Trying to come close to Ommegang Adoration, help!

To clone an Ommegang Belgian beer you must use Ommegang yeast. Its a proprietary yeast that you can only get by harvesting from a commercial bottle (typically Witte or Rare Vos or Hennepin . . . they all use the same yeast). If you are new to harvesting try searching this Forum for tips. I regularly do this and it's not as hard as it seems, currently have a Hennepin clone about to be racked to a keg. Oh yeah, ferm temp is absurdly high . . . I start at 77 and raise it one degree a day for 8 days. Yep, that's finishing at 85. Expect an attenuation in the 80 - 90% range. You probably want a high FG so this may be the most difficult task.

Not sure of grain bill but almost always the Big Guys use Pilsner and not too much else. Maybe in this case some Special B/Aromatic (that's a guess), perhaps some Caramel. As for spices you want Indian corriander and sour orange peels (with 5 minutes remaining in the boil), ditto the GoP. I've never brewed with mace or cardamom, you're on your own there. Some type of sugar is probably used but unable to offer a real suggestion.

This will definitely require some extending conditioning but I see no problem having it reach it's peak by mid-Dec 2019.

 

I know I have had this one, but it's been some time and I can't say remember it. Is it along the same lines as other belgian-style winter ales?

If so, I think a solid Belgian strong dark ale (the style it is classified as here) or quad grist with the added spices would work. Definiately Pils. Persoanlly I'd have a touch of special B and Aromatic in there, as PortLargo noted, as well as D-180 and maybe just some Turbinado sugar.

Since you are trying to get close, but not exact, i'm sure you can find a suitable yeast. 3787 is pretty versatile, but maybe 1214 would work.

Maybe I'm wrong, but just reading some reviews, I feel like this beer is more about the maltiness and the winter spices as opposed to any pronounced yeast character (as far as Belgians go, at least).

Like Port Largo elluded too, you may want a bit longer conditioning, so your deadline is pushing it. It might not need a whole year, but maybe four months or more to come into its prime. Of course, no one can stop you from drinking it sooner and if you can make it last, you can see how it developes over that course of time.

 

I don't know if this holds true for all their brews or if it would make a difference in the final beer but the description on BA for their Gnomegang says they use two yeast, one for fermentation and another for bottle conditioning. If their bottling yeast is constant throughout their lineup you could harvest it from most any Ommegang offering, then you're faced with discovering and locating the strain used during fermentation.....

 

I personally do not have any information concerning Adoration but I can relate some general information from a tour I took at Ommegang a few years ago. During the tour the tour guide emphasized that they heavily rely on 5 different spices to achieve the flavor profiles of their beers. The guide showed us the five spices but I can only specifically remember star anise and licorice root of the five; I would guess that coriander was one of the remaining five but I have no guesses for the other two.

I would think you would need to know the specific spices used for each Ommegang brand and amounts/timing of the spicing additions to make a clone of their beers.

Cheers!

 

I also took the tour there - two years ago, I think. I am skeptical about the ability to harvest an Ommegang yeast. While there, I observed a centrifuge which they said was to remove the yeast. IIRC, they said they add back a different strain for bottle conditioning.

 

The 'challenge' there is whether a linear conversion is the appropriate way to go here?

I can relate that when it comes to hop bitterness additions it is not a linear conversion from homebrewing scale (e.g., 5 gallon batches) to commercial scale (e.g., 10+ barrel batches). If you have the book For the Love of Hops by Stan Hieronymus you can read further on this specific topic.

Cheers!

P.S. My guess is that mace and cardamon are the two spices that I couldn't remember.

 

The spices are listed on their website (and on the bottle label), but I am sure those quantities are cock-eyed, maybe a decimal point in the wrong place or mish-mashed units. For example, orange peel is typically 0.5 to 1.5 ounces per 5 gallons, GoP is in the 0.20 ounce range. My guess is Phil works in Customer Service and doesn't know a hectoliter from a hexagon (good luck putting your spices in mid point of boil).

Regarding yeast, in a podcast one their brewers stated their Belgian brews all have the same yeast. He also stated the minimum ferm temp was 77 with a subsequent rise (the 85 is my number) When I visited the brewery they were harvesting the krausen off the fermenters, literally shoveling big scoops of yeast into large barrels. They stated it went to centrifuge next(which they showed us) and the same yeast was added back for bottle carb'ing. It was the only time I've seen a stainless steel shovel. This may have changed, but my experience in harvesting has been positive. I did ask if they could spare a paltry 200 mls of yeast for an aspiring brewer and was confronted with a very crooked frown.

So I've been harvesting for many years (usually Rare Vos or Hennepin), if it's not the real deal it's still PDG. In competitions have received high scores for my Rare Vos and Abbey Ale clones, my Hennepin clone has gold'ed. The yeast has a very distinctive lemon-grass aroma which makes the Saison a killer . . . when I pitched it last week you could easily get the aroma from across the room, first gravity sample was spot-on Belgiany. When used in a maltier beer (Rare Vos/Abbey Ale) it compliments the aroma of the malts . . . I get a very pleasant complex aroma which is obviously Belgian and very correct for style. Never had an Adoration but from it's description appears to be an Abbey Ale on steroids.

For @Wanda , not trying to sell you on harvesting, but it's what makes Ommegang beers special. I don't think it's realistic to have this ready in 2½ months.

 

Your recollection varies from mine, but I have not tried to harvest/brew with it. Or perhaps my tour guide wasn't as knowledgeable. I found an older thread on another forum which discusses this and some supported my recollection - some yours. However, one poster suggested that a yeast company had done exactly that. So as a possible suggestion for the OP and a possibility to save you some time in the future, I offer this: https://www.theyeastbay.com/brewers-yeast-products/northeastern-abbey