Vanilla Extract in Southern Tier Creme Brulee

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McMalty

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I'm trying to clone ST-CB. I've got it in the secondary right now. I don't want to ruin the brew by putting some low-grade vanilla extract in it or putting too much in it.

I was planning on adding 4 oz of Madagascar vanilla extract, but i'm starting to have second thoughts, i want it to be perfect, it was a hell of a time brewing this monster and i don't want to ruin it.

I've heard that they use extremely concentrated vanilla extract made by "Bells"(?) I can't find that on the web anywhere. Does anyone know for sure what they use? Is it "Bells"? Am i spelling it correctly? If so, does anyone know where I can get it?
 
When it comes to vanilla extract, there is what they call 2 fold and 4 fold. 4 fold would be a 4x concentrated extract. there is stuff up to 20 fold but that is very hard to find.
generally the issue with most extract is that they are extracted with crap alcohol (read stuff you wouldn't drink.) so 4 oz of extract means 4 oz of ethyl alcohol in your brew. if u look on ebay you may find some 4 fold.

Another solution is to get real vanilla beans sterilize and dump in the beer. Or you can make your own extract by buying vanilla beans which means you can add GOOD alcohol to extract and seek to concentrate more vanillin in the mix. the problem with that is time. You need a good 2 months to get strong extracts and about 20 beans in a fifth of vodka or whatever. the more beans and less alcohol the faster it goes and the stronger the extract. if you had to, you could do some in 2-3 weeks, but you'd have to dial the dosage of beans.. Good news is that you can refill and get extract for 1 year+

my suggestion get real beans, open lengthwise and spread open so the caviar is exposed and drop that in the beer. if you're concerned about keeping it sterile place them in alcohol for a day or two.

Different beans have different properties. Madagascar bourbon is perhaps the most reputed, mexican is high quality, tahitensis is another variety more floral (base of many perfumes) and more subtle - tahitensis can be found from Papua New Guinea and Tahiti.

if you need help finding beans lemme know. I have 400 atm ;-)
 
BTW - on a side note, would love to get the recipe for Creme Brulee. I only have one left and that's a great dessert beer.
 
That is an epic beer. As I live in TX, I have no access to it except for when I visit family up north. I'd be interested to see your recipe, as I'll probably work on recreating it at some point in the future.
 
yeah, i have a couple of beans but i prefer to use extract b/c i'm impatient and i figured a high quality extract would be better than anything i could make anyway. I know that the extract they use is really thick, like syrup, any idea what "fold" something like that is?

Epic, great? CB is INSANE, first sip was a life changing experience. I've spent years and so much effort trying to make a beer taste this unique.

.....I'm basically just using the ingredients listed on the bottle, my recipe surely won't be as good as theirs, but with a brew this big, it's bound to be a something significant. If it turns out to be anything like CB, i'll certainly tell you how i did it. At $9/bottle, i had to try to brew my own or take out a home equity loan to keep a steady supply. It's too bad you guys can't get it down in TX.

my og hit 1114 and my sg got down to 1034. i took a sip before racking into the secondary and it warmed my throat......so, it's pretty damn strong. It's gonna need a fair amount of conditioning though. I just want to figure out the right infusion of vanilla. So if anyone knows of a super-concentrated syrupy vanilla extract, i'm interested.
 
Gunfighter.....seriously, could you go look in their dumpster for me? Or at least take a brewery tour and try to catch some of the details.....maybe flash a few pics
 
I've been meaning to do the brewery tour for a while. I'll see if SWMBO will give me a break from my chores on Sat and run up.
 
yeah, i have a couple of beans but i prefer to use extract b/c i'm impatient and i figured a high quality extract would be better than anything i could make anyway. I know that the extract they use is really thick, like syrup, any idea what "fold" something like that is?

Epic, great? CB is INSANE, first sip was a life changing experience. I've spent years and so much effort trying to make a beer taste this unique.

.....I'm basically just using the ingredients listed on the bottle, my recipe surely won't be as good as theirs, but with a brew this big, it's bound to be a something significant. If it turns out to be anything like CB, i'll certainly tell you how i did it. At $9/bottle, i had to try to brew my own or take out a home equity loan to keep a steady supply. It's too bad you guys can't get it down in TX.

my og hit 1114 and my sg got down to 1034. i took a sip before racking into the secondary and it warmed my throat......so, it's pretty damn strong. It's gonna need a fair amount of conditioning though. I just want to figure out the right infusion of vanilla. So if anyone knows of a super-concentrated syrupy vanilla extract, i'm interested.

McMalty,
I know i am getting this post going this after 7 months, but wanted to see how the ST CB turned out and any updates. Gotta love the search window!! Did you find the extract you were looking for or any other updates? Thanks!
 
dustinp said:
McMalty,
I know i am getting this post going this after 7 months, but wanted to see how the ST CB turned out and any updates. Gotta love the search window!! Did you find the extract you were looking for or any other updates? Thanks!

Sadly, it didnt carbonate very well, at least not yet. Also, its thicker than expected. Also very sweet. Next time I will work on getting the gravity lower. If nothing else, its gonna be perfect for beer shakes
 
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