Quest to Clone Three Floyds Brewing Company’s Dark Lord
Photo courtesy of Chicago Beer Geeks, www.chicagobeergeeks.com
There are few craft beers as infamous, opulent and coveted as Indiana’s Three Floyds Brewing Company’s massive imperial stout, Dark Lord (DL). To quote Three Floyds’ website: “Dark Lord is a gargantuan Russian Style Imperial Stout . . . Its resonant vinous aroma has been described as cherries, sweet malt, molasses, burnt currants, plums with a Port wine alcohol undertow. Mochachino notes buried within. Motor oil consistency, hellishly smooth yet divinely burnt and vinous. The first sip coats your palate with a palatial charred fruit and chocolate blanket. Alcohol burn wiggles its way down your throat with a thick body.” Dark Lord is released once a year, on Dark Lord Day, an event as unapologetically huge as the imperial stout. The extreme sweetness, roast and oxidation present in Dark Lord, as well as the difficulty associated with obtaining it, has produced a polarizing response to the beer. As a testament to this polarization, while it is currently the fifth ranked beer in the world by RateBeer, it is ranked below 250 on the “Top Beers” on Beer Advocate, and is only 56th on the “Beers of Fame” list. Since Dark Lord Day comes but once a year, I set out on a quest to try and make this elusive brew at home so that I could drink it all year round.
Detective Work and Taste Testing
I started my Dark Lord journey by doing the requisite research. The Internet is full of clone recipes and forum chatter on this beer, but the basic information posted on the Three Floyds’ website seems to have been frequently ignored. The Three Floyds’ “Pub Only” beers section of the website offers some scant technical details: “Russian-Style Imperial Stout brewed with coffee, Mexican vanilla, and Indian sugar. ABV 15%, IBU 50.” An old thread posting from 2005 searching for a clone recipe for DL on the RateBeer forum by user Mikkeller (yes, that Mikkeller) received a reply stating that user name Floydicus (Three Floyds Brewing Company) recommended to make a beer over 30 °Plato (>1.129 SG), with greater than 100 IBU and to “use the force.” A recent post on DNAinfo Chicago covered a 2014 ingredient change from Intelligentsia Black Cat to Dark Matter Unicorn Blood coffee. Finally, a user on BeerTools.com has reported that they measured the final gravity of 2009 DL as 1.033.
While the information present on the Internet provided some guidelines and restraints for the recipe, it was of course essential to taste Dark Lord closely before attempting a clone recipe — not necessarily an easy feat as it is only available once a year. Thanks to some generous beer trading partners, I was able to procure several DL vintages ranging from 2006 to 2013. While all vintages (2006 to 2012) provided a roller coaster of flavors ranging from coffee with cream, molasses, plums, sherry, Port, and chocolate covered cherries, to back-sweetened soy sauce (all vintages lacked a detectable vanilla aroma or flavor), I set out to clone the 2013 vintage because it exhibited the least age related oxidation, the strongest coffee and molasses flavors, and what I believed would provide the best comparison to fresh Dark Lord. In addition, I measured the final gravity of the 2013 vintage following degassing by vacuum filtration through a 0.22 micrometer membrane. The final gravity measured a stout 1.070, more than doubling the measured final gravity of the 2009 vintage reported on the Internet forums.
Constructing The Recipe
The 2013 release had strong sweet malt and soy sauce flavor the moment it hit my tongue, due to its high finishing gravity and oxidation, respectively. These flavors were immediately followed by a sharp, roasty flavor, suggestive of English black and chocolate malts. I detected milk chocolate, coffee, and tar notes mid palate, with caramel, dark fruit and prune flavors in the finish suggesting pale chocolate and dark caramel malts, respectively, and English yeast. The large brick-like cake of yeast in the bottom of the bottle, fruity ester profile and low attenuation, suggested Fuller’s yeast (White Labs WLP002 English Ale or Wyeast 1968 London ESB). The slick, motor oil like mouthfeel and hint of raw oats were reminiscent of an amped up oatmeal stout. The unique candy like sweetness also suggested Golden Naked Oats®. While the 2013 Dark Lord was quite malty, the absence of biscuity and grainy malt flavors suggested a lighter American malted barley as the base malt, instead of a richer European malt like Maris Otter or Optic. While the grain composition of my DL clone recipe is complex, and produced a faithful reproduction of the original, it should be noted that the brewery’s grist of Dark Lord may be much simpler due to process variables and storage requirements in the professional brewhouse.
While I felt that the 2013 Dark Lord lacked a strong vanilla flavor or aroma, I included Mexican vanilla beans in the clone recipe. Madagascar Bourbon beans comprise the bulk of commercial vanilla beans and products, and produce a rich, creamy sweet flavor with a slightly buttery aroma and also have a very high vanillin content relative to most other varietals. Mexican vanilla tends to be smokier and spicier than Bourbon vanilla and can also have a slight woody flavor, which may explain the smokey, rauch-like aroma in DL as it warmed.
The brewery’s website mentions the use of Indian sugar in Dark Lord, which is likely responsible for the prevalent molasses note in its finish and aroma. Jaggery, also referred to as Gur/Gurh or Panela is an unrefined brown sugar from India, made from evaporating date, cane, or palm sap without separation of the molasses and crystals. Thus, jaggery provides a rich molasses flavor and trace minerals and contains up to 50% sucrose and 20% invert sugar with a moisture content up to 20%. Because of its high moisture content and large volume, jaggery was added directly to the boil, as opposed to feeding the fermented wort in small increments following primary fermentation. Addition to the boil also ensured that no viable contaminating organisms from the jaggery got into the finished beer.
Brew day and Brewing Techniques
For high gravity beers (OG >1.100), I assume mash efficiency of 60% instead of my standard 70% efficiency. To combat this decreased efficiency, I utilized several techniques to hit my target gravity including employing two separate mashes. I increased the amount of grain in each mash, the sparge volume of Mash #1, and the boil time from 60 minutes to 300 minutes, adding sugar to boost the final gravity. Increasing the amount of grain used in the mash was a simple way to increase the amount of extracted sugars in the wort without changing any technical aspects of the mashing process. Increased sparging was used to extract additional sugars from the mash, however, care was taken to keep the sparge pH below 5.9 and gravity of the runnings above 1.010, to avoid significant tannin extraction. Extended boils are commonly used to increase overall brewing efficiency and can also provide additional melanoidins to the beer and darken the color. As noted in the extract recipe, because of the absence of a mash/sparge step, the volume of wort in the kettle is small enough that the boil time does not need to extend beyond 60 minutes.
For the first mash I used all pale ale malt, sparged extensively to maximize sugar extraction and boiled for a total of five hours to concentrate the wort and promote melanoidin formation. To avoid harshness associated with an extended boil of roasted/dark malts, all of the dark and crystal malts were included in the second mash with enough pale ale malt added for conversion. While both mashes were conducted at 160 °F (71 °C) to maximize body and minimize fermentability, Mash 2 was not sparged. I did this to maximize the richness of wort and minimize dilution of concentrated wort in the boil kettle.
Standard yeast pitching rates for ale and lager fermentations are 0.75 and 1.5 million cells per °Plato per mL of wort, which equates to ~200 and 400 billion cells for a 5-gallon (19-L) batch of 1.055 SG (13.5 °P) wort, respectively. Due to the increased gravity in this recipe (1.169 SG; 38 °P) the pitching rate was increased to 1 million cells per °P per mL of wort, which equated to a pitch of ~720 billion cells per 5 gallons (19 L). To propagate an adequate amount of yeast cells, I built up a 0.8-gallon (3-L) yeast starter using four packs of liquid yeast (~100 billion viable cells per pack). Additionally, I oxygenated the wort for 90 seconds prior to pitching the yeast and 60 seconds 12–24 hours after pitching to maximize yeast health and ensure a complete fermentation without any unwanted off flavors.
Tasting Results
Regardless of the intellectual effort, brewing techniques or specialty ingredients put into a beer, its success, or failure, comes down to taste. Blind taste testing through homebrew competitions can provide one method of feedback. Because of the specialty ingredients (vanilla, coffee, and jaggery sugar), high ABV (15%), and residual sugar (1.055 FG), I entered it into the Los Angeles County Fair in Specialty Beer as a “Dark Lord clone; 15% imperial stout, high FG, coffee, vanilla” and it was judged by multiple NHC award winner John Aitchison of the Maltose Falcons, who stated, “This is one reason why I judge, amazing beer.” Some specifics included “Full chewy body. I used a fork”; and “excellent balance of coffee and stout. Vanilla shines through as well. Creamy smooth cold brew coffee.” I also submitted a brandy barrel aged version to the Doug King Memorial Specialty Beer Competition and it was referred to in that judging as, “a great dessert sipping beer” with flavors of “coffee beans, toasty/bready malt, licorice, brownies, chocolate chip cookie dough, fudge, and brandy.”
Room for Improvement
While feedback from others is invaluable, our own critiques can be just as insightful. As an imperial stout with Indian sugar, Mexican vanilla and coffee, this is a great beer that encapsulates the style’s essence: Cold brewed coffee, chocolate, burnt sugar, and sweet malt notes with creamy vanilla, and a motor oil-like body. As a clone of Dark Lord, this beer is close, but I have some more tinkering planned. The starting and final gravities need to be pushed up. The 2013 DL measured a stout 1.070 FG when degassed, however my recipe finished at 1.054 SG, which, while increasing drinkability, didn’t quite capture the obscene maltiness and prevalent molasses notes. To increase the final gravity, the co-pitched Wyeast 1056/WLP001 can be replaced with a less attenuative yeast (additional WY1968/WLP002). To account for the drop in ABV due to the higher FG, the pale malt and jaggery sugar could be increased, which due to the latter, will contribute a stronger molasses note to the beer.
When comparing my homebrewed brandy barrel aged (BA) with vanilla beans version of Dark Lord to the commercial version, the vanilla flavor in the commercial version was much more complex and well rounded, and lent a perceived creaminess to the overall texture of the beer. As a result of making my BA clone, I learned the importance of adding both the vanillla bean pods and seeds during the barrel aging process. Due to a fear of suntan lotion flavor appearing in my BA beer, I added a vanilla bean tincture comprised of only vanilla seeds to the barrel, as opposed to seeds and pods. My own subsequent barrel aging and keg aging efforts utilizing vanilla beans have illustrated the additional complexity, texture and flavor lent to the beer when utilizing the entirety of the vanilla bean. The other point of differentiation between this BA clone and commercial equivalent is a slightly increased barrel character and alcohol in the commercial versions. This clone was aged for six months in a 10-gallon (38-L) brandy barrel, which according to BJCP judges and my own palate, could have been extended to increase amount of tannins and vanillin extracted from the wood.
Three Floyds Brewing Co.’s Dark Lord clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.169 FG = 1.054
IBU = 100+ SRM = 73 ABV = 15%
Dark Lord is a truly unique Russian imperial stout brewed with coffee, Mexican vanilla, and Indian sugar. It features notes of mocha and charred fruit, and has a “motor oil-like consistency.” Note the extended total boil time . . . this is not your typical evening brew session.
Ingredients
27.8 lbs (12.6 kg) Great Western Northwestern Pale Ale malt (4 °L)
1.7 lbs. (0.77 kg) Simpsons Golden Naked Oats® malt
10.2 oz. (289 g) Simpsons medium crystal malt (55 °L)
13.3 oz. (377 g) Crisp extra dark crystal malt (120 °L)
1.3 lbs. (0.59 kg) pale chocolate malt (200 °L)
1.1 lbs. (0.5 kg) Simpsons chocolate malt (430 °L)
13.6 oz. (385 g) Simpsons black malt (550 °L)
9.4 oz. (266 g) flaked oats
2.7 lbs. (1.2 kg) Jaggery/Panela/Gur sugar (10 °L) (10 min.)
18 mL CO2 hop extract (Start of boil) (62% alpha acids)
1 tablet Whirlfloc® tablet (10 min)
0.5 tsp. Yeastex nutrient (10 min)
2 Mexican vanilla beans
2.5-5 oz. (71-142 g) coffee beans
2 packs Wyeast 1968 (London ESB Ale) or White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) yeast
2 packs Wyeast 1056 (American Ale)or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) yeast
Lallemand CBC-1 or other high alcohol tolerant yeast strain (if priming)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Before brew day, pitch two packs each of Wyeast 1968 and 1056 (White Labs WLP002 and WLP001, respectively) into an 0.8 gallon (3 L) yeast starter on a stir plate (Equates to pitching rate of 1 million cells per mL wort per degree Plato). When yeast flocculates, place the starter in the fridge and store until brew day. The brew day will require two mashes, referred to here as Mash #1 and Mash #2.
On brew day, mill 16.7 lbs. (7.6 kg) of pale ale malt and dough-in with 22.25 quarts hot water (21.1 L), targeting a mash at 159 °F (70.6 °C) (Mash #1). Hold until enzymatic conversion is complete. If your system allows, raise the mash temperature to 168 °F (76 °C) and recirculate the wort until clear. Sparge with 170 °F (77 °C) water to collect 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort. If your boil off volume is greater than 10% per hour, adjust the amount of wort you collect accordingly. Take a specific gravity reading and, if needed, add light dried malt extract to reach a specific gravity of 1.065. Heat to a boil and add the hop extract. Boil for 4 hours.
Time Mash #2 so that the wort from Mash #1 has boiled for at least 4 hours before you begin to collect the first runnings from Mash #2 into the boil kettle. For Mash #2 mill 11.1 lbs. (5 kg) of pale ale malt along with the remaining grain and dough-in with 22.25 quarts of hot water (21.1 L), targeting a mash at 159 °F (70.6 °C). Hold until enzymatic conversion is complete. If your system allows, raise the mash temperature to 168 °F (76 °C) and recirculate the wort until clear. Collect 3.5 gallons (13.2 L) of first runnings wort in the boil kettle to reach a total volume of 6.5 gallons (25 L). If necessary, sparge with 170 °F (77 °C) water to bring the volume up to 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort. The specific gravity of the wort in the kettle at this point should be about 1.124. Boil for 90 minutes adding Whirlfloc, yeast nutrient, and sugar at 10 minutes. Before cooling, take a specific gravity reading and, if needed, add light dried malt extract to reach a specific gravity of 1.169 and a final volume of 5.5 gallons (20.7 L).
Chill the wort to 62 °F (16.7 °C). Oxygenate with pure oxygen for 90 seconds before pitching the yeast starter (decanting the spent wort first). Ferment at 62–64 °F (16.7–17.8 °C). After 12–24 hours of fermentation, oxygenate with pure oxygen for 60 seconds. Hold the fermentation temperature at 62–64 °F (16.7-17.8 °C) for 7 to 10 days before raising the temperature up to 70 °F (21.1 °C) for 7 days to perform a diacetyl rest and ensure a complete fermentation (final specific gravity of ~1.055). Rack to secondary fermenter and leave for 1 to 3 weeks. (Due to extreme viscosity, racking this beer can take an incredibly long time).
Before or after racking the beer to the secondary, prepare a vanilla bean tincture: Cut open two Mexican vanilla beans, making sure to scrape out the seeds, and cut the pods into pieces. Place the vanilla seeds and pods into just enough neutral spirit (like vodka) to cover, and age for 5 days before adding it directly to the secondary fermenter. Age the beer with vanilla bean tincture for a minimum of 3 days.
If barrel aging, rack the beer into barrel after secondary fermentation and age to taste. My “brandy barrel aged with vanilla beans” version of this beer was aged in a brandy barrel with an additional vanilla bean tincture for six months before kegging (read on).
If bottling add 2.5–5 oz. (71-142 g) of whole Intelligentsia Black Cat (pre-2014 Dark Lord) or Dark Matter Unicorn Blood (2014–2015 Dark Lord) coffee beans (in a muslin bag) to the beer in secondary fermenter and age for 24 to 48 hours, preferably at 38 °F (3 °C). Rack the beer to a bottling bucket and add a fresh packet of yeast to assure proper carbonation. Lallemand CBC-1 and Safale US-05 are two good options that can handle the high ABV. Carbonate aiming for a carbonation level of 2–2.2 volumes of CO2. Once carbonated, condition the beer at cellar temperature for several months.
If kegging, add 2.5–5 oz. (71-142 g) of whole Intelligentsia Black Cat (pre-2014 Dark Lord) or Dark Matter Unicorn Blood (2014–2015 Dark Lord) coffee beans (in a muslin bag) to empty keg and rack the beer into a keg, aging on coffee beans for 24 to 48 hours, preferably at 38 °F (3 °C). Remove the beans and aim for a carbonation level of 2–2.2 volumes of CO2. Once carbonated, condition at cellar temperature for several months.
Three Floyds Brewing Co.’s Dark Lord clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.169 FG = 1.054
IBU = 100+ SRM = 73 ABV = 15%
Ingredients
14.6 lbs. (6.6 kg) Briess extra light dried malt extract
9.4 oz. (266 g) Weyermann Carafoam® malt
1.7 lbs. (0.77 kg) Simpsons Golden Naked Oats®malt
10.2 oz. (289 g) Simpsons medium crystal malt (55 °L)
13.3 oz. (377 g) Crisp extra dark crystal malt (120 °L)
1.3 lbs. (0.59 kg) pale chocolate malt (200 °L)
1.1 lbs. (0.5 kg) Simpsons chocolate malt (430 °L)
13.6 oz. (385 g) Simpsons black malt (550 °L)
2.7 lbs. (1.2 kg) Jaggery/Panela/Gur sugar (10 °L) (10 min.)
18 mL CO2 hop extract (Start of boil) (62% alpha acids)
1 tablet Whirlfloc® tablet (10 min)
0.5 tsp. Yeastex nutrient (10 min)
2 Mexican vanilla beans
2.5-5 oz. (71-142 g) coffee beans
2 packs Wyeast 1968 (London ESB Ale) or White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) yeast
2 packs Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) yeast
Lallemand CBC-1 or other high alcohol tolerant yeast strain (if priming)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Before brew day, pitch 2 packs each of Wyeast 1968 and 1056 (WLP002 and WLP001, respectively) into a
0.8 gallon (3 L) yeast starter on a stir plate (Equates to pitching rate of 1 million cells per ml wort per
degree Plato).
On brew day, crush the steeping grains and place them in two steeping bags. Steep the bags at 155 °F (68 °C) in 20 quarts (18.9 L) of water for 20 minutes. Rinse the grains with 4 quarts (3.8 L) of 170 °F (77 °C) hot water. Add dried malt extract (DME) and water to achieve a pre-boil volume of 6.5 gallons (25 L). Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hop extract, sugar and yeast nutrients at the specified times. Before cooling, take a specific gravity reading and, if needed, add light dried malt extract, targeting a specific gravity of 1.169 and a final volume of 5.5 gallons (20.8 L).
Chill the wort to 62 °F (16.7 °C). Oxygenate with pure oxygen for 90 seconds before pitching the yeast starter (decanting the spent wort first). Ferment at 62–64 °F (16.7–17.8 °C). After 12–24 hours of fermentation, oxygenate with pure oxygen for 60 seconds. Hold the fermentation temperature at 62–64 °F (17-18 °C) for 7 to 10 days before raising the temperature to 70 °F (21 °C) for 7 days to perform a diacetyl rest and ensure a complete fermentation (final specific gravity of ~1.055). Rack to secondary fermenter for 1 to 3 weeks. (Due to extreme viscosity, racking this beer can take an incredibly long time).
Before or after racking the beer to the secondary, prepare a vanilla bean tincture: Cut open two Mexican vanilla beans, making sure to scrape out the seeds, and then cut the pods into pieces. Place the vanilla seeds and pods into just enough neutral spirit (like vodka) to cover, and age for 5 days before adding it directly to the secondary fermenter. Age the beer with vanilla bean tincture for a minimum of three days.
If barrel aging, rack the beer into barrel after secondary fermentation and age to taste. My “brandy barrel aged with vanilla beans” version of this beer was aged in a brandy barrel with an additional vanilla bean tincture for six months before kegging.
If bottling add 2.5–5 oz. (71-142 g) of whole Intelligentsia Black Cat (pre-2014 Dark Lord) or Dark Matter Unicorn Blood (2014–2015 Dark Lord) coffee beans (in a muslin bag) to the beer in secondary fermenter and age for 24 to 48 hours, preferably at 38 °F (3 °C). Rack the beer to a bottling bucket and add a fresh packet of yeast to assure proper carbonation. Lallemand CBC-1 and Safale US-05 work well. Aim for a carbonation level of 2–2.2 volumes of CO2. Once carbonated, condition at cellar temperature for several months. If kegging, follow the kegging instructions in the all-grain version.
