Vanilla Caramel Milk Ale

...is the official name of my beer. Just wondering how many of you have made it and what you all thought.

well its on deck to do again if that answers your question

good brew

Yup, I'm consuming it now

I made it and I'm the only person alive who can't stand it. I used 1/2 the vanilla in the recipe while bottling, but it's still way too much vanilla for me. I like the color, the smell, the texture, the mouthfeel. But the vanilla is too much. Maybe I'll make it again with no vanilla, or at least just a little in the primary.

I'm giving it away, and others seem to like it. In fact, one of my friends just LOVES it. Her first words were, "MMMMMM" when she tasted it.

Lorena

we made it.. and just bottled it yesterday...im looking forward to trying it ..

it was a bit bitter but i could taste the vanilla in it.. of course it was flat and room temperature.. lol..

is the bitter from the caramel malt?

i only used 1 oz vanilla in the primary and thought it was just right

Lorena,

How long has it been since you bottled it? I had kegged it 3 weeks after brewing it. 2 weeks in the keg, I took it to a party. It was very very sweet. 1 week later & it's a totally different beer.

I don't like vanilla as a primary flavor (not even in ice cream), so I didn't try it. When I use vanilla in a chocolate ale, I use about a teaspoon in five gallons.

I have mad this beer and can say that everyone that has tried it liked it. I intend to make this again when I start kegging. I took this to my local Homebrew club and the most common compliment was that "it doesn't even taste like beer", I hope that is a good thing.

Jason

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback, even the negative feedback. I'm just happy that the majority seem to like it, and I feel bad that those who didn't like it wasted their time and money.

Yes, I made it - I'm tapping the keg Thursday. So far, so good...except for an exceedingly long lag time. Tasted fine throughout. I'll let you know how it tastes in a couple of days!

cheesefood you homo!!!!brewing is NEVER a waste of time or money!!!!! only an experiance to chalk up for the books.. LOL
I cant wait to try it!!!
Lorane send me a couple of bottles I will return the favor.
JJ

My batch was great! I brewed it back in February and drank the last bottle about the middle of July. This beer is great, especially with some age on it. If you can find a little patience try tucking a few bottles away for five or six months, you won't be sorry!

BT

It's on-deck for me. I'm looking forward to it

BootYtRappeR said:

My batch was great! I brewed it back in February and drank the last bottle about the middle of July. This beer is great, especially with some age on it. If you can find a little patience try tucking a few bottles away for five or six months, you won't be sorry!

BT

Click to expand...

my edit button is not working for some reason

I wanted to list my differences to cheeses' recipe.

I used half of the lactose, half of the vanilla extract and used an Irish ale yeast.

Cheesefood- it's not a waste of time or money! I'm glad I made it and I learned from the experience. I like all the ingredients and color, etc. It's the vanilla that's got me. And I never said anything bad about it before because others have loved it. I think it's just me. But I also don't really care for other beers that have "flavors", like Hefe weizen. I thought I would like the vanilla. Maybe it's the vanilla I used- vanilla I bought in Mexico. It could be too strong-flavored or something.

I bottled it quite a while ago- July 15 after starting it on 6/27. I just checked my notes and I used 1 oz in bottling. The rest of the recipe I followed exactly.

I have some 16 oz Grolsch bottles of it left- I'll check and see how many I have and I'd be up for a beer swap.

PM me if anyone wants to swap some.

Lorena

I actually just brewed this over the weekend. All I had in the house was 2 oz. of vanilla, so that's what I used. Not sure how much I'll end up putting in when I bottle.

My modification to the recipe was accidental - I dumped in a full ounce of Saaz hops at 20 minutes instead of just the half ounce you used. I realized my mistake about a minute later, so I was able to remove some of the residue before the pellets dispersed.

This was also the first time I used a starter, and the fermenter is bubbling away and smells pretty good. Can't wait to give this a try!

mine is in secondary now - racked after 10 days and it has formed a new krausen
so i guess i racked too soon.
i was short of 5 gallons after the boil and had no pre-boiled water to add so my starting gravity was 1.071.
smells great and looks good - will let you know in two weeks when i go to bottle
edit aug29 -still a little krausen in secondary - checked the gravity and it is down to 1.014 which equals 7.3%
tasted good for flat warm beer - will let sit for 2 more weeks then add the final lactose and vanilla and bottle

I have mine in the secondary, so I am about a 4 weeks out.
I only added half the vanilla. A tasting of the wort confirmed that, for my tastes, even half may be too much. This is really is a dessert beer for me and I'm hoping it will really round out what I able to serve.

I've decided to go light on the carbonation and use this batch to christen my newly acquired nitrogen system. I think that the mouth feel and the creamy head will be a good match. Besides, I can get the kinks out for the following batch, a Guiness clone.

I'll keep you posted, Cheese and will provide photos.

Edit for clarity.

Mines in the secondary...getting ready to bottle. Smells great. I to am concerned about all that vanilla...so I might not add to terribly much at bottling. Probably 1/2-3/4 as much lactose as well.

lorenae said:

I think it's just me.

Click to expand...

You're not. This was the first batch I dumped. I just never got over how strong the vanilla was. If I ever do anything with vanilla again I will not use more then 2oz.

You dumped it? Why?

A. From all accounts, the vanilla mellows significantly with age.

B. I'm sure you could have arranged several trades to acquire brews more to your liking.

Yea, I heard vanilla mellows out in a few weeks. I let it age around 2 months, but I still did not like it enough to drink it. I do have a few that I bottled, so I will probably crack one open sometime soon, just to see what I think.

I'd like to propose an "Ask before you dump" policy here. It's a great way to get a beerswap going. Even if both suck, you can put up funny commentaries about how much they sucked.

With that, I have scotch ale up for trade. Will take anything, including bottles of Miller Lite. A lot of it is flat (probably) and it's a bit too bold for me. It's the equivalent of a cup of 8:30 coffee come 10:30.

You wanna try a mocha stout? That'll be coming in four weeks or so. My unintentional bastardization of Walker's IPA will be ready in three. Or, I could pick up a bomber or two of something local.

I also have a very disappointing raspberry-maple red that needed

A. Some lactose or malto-dextrine or something for some body
B. More hops; damn thing hardly tastes like beer.

I'm thinking the maple fermented too completely, leaving it a bit light (I also used the full amount of priming sugar when I lost a lot of brew to the trub, making it a little too carbonated).

If I send you something good, though, you've got to send me a bottle of the Vanilla as well so I can find out if I like it (from the source) before I brew it.

In my opinion, this is one of the best beers I have had the pleasure of brewing to date. I have always liked beers like Belgian wit's, Lambic, Scotch ale's, etc., things that were different from the every day, or easily accessed, beer that was always around. I brewed an all grain version of Cheesefood's first recipe and after more than a month in the keg, the beer has lost much of the up front vanilla flavor. The flavor is there but is no longer over the top (way to much). It is just right with the carbonation level and temperature that I prefer to drink my beer at. Now the aroma is a different story, it is heavenly (again just my opinion) and can be smelled from a fair distance. If I had to relate the smell to something, I would say that is very close to those old fashion Cream soda's that I used to get when I was a kid. Man I used to love those. I will brew this many more times, but want to experiment with all the brew styles.

Thanks again for the fabulous beer Cheese.

Have most people made version 1? Version 2 seems less milky and more hoppy. It is going to be my next brew. It is not too sweet, I hope.

I have this one on deck to try next, but I think I'll go with half the vanilla to be safe. One comment though - there are different types of vanilla. I got some in Mexico a couple years ago that seemed too bitter and I ended up throwing it out.

Didn't Lorena say that the vanilla she used was from Mexico? I wonder if that could be the issue she had (although she did say that a lot of other people loved the brew, so maybe not...)

usually the stuff you get in Mexico is really good vanilla.......usually

I used the 16oz bottle of Bourbon Vanilla from Costco ($6.95). Worked fine for v2.

I wish I had more to share. I sent Jaybird my second to last bottle. I have one left that I'm saving for myself. I'll probably need to brew some more up.

Regarding Mexican Vanilla.

Please read this.

http://www.vanilla.com/html/facts-mexican.html

I guess the key to this beer is to know your vanilla and know how much to add to get the taste right. With the wide variety available, it's almost impossible to prescribe the perfect amount. I'm into strong flavors and the amount I used was perfect in v1.0 and 2.0.

I'm still flabbergasted at the interest in this recipe. I know this thread strokes my own ego, but damn it's cool to know that I thought up something that people like. A lot of you know the feeling. It's a great feeling to create a hit.

I'm wasted and babbling. Surprised?

Gotta Love this hobby its endless and very rewarding in so many ways. blah blah blah you get to make $%^@ you can get SLAMMED on how fkn killer is that
JJ

To paraphrase Comic Book Guy, "Best hobby ever".

I told myself...no brew tonight. Worked ok until I got to the recipe section. Sipping some of my SNPA clone now. GaahhH!!! Just tastes to good.

olllllo said:

Regarding Mexican Vanilla.

Please read this.

http://www.vanilla.com/html/facts-mexican.html

Click to expand...

Wow, I didn't know that. I also used what I thought was pure vanilla from Mexico. It was crystal clear though, so apparently not...

I think this is awesome that so many people have brewed the same recipe. Have you entered this in a competition, Cheese?

No, I haven't entered it but I'm curious to do it. I'm afraid the judges will not be as tolerant with the vanilla taste as I am. But screw them, they're a bunch of drunk hippies. I know what I like and that's all that matters.

With that said, I think I'm going to brew up a batch soon.

I got the recipe from the original thread, and I didn't notice a version 1 and a version 2 - just saw the one version. What's the difference between the two recipes? Just curious which "version" I made