Creme Brulee Stout
 

Hello all,

I am getting ready to try brewing the Creme Brulee Stout featured in the December issue of BYO. This is the first high gravity all grain beer that I have tried making. Has anyone made this beer yet and do you have any tips? Also, what is the best way to make a yeast starter for this brew if you do not have a stir plate? How much starter should I make?

Thanks!

I'm watching this thread! I tried this beer years ago and have been wanting to make a clone. I will be working the BYO recipe into my pipeline but haven't gotten there yet.

As far as high gravity beers go, I usually make a similar lower gravity beer and use the part of the yeast cake as a starter. From what I've seen, somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the cake is plenty to ferment a beer with that OG.

I'm very interested in hearing everyone's experiences with this recipe.

I brewed it today and its already bubbling away in the carboy. Making the yeast starter ahead really got it going quick.

This sounds good! Are you willing to share this recipe?

Sub'd

I've only had to make one starter so far, I think I "brewed" it some weekend morning and put it in a growler with sanitized aluminum foil over the mouth, and just simply swirled/shook it every time I walked by. After a day or two of fermentation, I just put it in the fridge, and then when brewday came I decanted off some of the liquid (not all of it), let the yeast come to room temp, swirled it back up into suspension, and pitched it in. Fermentation took off quickly and the beer turned out well. It's not as convenient as a stir plate because you have to be around to swirl/shake it frequently for a day or two, but it seemed to work fine.

As for how much, I think I used MrMalty.com's pitching rate calculator ( Mrmalty.com ) to tell me that.

Southern Tier Brewing Company's Creme Brelee Imp Milk Stout Clone

OG 1.106 FG 1.033

17.5 lbs 2-row
1.5 lb flaked Barley
1.5 lb Belgian Black malt
10 oz lactose
12 oz Carmalized Cane Sugar (last 2 min.)
14.5 AAU Columbus (60 min)
9.2 AAU Chinook (30 min)
3 Vanilla Beans (split and deseeded) Flame Out
1 tsp ground Cardamom powder Flame out
1/2 tsp Irish Moss (30 Min)
WLP007 or Wyeast 1028

Mix crushed grains in 5G of 174 deg. water to stabilize at 155 deg. for 60 min. Sparge with 175 deg water. Collect 6 gal. and boil for 60 min. Ferment at 68 deg.

This is a quick run down of the recipe in BYO December 2011.

I have wanted to brew this one also. Let us know how it turns out.

what is the purpose of the irish moss in this recipe? irish moss is mostly used for clarity, and not sure why it would be necessary on a stout..

clear beer isn't necessary for it to taste good. However you can still look a a stout and see whether it is murky or clear. So for the people who care, add the irish moss to help. Either way in my personal experience they clear out eventually without finings. Just takes time.