Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Vanilla Coffee Bean Blonde

coffee bean blond

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
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06-A Light Hyrbid Beer, Cream Ale

Min OG: 1.042 Max OG: 1.055
Min IBU: 15 Max IBU: 20
Min Clr: 25 Max Clr: 5 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
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Batch Size (Gal): 10.00 Wort Size (Gal): 10.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 16.00
Anticipated OG: 1.043 Plato: 10.77
Anticipated SRM: 3.4
Anticipated IBU: 60.3
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
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3.1 0.50 lbs. Wheat Malt America 1.038 2
93.8 15.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
3.1 0.50 lbs. CaraPilsner France 1.035 10

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
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1.50 oz. Columbus Whole 15.00 50.4 60 min.
1.00 oz. Simcoe Pellet 12.00 9.9 20 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
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3.00 Oz French Vanilla Coffee Whole Be Coffee 4 Days(fermenter)


Yeast
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US-05

White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Notes

3oz of whole vanilla coffee bean to secondary per 5 gallons 4 days.
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Well I made this recipe up because I wanted a nice light blonde with a coffee flavor for a summer brew. The very unique quality of this beer is it taste like coffee but is still blonde in color. This is why I choose to just add whole beans to the secondary. I would recommend using a 1 gallon paint stainer so you can pull the beans out after 4-5 days. I really don't think you will get much more off of the beans after 4 days or so but bitterness.

I brew 10 gallons but have 6 gallon fermentors. So I did 5 gallons with beans and 5 gallons without beans. I have the coffee bean one on tap right now and I am very impressed. The beer has a very large vanilla coffee forward nose. The taste is not overpowering on the coffee but balanced well with the blonde beer making it very smooth. You know there is coffee in there but balanced.

I tried the blonde without coffee when I keged it and I was very impressed with the tropical notes. I am sure it is from the hops I selected. It is not a heavily hopped beer because I was making a blonde not a pale. However, this may be the best flavored straight blonde I've tasted. Can't wait to get this one chilled and on tap.

Back to the coffee. This one is so well balanced with the coffee and malt it pretty much hides the tropical notes I get from the one without the coffee. These are both going to be great.

If you happen to brew please let me know your thoughts on this beer.

Here is a picture of the Coffee Vanilla Bean Blonde.

It cleared up nicely.

Since you are in Michigan, I have to ask: have you had OddSide's Bean Flicker?

Reading your recipe reminded me of that beer...

brewed up a small one gallon batch of this last night. Sounds TASTY. OG was right on after the brew. Fermenting now. Will report back for sure. Really unique to see a lighter beer with a coffee flavor.

bottled this on monday night. FG was dead on at 1.010

hydrometer sample was delicious. cannot wait for this one to be done. yum. kicking myself for only brewing a gallon, but i'm sure i'll be brewing more soon

cheers for this great recipe!

Only 5 days in the bottle but i had to try one. actually quite carbonated already. THIS BEER IS STELLAR.

seriously, the coffee vanilla balance is perfect. will wait 1.5 weeks then get some outside opinions

abrix said:

Since you are in Michigan, I have to ask: have you had OddSide's Bean Flicker?

Reading your recipe reminded me of that beer...

Click to expand...

Yes, Kind of what I was going for with my own twist. I really had no idea how the accomplished it though.

notixx said:

Only 5 days in the bottle but i had to try one. actually quite carbonated already. THIS BEER IS STELLAR.

seriously, the coffee vanilla balance is perfect. will wait 1.5 weeks then get some outside opinions

Click to expand...

Awesome. I had a great response from people who tried it. I am going to have to do another batch for this summer.

I made a derivative of this a few weeks ago, and just tapped it today. For a 6 gallon batch:

10lb (91%) 2-row
1lb (9%) Crystal 10L
1.5oz (25 IBU) Willamette @ 60 min
US-05
Added 3.5oz of locally roasted whole beans in secondary for 1 week.

OG: 1.048
FG: 1.010

HOLY CRAP is this beer good! Thanks for steering me in the right direction!

Brewed a variant of this last night[1]. Decided on an all Vienna base malt. Also split the 20 minute addition in half and tossed the other half at 5 (I love late additions!)

I'm torn on what to do with the coffee. Many of you really liked the vanilla bean; I don't really like flavored coffee, so I'm thinking of just local roasted coffee. But I'm really intrigued about the vanilla/citrus mix.

I'll let you know how it comes out.

1. http://hoplauncher.woxford.com/2014/05/21/pale-coffee-beer/

I'm brewing my version again tomorrow, since it's probably the best beer I've ever made. This time I'm using the Organic Guatamalan medium roast from these guys: http://www.upnorthroast.com/Menu.html

Today I'm brewing a variant of the whatsleftofyou variant.

This is my third AG and #8 overall, also variant has a bit to do with using my supply of leftover hops, a semiwashed yeast(1450) and a whopping $15 bill to the brewshop.
I like the idea of a blonde coffee flavor. I love beer, I love coffee but I'm not and big lover of coffee porter-coffee stout, even in the winter.

Also I have yet to splurge for beersmith or the equiv but shall in time so please beer with me

My variant will go as such
5.5 gallon batch-7+ gallon boil,

10 lbs US Pale 2-Row
.5 lbs carapils
.5 lbs crystal(15L)

Hops plan is
.5 oz Simcoe at 60 min
1 oz MtHood at 20 min
whirflock at 15 min
1 oz Cascade at 0 min

Secondary at 10-14 days and add 4 oz whole vanilla coffee bean

Yes, IBU's a bit on the high side for a blonde. I'll report back on my success/failure.

I actually had to sub some carapils the last time I made it since I didn't have a full pound of C10. We'll see!

ne0t0ky0 said:

Brewed a variant of this last night[1]. Decided on an all Vienna base malt. Also split the 20 minute addition in half and tossed the other half at 5 (I love late additions!)

I'm torn on what to do with the coffee. Many of you really liked the vanilla bean; I don't really like flavored coffee, so I'm thinking of just local roasted coffee. But I'm really intrigued about the vanilla/citrus mix.

I'll let you know how it comes out.

1. http://hoplauncher.woxford.com/2014/05/21/pale-coffee-beer/

Click to expand...

Still carbing up in the keg, but man; I love coffee and I *love* this beer. I'm hoping that once it's fully carbed, I'll get a bit more head out of it; but I won't be surprised if it doesn't. I'm guessing the oils from the flavored coffee probably kill a bit of it.

I was surprised with the original description mentioned that most of the aroma hops were gone; but it's completely true. Before the coffee dry-hop; it had a much different nose, afterwards; all coffee.

Mine is much more amber color mostly to do base malt (vienna). Awesome mouthfeel, and a creamy, coffee flavor.

Awesome recipe, thanks!

I had no problem with head retention on my first batch. Second batch just hit the keg today, so we'll see.

this looks really good!!!

might be my next brew

My second batch with the grain substitution turned out awesome as well.

Just bottled my version.
Coffee beans were only in secondary for 4 days but stained the blonde, maybe this drops out?
Is there a way to make sure the whole beans don't stain the blonde ale?
I took a couple of tastes and definitely like where this beer is headed, taste wise, not sure I really care how the color ends up. Its still relatively light beer with a great coffee flavor. I'll revisit in a couple of weeks when the bottles have carbed.

I never had color issues with mine at any point in either of my batches, definitely <5 SRM, so I'm not sure what you've run into there.

I have to brew this for sure. What a great idea. What coffee beans did you use and do you think pellet hops for Columbus will matter?

whatsleftofyou said:

I never had color issues with mine at any point in either of my batches, definitely <5 SRM, so I'm not sure what you've run into there.

Click to expand...

I'm thinking the mega-grocery store(WINCO) bulk bin beans seemed a bit oily, I figured they were like hops(very astringent?) and just tossed them in, so I probably should have at least rinsed them? Still, really liking the flavor, looking forward to my finished product.

YellowRiver said:

I'm thinking the mega-grocery store(WINCO) bulk bin beans seemed a bit oily, I figured they were like hops(very astringent?) and just tossed them in, so I probably should have at least rinsed them? Still, really liking the flavor, looking forward to my finished product.

Click to expand...

Maybe. Both times I've used locally-roasted beans that were quite oily. Perhaps the beans were cracked so the pulp was in direct contact with the beer? Either way, it's great that you're happy with the outcome.

I am very green and this may be a silly question, but both US-05 and White Labs WLP001 California Ale are listed. Is this either-or, or are you supposed to mix these? Is that what makes this hybrid?
Thanks!

Dragon said:

I am very green and this may be a silly question, but both US-05 and White Labs WLP001 California Ale are listed. Is this either-or, or are you supposed to mix these? Is that what makes this hybrid?
Thanks!

Click to expand...

They are basically the same so use either one; i know from personal experience the US05 attenuates very, very well

Okay, good to know! Thank you!

Is that anticipated IBU of 60.3 a bit high for the blonde profile? You mentioned the coffee flavor takes over but I was just curious as I am trying to scale it down to a 5 gallon batch and didn't want to overdo the hops. Can't wait to try this one out!

Zzyzx3 said:

Is that anticipated IBU of 60.3 a bit high for the blonde profile?

Click to expand...

I thought the same thing. My version is only about 20 IBU with no late hops.. That's not to say it's better or worse though, since I haven't tried the original.

whatsleftofyou said:

I thought the same thing. My version is only about 20 IBU with no late hops.. That's not to say it's better or worse though, since I haven't tried the original.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I might scale it down a bit to help get in the IBU range of a typical Blonde. How did the Willamette turn out with the coffee? Do you think you would try another hop variety or stick with Willamette?

Since I only did a 60 minute addition of the Willamette there really isn't any hop character to speak of, just a bit of bitterness. I think that most any mid-alpha hop would work well.

whatsleftofyou said:

Since I only did a 60 minute addition of the Willamette there really isn't any hop character to speak of, just a bit of bitterness. I think that most any mid-alpha hop would work well.

Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for the info whatsleftofyou!

I thought I'd check in. This is my version. Great balance in flavors.
I'm thinking it's not the last time I brew it.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

ne0t0ky0 said:

Still carbing up in the keg, but man; I love coffee and I *love* this beer. I'm hoping that once it's fully carbed, I'll get a bit more head out of it; but I won't be surprised if it doesn't. I'm guessing the oils from the flavored coffee probably kill a bit of it.

I was surprised with the original description mentioned that most of the aroma hops were gone; but it's completely true. Before the coffee dry-hop; it had a much different nose, afterwards; all coffee.

Mine is much more amber color mostly to do base malt (vienna). Awesome mouthfeel, and a creamy, coffee flavor.

Awesome recipe, thanks!

View attachment 205932

Click to expand...

Your welcome. This is actually the 1st recipe I did that was a not a variation of someone elses recipe that I was proud enough to post.

Super good idea to 'dry hop' with coffee beans. I did the same thing but with an amber ale instead. Also substituted really good plain beans and vanilla extract because the flavored ones in town didn't smell great. Here's my recipe which turned out awesome, thanks for the idea: https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/vanilla-coffee-pale-ale

We have a fresh coffee roaster in town that I get my beans from. I use
3oz plain lighter beans
3 madagascar vanillia beans
4-5 oz bourbon

Slit open the vanilla throw it all in a ziplock on brewday , then once fermentation is almost over and pour it all in the fermenter for about 5 days.

i want to give this a shot. what temps are you mashing at and what temp is your sparge water

thanks

I mash at 152, but do no sparge BIAB.

I mash at about 151-152 and don't worry at all about the temp of my sparge water, often just sparging with cold water. That's a whole other topic, though.

Are you just throwing the coffee beans directly into the fermenter? or are you soaking them in vodka or something?

I just throw them right in.