Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer None More Black Vanilla Stout

Just bottled my adaptation of this, I see it as a staple going forward!

Kegged last Thurs nite, sat at about 28psi until last night. Couldn't wait any longer. Poured a pint to about 1" from the top and let the head form from underneath. Extremely nice!

Just bottled this bad boy last night. Had a little uncarbed sample and it was great. Can't wait to pour one in a glass!

I brewed a batch of this yesterday, but my oven won't go below 170, so that's what I steeped the grains at for 35min. Was that too hot? It didn't smell burnt or anything, but I'm not sure what changes take place during steeping. Everything else went well (well, except for that minor boilover, but it was just a splash) and it's bubbling happily in the fermenter, I just don't want to bottle it and have to wait six months before it mellows enough to become drinkable.

DoctorMemory said:

I brewed a batch of this yesterday, but my oven won't go below 170, so that's what I steeped the grains at for 35min. Was that too hot? It didn't smell burnt or anything, but I'm not sure what changes take place during steeping. Everything else went well (well, except for that minor boilover, but it was just a splash) and it's bubbling happily in the fermenter, I just don't want to bottle it and have to wait six months before it mellows enough to become drinkable.

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Curious as to why you use the oven to steep grains?

When I do it I just get the water to temp and turn off the burner and steep.

No ill effects that I have noticed.

Hulud said:

Curious as to why you use the oven to steep grains?

When I do it I just get the water to temp and turn off the burner and steep.

No ill effects that I have noticed.

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I assumed that the temp had to remain constant during the steeping. I wasn't confident in my ability to keep a constant temp on the stove, so I thought I would use the oven. Do you use a heavy enough pot that you don't get a significant temperature drop, or is it just not that big of a deal?

DoctorMemory said:

I assumed that the temp had to remain constant during the steeping. I wasn't confident in my ability to keep a constant temp on the stove, so I thought I would use the oven. Do you use a heavy enough pot that you don't get a significant temperature drop, or is it just not that big of a deal?

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I was curious about you using the oven too but I see what you're saying. And yes, you want to keep the temp steady unless you are doing a stepped steep.

No, I do not use real heavy pots. Actually, my current favorite is an aluminum one.

When I use my turkey burner, I leave the pot on the burner to steep, TURN OFF THE BURNER, and wrap it in a heavy blanket. On a calm day I usually don't have more than a degree or two of drop if any at all. On the blustery days, when the temp starts to drop, I unwrap the blanket, crank on the burner for a couple minutes until up to temp, shut off burner and re-wrap blanket.

When i used the stove, I would leave the pot on the stove and just turn the burner back on if it started to cool off too much. You might be surprised at how much heat it will hold for how long. But if you have an electric stove, you have to be ahead of the power curve because it takes a bit for the burner to heat up enough to actually transfer heat to the pot. With the turkey burner, I could let temp drop two degrees and have it back up in just a minute or two. On the electric stove, that same two degree drop might take 15 or 20 minutes to overcome.

At one time, I had a very crappy electric stove and it took 3 hours on high to bring a 15quart partial mash to boil. Came out great but very dark (caramelized) from the extended heat. That one, I had to leave the burner on the entire steep but did reduce it to medium/medium low.

DoctorMemory said:

I assumed that the temp had to remain constant during the steeping. I wasn't confident in my ability to keep a constant temp on the stove, so I thought I would use the oven. Do you use a heavy enough pot that you don't get a significant temperature drop, or is it just not that big of a deal?

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Personally I don't feel it's that big of a deal. But I do wrap in towels and for the 20 mins it may drop a couple degrees but nothing to major.

I now have 2 pots but when I did do extract and steep it was a cheaper thin metal one

Following up, just checked the gravity and took a taste and everything seems to be OK. Very strong and bitter, but no "off" flavors. Gravity dropped from 1.060 to 1.021, looks like I should be on target for racking to secondary next weekend.

I made a cappuccino vanilla stout and it's been in secondary with the vanilla beans for two weeks. How long should I leave it in secondary?

hoppynotsad said:

I made a cappuccino vanilla stout and it's been in secondary with the vanilla beans for two weeks. How long should I leave it in secondary?

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I would take a sample, if it has the flavor that you're after then bottle it up. My batch went 3 weeks in secondary, had planned for 2 but life got in the way.

Here is my finished product. Not bad for my second brew ever haha

Well, I decided to brew a batch of this stuff again with the idea to take it to a local beer fest. I had gotten a critique from a local experienced brewer that he thought the IBUs might be a little high. In combination with no Cluster being available locally, the suggestion to lower the IBUs, and another suggestion to go with all EKG, I brewed a variation I called Goldings Vanilla Stout.

Dropped it in the keg last night and extremely disappointed. The EKG (a total of 1.75oz) just doesn't do it at all. No bitterness at all and the brew is just sweet. Sucks because the event is next weekend. No time to brew another.

Just an idea.....What would dry hopping in the keg do? Any ideas?

Guidry said:

Just an idea.....What would dry hopping in the keg do? Any ideas?

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Dry hopping will only add aroma, could try a hop tea to add some bitterness.

Just bottled a batch of this today and it turned out really well. Fermentation got stuck at around 1.018, but even green it tasted great. Good balance of early vanilla and later bitterness of the hops. Can't wait for this to carb up so I can have a proper taste!

histo320 said:

6 lb. Dark Liquid Malt Extract
1 lb. Dark Dry Malt Extract
.75 lb. Black Patent Malt
.25 lb. Roasted Barley
1 oz Cluster (7.00%) at 60 minutes
1 oz East Kent Goldings (4.00) at 20 minutes
1 tsp Irish moss at 15 minutes
2.5 Tablespoons of Vanilla Extract (add to secondary)
1 White Labs Irish Ale Yeast

Steeped grains at 150F for 35 minutes in oven

Boil for 70 minutes

After 14 days move to secondary and rack on top of 2.5 tbsp of vanilla.
(I know I should have soaked beans in bourbon, but thought i would try this, so far so good)

Primed with 3/4 cup of Corn Sugar.

Enjoy!

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What temp is everyone fementing this at 70 or since its an irish ale yeast is it colder around 55?

I went with 64 F for fermentation.

How much Makers Mark are people using to soak the vanilla beans in? Has anyone added any oak chips or cubes as well?

Try about 8 oz.

When I made it I split the batch into two 3 Gallon carboys for the secondary. The one I added the vanilla and let sit. The other I added 2 oz of American oak soaked in Jack Daniels along with the vanilla for 3 weeks. Let sit for two weeks in the secondary. Bottled on the same day. Both are good beers but the oak took it over the edge. It is so much better with the oak. If I make this again I would oak the whole five gallon batch.

I read every post on this recipe and didnt see one bad review. I tried a sample at my LHBS this weekend and loved it. I'll be whipping up a batch here soon. I've decided to decrease the vanilla slightly and add toasted oak chips. Cant wait to dive into this!

this baby looks GOOOOOD. quick question. what yeast would you recommend if you're going with a dry yeast vs. a liquid???

also, is it completely necessary to rack to a secondary for the vanilla addition? couldn't you just toss the extract in the brew after a couple weeks?

I made this a while ago. I took it easy and did the extract brewing method. I am almost at the bottom of the keg. *sigh. This was possibly my favorite beer I've made so far. It turned out Smooth, almost with a semi-dry feel, and a wonderful, slight hint of vanilla. Great, great Recipe!

Recently, I had a garage sale that attracted about 10-20 people to my kegerator in my garage. Before I knew it, they were all drinking the Vanilla Stout asking for me to make them beer for money baha! I think that speaks for itself with this recipe.

Oh yeah, my favorite context for this beer is with a nice fat steak and mashed potatoes. It is amazing.

wormraper said:

this baby looks GOOOOOD. quick question. what yeast would you recommend if you're going with a dry yeast vs. a liquid???

also, is it completely necessary to rack to a secondary for the vanilla addition? couldn't you just toss the extract in the brew after a couple weeks?

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I didn't rack to secondary. I soaked four vanilla beans (split and halved) and 2oz of oak chips in about four shots of bourbon for three days and then threw it all in a hop sack and dropped it into primary. I bottled exactly one week ago and I'm currently drinking the first bottle right now. This is my 5th batch of beer and it's by far the best thing I've produced. This is going on the production schedule on a permanent basis.

This recipe looks great but I've been wanting to make an oatmeal stout. Would I have to use a partial mash to get the oat flavor? I was thinking of adding around 1.5-2 lbs of oats. I'm assuming I'd have to mash with some 2-row and then reduce the amount of malt extract used, but I'm not sure in what amounts. What would the original recipe look like with 2lbs of oats added?

Just went and picked this up at the LHBS but skipped out on the DME and went all LME... I wanted to make it a little bigger and the guy there went a little overboard pouring the bulk LME. Got a little over 10 lbs! This sucker is gonna be big. Also, went with US-04 for dry yeast. I have some Madagascar vanilla beans that I'll be using in the secondary. Hopefully it will be done by Thanksgiving

I just brewed this recipe......guestion though......70 minute boil?????? Cluster is 60 minutes.....ekg. 20 and the irish moss is 15minutes. Total = 95 minutes..........is that 70 minutes on the lme????

kstrud1 said:

I just brewed this recipe......guestion though......70 minute boil?????? Cluster is 60 minutes.....ekg. 20 and the irish moss is 15minutes. Total = 95 minutes..........is that 70 minutes on the lme????

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It's a 60 min boil. Add cluster at the beginning of the boil and start your timer at 60 mins. At EKG when the timer hits 20 mins and the irish moss when the timer hits 15.

huntb said:

Just went and picked this up at the LHBS but skipped out on the DME and went all LME... I wanted to make it a little bigger and the guy there went a little overboard pouring the bulk LME. Got a little over 10 lbs! This sucker is gonna be big. Also, went with US-04 for dry yeast. I have some Madagascar vanilla beans that I'll be using in the secondary. Hopefully it will be done by Thanksgiving

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It will be ok by then... By Christmas it will be even better!

I've made this recipe at least 4x in varying forms....and its NEVER made it past a month in the bottle.....never got a bad review from any of my buddies....last batch I did the ferment temps were in the mid 70's range...not a good idea..drastic difference.
I added some chocolate malt and black patent and racked over 4 vanilla beans for 2weeks on one batch..........simply awesome!!
I think I will be brewing several batches soon so I can let some condition for a few months..I think it will only get better.

I do a full 7 gallon boil. Is that what this recipe is formulated for or is it for a 3 gallon boil then dilute with boiled water to make 5 gallons? Does it matter?

Will this work with wyeast 1056 yeast cake of dead guy clone? Or would I be better off with yeast which recipe calls for?

I'd definitely give it a shot on the 1056 yeast cake......better have a blowoff tube though unless you like cleaning.

Brewed this a month ago and came out absolutely delicious. In the fermenter for 14 days and added 2.5 teaspoons of Haitian Vanilla along with priming sugar just before bottling. No secondary. Out of this world stout with really strong nose of vanilla. Definitely a keeper!

Brewing this on sunday...

Anyone try adding some lactose to this? Seems like it would be good with some added body and sweetness. No?

Trying something much like this currently. Added .5lb lactose and forgot the irish moss (oh well...) plan on having in primary 2-3 weeks, racking into bottling bucket with priming Honey (local stuff, makes for a nice flavor) and then adding 2-3oz's homemade bourbon vanilla extract. I sat down with some stouts from a previous recipe and played with bench trials, adding a little vanilla and lactose to the glass before pouring it. Once the dust had settled (or the head, I should say) I had a stout that had a fantastic almost cream-soda-like taste and good mouthfeel, with a heavenly aroma. This was of course freshly added to the brew so adding before conditioning could have some different results. Using vanilla is interesting because it starts out very pronounced when young (I've made mead and wine longer than I have beer ) and has a tendency to become less noticeable over time as it's meshes with/enhances the flavors. I imagine putting a good dose in at bottling followed by 2-3 weeks or more of conditioning will get a good representation out of vanilla without it being predominant. But then again this is an experimental batch, and may have unknown consequences, such as making something so fantastic I'm doomed to repeat it over and over for family and friends.

I've made various versions of this...added some black patent and chocolate malt with a .5lb of lactose at the end of boil and another .5 at bottling..was pretty good also.

the vanilla is there at 2 weeks conditioning...but then goes away...but then starts coming back at about 2months...never made it past 2 months in the bottle...but its time to brew up a few more batches and get them conditioning....I get nothing but compliments on this beer

Brewing this one today for a work Christmas party next month.

Just wondering how this one turned out? I've got a similar brew with OG 1.081 in the primary right now (total 3 week primary fermentation) and then going to rack to secondary with vanilla. Still deciding on vanilla beans or extract. Did you do anything to sanitize the extract e.g. boil it?? I'm tempted to try the beans (3-4 pods) soaked in bourban but curious if the vanilla was a noticeable flavor in your stout?