Cuvee de Dan

Time for another semi-clone. It's culminated in the collection of both Wyeast 3787 and the Drie Fonteinen cakes, and what to do with them. Cuvee de Tomme, brewed by The Lost Abbey's Tomme Arthur, is a strong, Belgian funky ale with sour cherries added and aged on bourbon barrels. I've had the fortune of trying it twice; once at Mike's place and the second this passed weekend on tap. It produces a flurry of oaky, sour, funky, fruity flavors with plenty of alcohol heft. A real delicious, complex beer. Since I've done a few beers that are really clones of the original, and since this one is a Cuvee of the brewer, I figured I had to do a twist all my own. Again, digging through The Flavor Bible and catalogs of fruit purees, I devised the combination of figs and rum. I've had some really tasty, oaky rums that I'm hoping to pick up to soak oak cubes (1.5oz French) and 1-2K of fig puree for this brew. The recipe is a mixture of Jeff Sparrow's Donkere Geneeskunde and Mike's Cherry Bourbon Quad. My recipe is pretty much in the middle of the two with less sugar overall and a lower OG.
Recipe:

Stats OG 1.079 FG IBU 28 ABV SRM 21

Specifics Boil Volume 7.5 gallons Batch Size 5.5 gallons Yeast 88% AA Wyeast 3787 Drie Fonteinen

Fermentables

% Weight	Weight (lbs)	Grain	Gravity Points	Color
56.3 %	10.00	Briess Two-row Pale	45.1	3.3
16.9 %	3.00	American Munich (Light)	12.1	5.5
11.3 %	2.00	American Soft White Wheat	9.7	1.0
4.2 %	0.75	Belgian CaraMunich	3.0	10.2
2.8 %	0.50	Belgian Aromatic	1.8	2.3
1.4 %	0.25	Belgian Special B	0.9	10.0
1.4 %	0.25	American Chocolate	0.9	15.9
5.6 %	1.00	Cane sugar	5.6	0.2
	17.75		79.1

Hops

% Wt	Weight (oz)	Hop	Form	AA%	AAU	Boil Time	Utilization	IBU
100.0 %	1.65	Challenger	Pellet	5.3	8.7	60	0.236	28.1
	1.65							28.1

10/20/09: Brewed on a lazy morning. Had tons of problems with my Barley Crusher and its continued slipping roller. Ended up hitting my gravity really well at 1.079 and volume, so no problems with efficiency. Mashed at 154 for 60min and a 75min boil. No chill and pitched some leftover slurry from the Belgian single and Drie Fonteinen beer.
11/04/09: Primary looks nearly done. Beer is down to 1.011, a bit higher than I was hoping. No pellicle, no real funk to the flavor. I'm a bit worried I'm not going to get any acid out of this thing, but I'm hoping adding the fig puree will kick it in. In addition, I'll likely add some dregs from the Flanders' barrel when I rack. Right now, it basically tastes like a weak dubbel with a touch of barnyard funk in the nose.
11/12/09: Racked to secondary on top of 1.5oz French Med Toast oak cubes that soaked in a cup of Meyer's Rum for 3 weeks. The whole thing went in, rum and all. I'm also pitching some slurry from the barrel as well to get the bugs going.
4/14/10: Added nearly 1K of Boiron Fig puree. Had to slap on a blow off tube since the carboy is now nearly full. Will give this one several more months before bottling.