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Original recipe does not call for Apollo hops, but I added just a little because the AA on my bittering hops were so low, I did not have enough to make up the extra BUs. Doughed in with 161 DegF water. Had to play with final mash temp. It was a little low at first, then a little high. Settled out at about 150-151 degF. Had to add about an extra 2 quarts h2o to use for temperature correction. Mashed for 60 minutes. Getting different OG readings across 3 hydro meters and 1 refractometer. Need to check their calibration before using again. OG ranges between 1.062-1.069. We'll call it 1.065. Fermenting in a 60L Spiedel Fermenter. Set fermenter to 72 degF and pitched yeast, 1 gallon starter. 5/10/15. Fermentation going good. Soft fruity smells coming from fermenter, but not nearly as strong a pear aroma as in the lat time. Much, much more subtle. 5/13/15. Looks like fermentation is slowing. Raised temperature to 76 degF. 5/17/15. Fermentation seems to be going well. Temp probe is on the outside of one of the carboys of the dark strong ale. My feeling is the fermenting temp is a few degrees warmer than what the probe is saying. Fermentation aroma is nice and slightly fruity with pears. 5/22/15. Fermentation is still creeping along. Was planning to cold crash in a couple days, but will let it continue for now. 5/24/15. Still fermenting. 5/31/15. Gravity down to 1.005. Transferred to a 10 gallon keg and cold crashed to 32 deg. F. Looks like around 7.9% ABV. 6/19/15. Added 1 tsp dissolved gelatin to the 10 gallon keg. 6/21/15. BOTTELING DAY! Used CO2 to push the beer into a bottling bucket. Because it was in a 10 gallon keg, I pulled 5 gallons off first and it looked really clear. Hope there's enough yeast in it. Second half stirred up a little yeast sediment and got mixed in. Just a little cloudy. Yielded 104 11.3oz Belgian bottles carbed for 4 volumes of CO2. 8oz of beet sugar for each 5 gallons. 7/11/15. Clearing up very nicely. Well carbonated. Very nice flavors. Still a little fractured. But it is melding and mellowing and stewing very well. This is going to be a winner in 2-3 weeks. Easy drinking now, but will only improve. In the same leagues as Duvel and Damnation. Can stand side-by-side. 8/5/15. Good beer. Still a little rough around the edges. Needs to lager out for a bit. Still displaying a little chill haze. Not as fruity as I was hoping. Still a nice beer. Hops seems a little too much for the style I was looking for. Not bad, but just bitter enough to be a little distracting. Should mellow and meld nicely as it ages. Carbonation is nice and fizzy. 10/14/15. This beer has rounded out and is really drinking well now. It really does need at least 4 months to age out. Still slightly hazy from chilling. Nice, light, refreshing, fruity/juicy pear. This beer will knock you on your ass if you're not careful. Carbonation seems very high, if not a bit too high. Expected for this style, but you really need a large tulip glass to catch all the foam that rises. Head fades a bit more quickly that I want, but the high carbonation keeps producing a very lively circus of bubbles in the glass.