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.

skagit991 said:

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

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

Sub'd

skagit991 said:

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?

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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.

Stauffbier said:

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

Click to expand...

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..

pinback said:

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..

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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.

Brewenc said:

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.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm looking forward to trying this!

CidahMastah said:

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.

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My sentiments as well...

I'm planning to brew this soon so it's ready for my wife's birthday in June!

Another recipe for my "must brew" list

Mine is going in the keg tomorrow! My OG was 1.090! I made my first starter for this beer. 2 vials in a 1000ml and that was too much! After 3 hours it butsted out everywhere. I will let you know tomorrow on how it tastes!

I had the same thing happen with mine. Luckily in a moment of clarity I put it in the shower of my basement bathroom after I pitched the starter. It contained most of the explosion. I usually put my fermenters under my bar. That would have been a disaster.

Can anyone post the amount of hops for each addition?

Brewenc said:

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.

Click to expand...

Are all those numbers right? 17.5 Lbs of 2-row? 14.5 oz of Columbus?

Brickout said:

Are all those numbers right? 17.5 Lbs of 2-row? 14.5 oz of Columbus?

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For a big beer like that I would say 17.5 lbs of 2 row is right. It's not 14.5 oz it's 14.5 alpha acid units.. You have to convert that to ounces..

Ah, O K. Makes sense now. I didn't see that this was an imperial stout or the part about AAU's.

To bad this is an imperial. This really sounded tasty, but I don't like the high ABV. I wonder if this could be modified?

Brickout said:

Ah, O K. Makes sense now. I didn't see that this was an imperial stout or the part about AAU's.

To bad this is an imperial. This really sounded tasty, but I don't like the high ABV. I wonder if this could be modified?

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I don't see why not.. Just a grain adjustment. I'm sure you could plug it into a recipe calculator and just keep the vanilla, cane sugar (maybe a bit less of this), lactose and cardamom and get a lower abv and similar in character..

I would just back off some 2row to get it to non imperial status. As long as you do that within reason I don't see why it wouldn't be pretty darn close.

Brewenc said:

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


12 oz Carmalized Cane Sugar (last 2 min.)

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I think I'm going to try this w/ Dark Belgian Candi Syrup instead.

I'm assuming the lactose is added during the last 10-minutes of the boil?

MoeFoties said:

I'm assuming the lactose is added during the last 10-minutes of the boil?

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That is what I do for other cream stouts, so that is what I would do.

So I messed around with this in Beersmith so get the ABV down. The exact ingredients were not in Beersmith, so I had to do some substitutions. Here's what I came up with. I'm not to sure about the hop amounts. Tell me what you think.

Ingredients:
------------

9 lbs 4.0 oz - Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs 4.0 oz - Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)
1 lbs 4.0 oz - Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)
0.72 oz - Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 60. Hop 31.7 IBUs
0.42 oz - Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 13.2 IBUs
0.50 tsp - Irish Moss (Boil 30.0 mins)
10.00 oz - Milk Sugar (Lactose) (Boil 15.0 mins)
8.0 oz - Candi Sugar, Dark (Boil 15.0 mins)
3.00 Items - Vanilla Beans (Boil 0.0 mins)
1.00 tsp - Cardamom powder (Boil 0.0 mins)
1.0 pkg - Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007)

Est. OG 1.062
Est. FG 1.015
Est ABV 6.2%

According to the Southern Tier web site, they use Horizon, not Chinook.

southern tier brewing company

PLEASE NOTE: This is a Milk Stout. Lactose sugar is added and is present in the product.
We are not the harbingers of truth as some may suggest but it may indeed be argued that our brewing philosophy is tantamount to a dessert with a bellicose past. How, you may ask, would a brewery determine a likeness to hard-coated custard? Our response is simple; it’s all in the power of history, and of course, the extra finesse needed to top off a contentious treat with definition.

By comprehending the labyrinthine movement of time, one would not think it strange to trace the errant path of an ordinary object such as a cream dessert only to discover that it has been the cause of cultural disputes since the middle ages. The British founders of burnt cream and from Spain, crema catalana, both stand by their creative originality and we respect that, but it was the French Crème Brûlée, amid the strife of contention, that survived to represent our deliciously creamy brew.
9.6% abv • 195º L • 25º plato • 22 oz / 1/6 keg

2-row pale malt / dark caramel malt / vanilla bean / lactose sugar / kettle hops: columbus / aroma hops: horizon

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Brickout said:

So I messed around with this in Beersmith so get the ABV down. The exact ingredients were not in Beersmith, so I had to do some substitutions. Here's what I came up with. I'm not to sure about the hop amounts. Tell me what you think.

Ingredients:
------------

9 lbs 4.0 oz - Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs 4.0 oz - Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)
1 lbs 4.0 oz - Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)
0.72 oz - Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 60. Hop 31.7 IBUs
0.42 oz - Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 13.2 IBUs
0.50 tsp - Irish Moss (Boil 30.0 mins)
10.00 oz - Milk Sugar (Lactose) (Boil 15.0 mins)
8.0 oz - Candi Sugar, Dark (Boil 15.0 mins)
3.00 Items - Vanilla Beans (Boil 0.0 mins)
1.00 tsp - Cardamom powder (Boil 0.0 mins)
1.0 pkg - Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007)

Est. OG 1.062
Est. FG 1.015
Est ABV 6.2%

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If I were you I would only reduce the 2 row to get the ABV down and leave everything else as is. This is a very rich beer and I would assume it needs all the specialty grains, caramelized sugar etc. to achieve that richness and for the "brule" part of the beer. though it is interesting their website doesn't list this as an ingredient.

I have never brewed this recipe so take that for what it is worth. However I have had this beer.


ao125 I was surprised to see this somewhat complicated recipe too. When I saw the ST website and was planning to brew a clone, my thought had been to shoot for a cream stout heavy on the body side and tag on the vanilla in copious amounts (maybe use C80 or C120). The carmalized sugar, while probably a good addition, was not mentioned on their site. However in the thread's recipe there is no dark caramel malt even though it is listed on southern tier's site... So poetic license to switch it out I suppose.

If only there was a clone recipe out there for Williamsburg AleWerks' Rapadou Porter.

I think this is about what I'm looking at:
Hopville . "Vanilla Stout" Sweet Stout Recipe

ao125 said:

I think this is about what I'm looking at:
Hopville . "Vanilla Stout" Sweet Stout Recipe

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You might want to go for the amber syrup belgian candy or simplicity syrup 45 instead for the carmel flavor. OR perhaps add some C80 or c120 and skip the syrup. The d2 belgian candy/180 simplicty syrup is really tasty, but it is more dark chocolatey and dark fruit than caramel. I didn't get those flavors from the southern tier.

IMO the southern tier was sweet, lots of vanilla and the lactose was prevalent too. For me it calling it a creme brulee was a push (since creme brulee is essentially custard with the burnt sugar on top, I got no custard flavor), but i definitely got a caramel notes and plenty of vanilla. Let's face it though, creme brulee stout is way cooler sounding that "burned sugar stout"

CidahMastah said:

You might want to go for the amber syrup belgian candy or simplicity syrup 45 instead for the carmel flavor.

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Noted. I'll adjust when I get home - for some reason, my work firewall won't let me delete recipe ingredients from Hopville, just add them.

Thanks

Watch it on this, I had Southern Tier's version and it was way too sweet. Nobody in my family could drink more than a few sips, and half the bottle got tossed.

You almost need to a call a dentist immediately after drinking their version. The flavor was great, but damn was it really sugary sweet!

I'll gladly share it if you don't have access to the december issue of BYO

Yes, my fermentation went crazy. Put a 1" blow off hose on it and it spewed foam for nearly 2 days. I think I lost more than 1/2 gallon of beer in the process. The little yeasties were happy!

I have this issue of BYO and will be making it next weekend. I see that it states, 1 oz of Columbus hops, yet in the in the AG version (which I'll be doing) it states "reduce the 60 minute hop addtion to 1.25 oz columbus hops". Is that supposed to be "increase" or is it a type-o and they flipped the amounts?

Well I racked my brew to the secondary yesterday. I lost nearly 3/4 gallon in the explosion of fermentation that happened in the first two days.

This is my first High Gravity beer and I am wondering how long I should keep it in the secondary? Also, is it necessary to add more yeast before bottling a beer like this?

I just brewed this on Saturday and hit the OG 1.106 exactly. It says in the magazine that you only let it need ferment for 2 weeks and then just a bit on the bottle, I find that odd. I'm planning on 2 weeks primary and then a few more in secondary and then I'm chucking it into a keg and will be dispensing on nitro.

If I were bottling it I would be concerned about having to pitch yeast before bottling, this is also my highest gravity beer, my previous was 1.065 or so. I would.... keg it!

I brewed this same beer last weekend! Will keg soon.

I need a keg