Creme Brulee Stout

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I'm planning to tackle this brew tomorrow while smoking a nice 5-Vegas Cask Strength cigar :D My LHBS didn't have Belgian Black Malt, so I went with 2 lbs of Carafa III instead. The OG is estimated to be 1.112, with a final ABV of 11%. I'm also going to use turbinado sugar instead of white cane sugar. Fortunately Costco had a 2-vial pack of 10 vanilla beans for just over eleven bucks! I plan to split the batch into two 5-gallon fermenters with a 1/2-gallon starter of Wyeast 1028 into each. Hopefully the head space will keep the airlock clear. Wish me luck...I'm breaking in a new mash tun on this one. I'll post my results when they're in.
 
Good idea to use the two 5 gallon fermenters. I'll definately do it that way if I do something like this again. I lost a lot during the blow off from the initial fermentation.
 
I wasn't able to find Belgian Black Malt but did see that Black Patent is actually the same malt, it's just been renamed by... the guy that names malts? I have no idea. But it's supposed to be the same exact malt for anybody else looking to clone this recipe.
 
I know they list the ingredients on their site and all. But, I find this beer, Choklat, Mokah, and one other I can't remember to be too artificial in flavor. It is like the chocolate they add is not real chocolate. It tastes like the scratch and sniff stickers back in the day smelled. The only beer I really like from them is Pumking. I would like to hear how this turned out. It sounds like it will definitely be better than what ST is throwing out the doors.
 
I should have taken some pictures from brew day. I was using my friends mash tun which is a 10 gallon cooler from Home Depot with a braided hose on the bottom. My mash tun is a big coleman cooler with copper on the bottom and we had been debating on if one is better then the other, should we make a false bottom etc. and we used my my mash tun to brew up a 15 gallon batch of a northern brown ale, (which we split 2/3 and 1/3 ownership of the wort) so we used his to make my stout.

Right away I thought we were in trouble with a stuck mash. The wort was coming out like warm molasses, very slowly. Well, too late now just go with it. Did the rest of the brewing and when we went to siphon it into the fermenter it was also very slow... hm.. so I dunked my spoon and and just let it dribble off.. it really was like hot molasses! So it wasn't a problem with his cooler, just very thick wort. Pretty neat!

I'm 1 week in and my fermenter's airlock is still bubbling a little bit. Gonna give it another week in primary and then probably a few weeks in secondary... or at least until my Oatmeal Stout keg kicks! And then it's onto nitro powered stout faucet!!! So excited!
 
I brewed this labor-intensive beer last night. I agree with sniperd that this was a seriously thick mash...it lautered very, very slowly, but it all worked out in the end.

I usually boil-off about 1.25 gallons, but for some reason I started with 6.25 gallons pre-boil, and only 4.5 gallons went into the fermenters. I think maybe I'm just not used to using whole leaf hops...they seemed to soak up quite a bit more wort than I remember. My OG is 1.106...so I'm on track for a 10.5%-ish beer. I'm definitely glad I split the batch into two 5-gallon fermentors...fermentation started in only a couple hours and the krausen is gonna be massive!

For those of you who brewed this, did you get much of a vanilla aroma at all? I split & seeded three vanilla beans I bought from Costco and threw them in at flame-out, but never really got much vanilla aroma. I'll have to sample it in a month or so, and then maybe throw 2 or 3 more beans into secondary if the vanilla isn't a little more noticeable.

All said and done, I'm sure that even if this isn't a dead ringer for ST Creme Brulee, it'll be a solid beer anyway! Good luck to those of you who still plan to tackle this one. Oh...here's a little piece of advice I could've used: Start to caramelize the sugar BEFORE the lactose addition for better timing, and use a pan of low weight with a handle for pouring into the kettle. I also should've turned the flame off before adding the sugar...it didn't burn, but it tunred the wort into a temporary active lava pit during the addition! :mug:
 
Brewed this 2 days ago... I had boiling wort/sugar all over my arms, stove, shirt, pants and dog when I added the caramelized sugar... which hardens almost instantly and was a real mess. I'm assuming that I lost a few oz of the sugar when this happened. Also, my hydrometer broke right before I got a chance to take the SG... really everything that could go wrong with this brew did... hoping it still turns out. It is currently spewing out of the blowoff tube, so that's a good sign.
 
I brewed this one up with my buddy at the beginning of January. We brewed it just as the instructions stated as an extract partial boil and threw the lactose in at 10 min (We almost forgot as we were about 12 deep into a case of Yard's IPA). Our OG (at 5 gallons) ended up being 1.109.

I ended up making a 1.5L starter with a vial of WP002 and WP007 (the LHBS didnt have 2 vials of the recommended yeast). We oxygenated and then let it rip. It got all the way down to 1.028, which was surprising. By calculation that is about 10.7% ABV.

The beer is dangerously drinkable. The alcohol does not come through at all except for a gentle warming. I will say that I am a bit disappointed in the appearance of the beer though. It does not look like an imperial stout should. It looks more like a porter or maybe even a brown ale. I believe that this may be due to our lack of experience handling that many specialty grains/mini-mash at the beginning. All the more reason to jump to AG soon! The flavor/aroma had a heavy vanilla, but no where near the intensity of Southern Tier's beer.

Regardless, a very drinkable beer that I would like to get a second chance at. I would like to hear feedback on how the beer turned out for everyone
 
This weekend will mark two weeks in primary for this beer. I'm going to transfer it to secondary, hope for solid attenuation, give it a taste and evaluate the vanilla presence. Wish me luck...I'll report back on the two-week tasting notes after the weekend.
 
I brewed this recipe from BYO as well. I brewed the extract. I hit OG @ 1.100 and FG @ 1.036. It is currently in a keg carbing up. But i will be bottling it this weekend. Cant wait to try the first bottle, smells great!

During primary fermentation (64-65 F), i used a 3-piece airlock with no issues. Bubbled away consistently for about a week, then I transferred to my secondary. I was surprised to find an inch of yeast at the bottom of my primary. I was impressed i've never seen so much.
 
Just transferred to secondary...the hydrometer reading looks like the FG is 1.033. The OG was 1.106, so it's right around 10% ABV. My wife and I just sampled the hydrometer remnants. Let me begin by saying she's my biggest critic when it comes to brewing...she LOVED it and claimed that once kegged it won't last long. I don't get the overwhelming ST Creme Brulee vanilla aroma, but I'm okay with that. It smells amazing after only two weeks in primary and I'm confident it's going to be a solid beer! I'll be sure and come back in about three weeks once it's kegged and carbed to give another update. Happy brewing! :mug:
 
I've got my kegged up, but my FG was only about 1040 :(. However I'm just leaving it in the keg for a bit (hopefully drop in gravity) and will chill it in a few weeks (actually whenever my Oatmeal Stout kicks I'll hook it up.) I going to be running it on nitro through my Stout tap so it will be in interesting to see if it strips the aroma or enhances it, or .. does something.. It sure did smell good going into the keg though!
 
sniperd said:
I've got my kegged up, but my FG was only about 1040 :(. However I'm just leaving it in the keg for a bit (hopefully drop in gravity) and will chill it in a few weeks (actually whenever my Oatmeal Stout kicks I'll hook it up.) I going to be running it on nitro through my Stout tap so it will be in interesting to see if it strips the aroma or enhances it, or .. does something.. It sure did smell good going into the keg though!

Definantly let us know how it its on nitro
 
I'm kegging mine tomorrow...I threw in 2 vanilla beans five days ago, and it smells amazing! I'll be sure and check back with tasting notes in 1-2 weeks.
 
Well, it's kegged up and I've had a taste. I think I screwed something up on the cardamom, since it tastes like cardamom stout. It's also a bit on the sweet side. I have a few guess on what I did wrong.

I used fresh cardamom and ground it myself, that may have made it too fine. Perhaps I should have just used to seeds and filtered

I don't think I hit my FG, it seems too sweet and syrup like. I did make a starter but maybe I needed to let it sit longer in the fermenters.

So, if I were to do this again I would go much lighter on the spice, and perhaps use vanilla extract instead (I know.. but I can't even taste it from the beans I put in). I think the rest of it over powered the vanilla and it just faded away.

It's not a dump beer but it's not what I expected. Hopefully it was just mine that way haywire. How did everybody else's come out?
 
OK..First off, I've never tried the Southern Tier, but love creme brule. Would like to try something like this. That being said, would adding some vanilla extract to the bottling bucket bring out more vanilla flavor. Also, instead of the carmelized sugar, what about throwing a handful of caramels (like the kraft caramels used for caramel apples) in instead. Just thinking out loud here.
 
Also, instead of the carmelized sugar, what about throwing a handful of caramels (like the kraft caramels used for caramel apples) in instead. Just thinking out loud here.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E1DSL8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I think you'd want to be careful of adding things that are going to make your beer taste artificial. The ingredient list doesn't really make me have faith that it is going to lend the same delicate flavor as just plain caramelized sugar.

Ingredients
Corn syrup, sugar, skim milk, palm oil, whey (from milk), salt, artificial flavor, soy lecithin.
 
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I brewed this MONSTER yesterday....I wanted to rename it Jaws....when I mashed in the first thing I thought was...we're gonna need a bigger mash tun :D

I modified the recipe slightly and my efficiency was alot higher than I anticipated. Recipe is below. Adding the caramelized sugar to the boil was simply put, cool as hell. Fermenting like crazy right now at 68°.

My only issue with this recipe is that nothing is added to the secondary or keg for aroma. That beer has such a HUGE nose I can't imagine it all comes from kettle additions, but time will tell.

Prost!

:mug:

BYO-Creme Brulee Imperial Stout
Type: All Grain Date: 3/10/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.50 gal

Ingredients

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
19 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 74.9 %
2 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 5 7.9 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 6 5.9 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 7 5.9 %
12.0 oz Cane (Beet) Sugar (0.0 SRM) Sugar 8 3.0 %
10.0 oz Lactose-add at 10 minutes (0.0 SRM) Sugar 9 2.5 %
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 10 26.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 11 18.8 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 30.0 mins) Fining 12 -
3.00 Items Vanilla Bean-Halved/scraped (Boil 0.0 mins) Spice 13 -
1.00 tsp cardamom (Boil 0.0 mins) Spice 14 -
2.0 pkg Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) 2100ML Starter-

Beer Profile

Measured Original Gravity: 1.112 :rockin:
Bitterness: 45.1 IBUs
Est Color: 38.4 SRM

Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out Total
Grain Weight: 25 lbs 6.0 oz

Mash In Add 7.50 gal of water at 170.7 F 155.0 F 90 min

**Left me about 1 inch to top of my mash tun :eek:

Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.62gal, 3.70gal) of 168.0 F water

120 Minute Boil

SUGAR NOTE: 10 ozs table sugar used for pan caramelazation.

1 Oz. Each of table & corn sugar bruleed the day before, to be added at 15min.

Caramelized white cane sugar - place sugar in sauce pan over medium heat. stir constantly until it turns to a thick liquid and becomes a medium amber color. Add to wort before hardening with 2 minutes left in boil. **Caution when adding to kettle, but boil reaction is very cool to see **

Cardamom & vanilla beans added to flame out..remove vanilla beans when temp is dropped prior to final whirlpool and cover

Lots of O2 and pitched yeast
 
I would assume that vanilla and/or vanilla beans could be added into secondary to give it the nose your looking for.
 
I brewed this MONSTER yesterday....I wanted to rename it Jaws....when I mashed in the first thing I thought was...we're gonna need a bigger mash tun :D

What size mash tun did you use? I have a 10gal Igloo and at most, I seem to be able to fit 15 lbs of grain.
 
What size mash tun did you use? I have a 10gal Igloo and at most, I seem to be able to fit 15 lbs of grain.


I have a 10 Gallon also....this would be the max you fit :D

Creme Brulee Mash.jpg
 
Hah, fair enough...

I think I need to get one of the Home Depot ones. The Igloo one I have, has a lid that goes inside the mash tun, vs. the screw on that goes on the outside.
 
I would assume that vanilla and/or vanilla beans could be added into secondary to give it the nose your looking for.

It's a little more complex than vanilla....but perhaps the Cardamom and caramelized sugars will carry through and not get blown off in primary...can't wait to see how it turns out.
 
Mine has been on gas for 2 weeks now. I sampled it after primary and wasn't happy with the lack of vanilla aroma. I added 2 vanilla beans to secondary for a week (split, but seeds left inside). It has too much vanilla now! I'm hoping it'll fade over time. It's taking a while to carb also...must be the 10%!
 
Mine has been on gas for 2 weeks now. I sampled it after primary and wasn't happy with the lack of vanilla aroma. I added 2 vanilla beans to secondary for a week (split, but seeds left inside). It has too much vanilla now! I'm hoping it'll fade over time. It's taking a while to carb also...must be the 10%!

Noted and appreciate it. If needed I will go with one and sample daily. The vanilla will meld after a while....I killed a stout once with a huge amount and it eventually came around.
 
Anyone have updates on how these turned out?

Also, can anyone help me convert this to an extract version?
 
mpenn35 said:
Anyone have updates on how these turned out?

Also, can anyone help me convert this to an extract version?

Mine was infected....I had never had an infected beer and I guess I got lazy. Drain poured it last week, it still hurts. I will put up the extract version when I get home tonight unless someone else beats me to it.
 
The original recipe in the December 2011 issue of BYO was for 5 gallons, using a partial boil; extract with grains.

9.9 lbs. LME
0.5 lbs. DME
1.5 lbs. 2-row pale malt
1.5 lbs. flaked barley
1.5 lbs. Belgian black malt
10 oz. lactose
12 oz. caramelized white cane sugar
14.5 AAU Columbus (1 oz. 14.5% AA pellets @ 60 min.)
9.2 AAU Chinook (.75 oz. 12.3% AA pellets @ 30 min.)
1/2 tsp. Irish moss @ 30 min.
1/2 tsp. yeast nutrient @ 5 min.
1 tsp. cardamom powder @ flame out
3 vanilla beans, split and seeds removed, added @ flame out, then removed after a 20 minute rest

Crushed grains are steeped for 30 min @ 155F.

WLP007 (Dry English Ale) or WY1028 (London Ale)
 
The original recipe in the December 2011 issue of BYO was for 5 gallons, using a partial boil; extract with grains.

9.9 lbs. LME
0.5 lbs. DME

Sorry for another question, but what kind of extract would be best? Light? Dark? I've never had the Southern Tier version, so I'm not sure exactly what it tastes like. This was a request from the girlfriend. I'll probably scale it down to a 2.5 gallon batch though.
 
Sorry for another question, but what kind of extract would be best? Light? Dark? I've never had the Southern Tier version, so I'm not sure exactly what it tastes like. This was a request from the girlfriend. I'll probably scale it down to a 2.5 gallon batch though.

I just noticed the recipe specifies light LME. The quantity of DME is so small in the scheme of things that it probably doesn't matter what you go with there. The black malt is going to impart most of the color.
 
steelersrbrun - why is your receipe different than the first page? You added marris otter? I want to brew this but want more opinions on how it turned out for others, $60 worth of ingredients is a good amount of cash!!

Thanks
Justin
 
steelersrbrun - why is your receipe different than the first page? You added marris otter? I want to brew this but want more opinions on how it turned out for others, $60 worth of ingredients is a good amount of cash!!

Thanks
Justin

Because I am a homebrewer and I can :D I had the marris otter on hand and thought it might give a little more depth on the malt bill. I am still bummed about this beer having to be drain poured. It is an expensive brew but a great brewing experience and good way to test the limits of your system. If you think about it on a cost perspective it beats buying 5 gallons of the real thing. :mug:
 
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