Berlbrew
Well-Known Member
OK, let's start with some background info. I've been brewing for about a year and a half at this point, AG now for about 1 year. My beers have been getting consistently better to the point where my process is consistently churning out clean, well-executed beers.
Now, it just so happens that I work at the Sam Adams brewery in Boston- I'm one of the college student part-time tour guides. It's an AWESOME job, I've been at it for about 6 months and I get more free Sam Adams then anyone could imagine plus I get to spend my days in real brewhouse with pros.
Getting to the point here: I am the ONLY tour guide at Sam Adams that's a home brewer. When I got hired I was very surprised. But this is working out to my advantage. Every summer there is an incentive contest for all the tour guides (there are about 15 of us). There are two ways to win points in the incentive contest: one is to sell Boston Lager Glasses and get people to sign up for the e-newsletter, the other is a tour guide home brew competition. Here's the kicker- the winner gets an all-expense paid trip with Jim Koch and other company reps to Denver for the GABF. Nuts, right?
In the past beers that have won this competition are rarely classic styles that are well-executed (what I almost always brew). The winners are fun beers that involve unusual ingredients and creative ideas like blueberry witbier and strawberry dunkelweizen. These past winners have NOT been good and I'm looking to show them up with a creative and fantastic beer. I've got a few ideas that I'm working on, but the one I'm currently considering has left me stumped.
I want to create a recipe for an Oatmeal Cookie Stout. Basically an oatmeal stout with toasted oats, biscuit & special b, as well as maybe some vanilla, raisins, or brown sugar. Here's what I've got so far:
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 71.28 %
1.50 lb Oats, Flaked (Toasted @ 300) (1.0 SRM) Grain 10.69 %
0.88 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.27 %
0.66 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.70 %
0.33 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 2.35 %
0.33 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 2.35 %
0.33 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 2.35 %
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 22.5 IBU
2 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast-Ale
So what are your thoughts? How do I make this have more of a noticeable oatmeal raisin type cookie flavor? I'm pretty dead-set on using vanilla beans in the secondary but I'm more at a loss with the raisins and/or brown sugar... I've never used either before. So yea, any help is appreciated. Thanks for reading this convoluted long post!
Now, it just so happens that I work at the Sam Adams brewery in Boston- I'm one of the college student part-time tour guides. It's an AWESOME job, I've been at it for about 6 months and I get more free Sam Adams then anyone could imagine plus I get to spend my days in real brewhouse with pros.
Getting to the point here: I am the ONLY tour guide at Sam Adams that's a home brewer. When I got hired I was very surprised. But this is working out to my advantage. Every summer there is an incentive contest for all the tour guides (there are about 15 of us). There are two ways to win points in the incentive contest: one is to sell Boston Lager Glasses and get people to sign up for the e-newsletter, the other is a tour guide home brew competition. Here's the kicker- the winner gets an all-expense paid trip with Jim Koch and other company reps to Denver for the GABF. Nuts, right?
In the past beers that have won this competition are rarely classic styles that are well-executed (what I almost always brew). The winners are fun beers that involve unusual ingredients and creative ideas like blueberry witbier and strawberry dunkelweizen. These past winners have NOT been good and I'm looking to show them up with a creative and fantastic beer. I've got a few ideas that I'm working on, but the one I'm currently considering has left me stumped.
I want to create a recipe for an Oatmeal Cookie Stout. Basically an oatmeal stout with toasted oats, biscuit & special b, as well as maybe some vanilla, raisins, or brown sugar. Here's what I've got so far:
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 71.28 %
1.50 lb Oats, Flaked (Toasted @ 300) (1.0 SRM) Grain 10.69 %
0.88 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.27 %
0.66 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.70 %
0.33 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 2.35 %
0.33 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 2.35 %
0.33 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 2.35 %
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 22.5 IBU
2 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast-Ale
So what are your thoughts? How do I make this have more of a noticeable oatmeal raisin type cookie flavor? I'm pretty dead-set on using vanilla beans in the secondary but I'm more at a loss with the raisins and/or brown sugar... I've never used either before. So yea, any help is appreciated. Thanks for reading this convoluted long post!