash x 2)

Targets:

OG: 19.5 P
FG: 5.0 – 5.5P
Color: 18 – 22 SRM
Bitterness: 22 – 25 IBU
Conversion Temp: 155 – 156F
Total Conversion Time: 1.5 Hours
Boil Length: 2 Hours
Primary Fermentation Temp: 52F
Lagering Temp: 34F

Grist: LBS %
Weyermann Munich “Type I” 2240 75
Weyermann Munich “Type II 550 19
Weyermann Cara-Munich 55 2
Weyermann Cara-Amber 55 2
Weyermann Melanoidin 55 2
TOTAL: 2955 100%

Hops: (2 hour boil) LBS
Warrior (15.1% alpha) @ 30 minutes into boil 12.5
Mt. Hood (4.2% alpha) @ 90 minutes into boil 8.0
Mt. Hood (4.2% alpha) @ 105 minutes into boil 4.0

Note: Brewers may need to adjust the weight of their bittering addition considering the many factors effecting utilization need to be taken into consideration.

Here is a list of links of some of the suppliers of our ingredients. Some of these links can provide further analytical data they may be helpful to the brewer.

Wyeast

Weyermann

Hopunion

We would like to thank all of the participants and visitors for the Open Source Beer Project. We feel certain that this will be a unique expression of the style and that the results of our collective project will be quite enjoyable.

Technorati Tags: open source beer, beer recipes, beer recipes, homebrew, homebrewing, brewers, denver beer, colorado beer, craft beer, limited beer, beer ingredients, homebrewers

From the desk of Matt Brophy, Head Brewer at Flying Dog Brewery…

Idea of an American twist welcomed. Let’s find a well suited American grown bittering hop. Idea of late flavor addition up for consideration. What variety and when exactly added?

Malt selection, good input. Considering a straight infusion mash, the suggestion of using Melanoidin and Cara malts seems appropriate. What ratios?

We will continue to take yeast suggestions, while we do some fermentation using some of the yeasts suggested.

By the way, we are teaming up with Wyeast to host an event during the American Homebrewers Conference:

What: American Homebrewers Conference Reception

Where: Blake Street Tavern (at Flying Dog Brewery)

When: Thurs, June 21 - 4:30pm to 7:30pm

Along with door prizes, appetizers and complimentary samples of our extremely limited edition Barrel-aged Horn Dog Barley Wine, we will have an assortment of speakers from Flying Dog and Wyeast:

Scheduled to present:

Eric Warner - Lead Dog, Flying Dog Brewery: Discussing his background, the importance of Homebrewing and how to get into the beer business

Matt Brophy – Head Brewer, Flying Dog Brewery: Presenting Flying Dog’s Open Source Beer Project

Jon Graber – Wyeast, Marketing and Sales Manager: Presenting Wyeast’s “Very Special Strain” (VSS) promotion

David Logsdon – Wyeast, Founder/Owner – Speaking on the importance of yeast health

Greg Doss – Wyeast, QC Manager/Brewer/Microbiologist – Speaking on the benefits of using the Wyeast Activator package

Thanks to all who have participated so far. Spread the word about the Open Source Beer Project.

Technorati Tags: open source beer, beer recipes, beer recipes, homebrew, flying dog, brewmeister, homebrewing, head brewer, beer ideas

Denver’s Flying Dog Brewery today announced plans to release what is believed to be the first “open source” beer to hit the market in the U.S. “Open source” is a term most commonly used in the software industry and refers to any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers see fit. In this case, Flying Dog’s Open Source Beer Project will allow beer drinkers and homebrewers to create and recommend changes and modifications to the recipe.

The Open Source Beer Project will start as a Dopplebock but the style may evolve as participants offer ideas and tweak the recipe. “We are encouraging input on every part of the recipe, down to how what variety of hops we should use, how much we should use and when we should add them,” said Flying Dog Head Brewer, Matt Brophy.

Flying Dog’s Director of Marketing, Neal Stewart says that this is a unique way for consumers to participate in the creation of a new beer. “The Open Source Beer is a truly collaborative project and gives our loyal fans the opportunity to buy a beer that they actually played a major role in creating.”

The open source beer will be Flying Dog’s latest “Wild Dog” release and will hit stores in October. Wild Dogs are extremely limited edition beers that come exclusively in hand corked and labeled 750ml bottles. Only 5000 bottles of the Open Source Wild Dogs will be available to the public. Flying Dog’s current Wild Dog is a whiskey barrel-aged version of their popular Gonzo Imperial Porter.

For more information or to make recipe comments on the Open Source Beer Project, visit www.opensourcebeerproject.com .

Technorati Tags: open source beer, limited beer, beer recipe, beer recipes, homebrew, brewers, homebrewing, unique beers, extreme beers, beer project

Flying Dog is setting out to make a kick ass German Style Doppelbock. The recipe you see here is a bare bones, as simple as you can get Doppelbock recipe.

What we want from you:

There is a lot up for debate and nothing is set in stone. We are confident that with the help of YOU, our friends of the brewery, homebrewers across the country, or just regular guys that love beer, the results of the Open Source Beer Project will be right on par with Flying Dog’s extremely high standards of brewing. Who knows? Maybe we’ll win a Great American Beer Festival medal together?

Keep this desciption in mind as you make comments on the recipe.

Malty sweetness is dominant but should not be cloying. Malt character is more reminiscent of fresh and lightly toasted Munich-style malt; more so than caramel or toffee malt character. Some elements of caramel and toffee can be evident and contribute to complexity, but the predominant malt character is an expression of toasted barley malt. Doppelbocks are full bodied and deep amber to dark brown in color. Astringency from roast malts is absent. Alcoholic strength is high, and hop rates increase with gravity. Hop bitterness and flavor should be low and hop aroma absent. Fruity esters are commonly perceived but at low to moderate levels.

Original Gravity (ºPlato): 1.074 1.080 (18 19.5 ºPlato)

Apparent Extract/Final Gravity (ºPlato): 1.014 1.020 (3.5 5 ºPlato)

Alcohol by Weight (Volume): 5.2 6.2% (6.5 8%)

Bitterness (IBU): 17 27

Color SRM (EBC): 12 30 (24 60 EBC)

System Specifics

Brew Length: 50 BBL

Kettle Full: 1800-2000 Gallons

Mashing System: Infusion

Grist Weight: Up to 3200 lbs (Due to high gravity, we will make two mashes to fill our kettle)