Caramel cream ale?

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So I've had mine in primary for about 4 days now, and activity's down to about 5 bubbles per minute. I have to say, didn't get the explosive fermentation everyone's reporting, but I used a different yeast so that may be why. The krausen looked kind of funny, more moist and frothy, as if the lactose really did produce a milky cream effect. Also, after the krausen fell, the crap left stuck to the upper walls of the carboy also has a moist milky look to the edges. Interesting effect, anyone else see this in theirs? I'd like to secondary this weekend, but my other carboy's still got that dang old ale in it (brewed 9-15) and while the airlock's still, it still has little bubbles rising in the brew and a thin layer of foam, so it obviously would be a bad idea to attempt to bottle it :) I'd thought about just racking the new stuff into my bottling bucket, scrubbing the carboy, then racking it back in, but a.) I'm afraid I'd aerate it too much, and b.) I'd wind up in a 6.5 gal carboy for secondary, major headspace :) Anyone have any suggestions? I'd really thought the old ale would have calmed down enough by now to bottle and put away for aging, but apparently I was wrong....
 
MattD said:
So I've had mine in primary for about 4 days now, and activity's down to about 5 bubbles per minute. I have to say, didn't get the explosive fermentation everyone's reporting, but I used a different yeast so that may be why. The krausen looked kind of funny, more moist and frothy, as if the lactose really did produce a milky cream effect. Also, after the krausen fell, the crap left stuck to the upper walls of the carboy also has a moist milky look to the edges. Interesting effect, anyone else see this in theirs? I'd like to secondary this weekend, but my other carboy's still got that dang old ale in it (brewed 9-15) and while the airlock's still, it still has little bubbles rising in the brew and a thin layer of foam, so it obviously would be a bad idea to attempt to bottle it :) I'd thought about just racking the new stuff into my bottling bucket, scrubbing the carboy, then racking it back in, but a.) I'm afraid I'd aerate it too much, and b.) I'd wind up in a 6.5 gal carboy for secondary, major headspace :) Anyone have any suggestions? I'd really thought the old ale would have calmed down enough by now to bottle and put away for aging, but apparently I was wrong....

Don't worry about the 6.5 gallon 2ndary, a lot of us use them. I do. As for the cups/oz, I really don't know the weight. I used volume, and it was probably about 4 oz. It's been a while and my head has been fuzzy many times since then.
 
I had to tell you I tried the receipe and it turned out awesome!!! Thanks for helping make my first batch a great experience!!
 
Here's a question... Any one you chaps that just made this care to send a sample bottle to a pal?
 
usc_cop said:
Here's a question... Any one you chaps that just made this care to send a sample bottle to a pal?

I've had mine in primary for 2 weeks this saturday, and I'm trying to decide whether to secondary it or go ahead and bottle.. I'll go check in a little bit to see how clear it is already. If I go ahead and bottle I'd be happy to make a trade. If I secondary it.... I'd still be happy to trade, it'd just take a few more weeks :)
 
Hey cheesefood this recipe sounds awesome I am about to try it myself. It will be my 4th brew and I am going to do an all extract version. First off I will start by saying I am a very impatient person although home brewing is making me more patient. Now to my question ...Can I keg this beer within 4 weeks of brewing it then artificially carbonate???? I see some people are waiting a long time and I am sure that makes it taste much better but I would like to have it ready by mid to late NOV. What do you think??????
 
If you were going to do this recipe all extract no partial mashing what would the layout be??? please i was dropped on my head when i was a baby twice!
 
I'd highly advise not using as much vanilla as the recipe calls for in the priming. It's way too much for me.
 
This is an "extract recipe" but you're steeping specialty grains. There's no mashing involved. To steep your specialty grains, get a grain bag, get the water up to 150-160 degrees and steep away for however long the recipe calls for.. I think in this case it's 45 minutes. Just watch your thermometer and cut/raise the heat as the thermometer rises and falls.

Hope this helps.
 
no joke it was the second time my mom dropped me and she cracked her brand new rolex. She told me she was really upset... about her rolex.:cross:
 
Well, it is time. I've read this entire thread (parts a few times!) and I've hopefully absorbed enough to tweak this recipe to me particular tastes. I wanted a bit more in the hops department, and a medium-sweet vanilla presence. I'm totaling 2.5 oz vanilla, one bean and an ounce of "vanilla" cognac. I'm doing the boil tonight after work, I've had the yeast starter going for 2 days now and I just cleared out a carboy yesterday - ALL SYSTEMS GO!!!! :rockin:

SO....this is my adaptation of the mighty Cheesefood Carmel Cream Ale - let me know what you think:

1 lb. 60L Carmel Malt - steep @ 154 for 45 minutes, sparge @ 170, up to boil
flameout, add 3# Extra Light Muntons DME, 3# Wheat DME, boil

1 oz. Cascade Plugs (6.7%) for 60 minutes
1 oz. Saaz Plugs (3.7%) @ 20 minutes left
4 oz. Lactose @ 15 left
1 tsp. Irish Moss @ 10 left
.5 oz. Tettnang pellets (4.1%) @ 5 left

1 split and scraped vanilla bean @ flameout
1.5 oz. real vanilla extract @ flameout

I'm using White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsh yeast on a wheat DME starter.

At kegging:

1 cup lactose
1 oz. real vanilla extract
1 oz. vanilla bean-induced cognac (3 weeks, 2 beans)

If this comes out anywhere near as good as you all have made it sound, I should be sittin' pretty in a month or two!!!!! Thanks Cheese..... :mug:
 
Fiery Sword said:
Well, it is time. I've read this entire thread (parts a few times!) and I've hopefully absorbed enough to tweak this recipe to me particular tastes. I wanted a bit more in the hops department, and a medium-sweet vanilla presence. I'm totaling 2.5 oz vanilla, one bean and an ounce of "vanilla" cognac. I'm doing the boil tonight after work, I've had the yeast starter going for 2 days now and I just cleared out a carboy yesterday - ALL SYSTEMS GO!!!! :rockin:

SO....this is my adaptation of the mighty Cheesefood Carmel Cream Ale - let me know what you think:

1 split and scraped vanilla bean @ flameout
1.5 oz. real vanilla extract @ flameout
...
1 oz. real vanilla extract
1 oz. vanilla bean-induced cognac (3 weeks, 2 beans)

It's going to have a strong vanilla flavor, but not like that's a bad thing. GOod luck! Cheers!
 
Cheesefood said:
It's going to have a strong vanilla flavor, but not like that's a bad thing. GOod luck! Cheers!

I was not sure how much "vanilla" flavor I'd get from either the bean (lots?) and the cognac (some?). If I don't want it so strong, maybe I should ditch the pure vanilla at kegging? Or maybe shave an once off the total pure vanilla (half/half)?

I'm not opposed to a "strong" vanilla flavor, I just don't want to go overboard!
 
2 oz at flame out was plenty for me. Even at that level, this beer, IMO is a dessert beer.

This recipe is a keeper.

However, I intend to lessen the vanilla until someone asks where it went.

It's my desire to make this beer more like the orange / spice in a Wit and less like the pumpkin / spice in a Pumpkin Ale.

ETA: You can always add more later. You can never add less.
 
Aaand, just to keep this thread going...

In the tradition of Strange Beers that I seem to be embarking upon...

I'd like to come up with what I am calling a "Black and White" - named after the cookie topped with half chocolate icing, half vanilla icing.

It looks like Cheesefood's recipe is a good base (especially if I amp the vanilla a little), but how do I get a strong chocolate taste in there without killing the head?

I am envisioning a dark, thick, sweet, creamy, maybe totally unhopped (or extremely mildly hopped), Black & White Cookie of a beer. Like vanilla and chocolate milk, as a beer.

Any thoughts? Does this need its own thread?
 
P funky said:
Aaand, just to keep this thread going...

In the tradition of Strange Beers that I seem to be embarking upon...

I'd like to come up with what I am calling a "Black and White" - named after the cookie topped with half chocolate icing, half vanilla icing.

It looks like Cheesefood's recipe is a good base (especially if I amp the vanilla a little), but how do I get a strong chocolate taste in there without killing the head?

I am envisioning a dark, thick, sweet, creamy, maybe totally unhopped (or extremely mildly hopped), Black & White Cookie of a beer. Like vanilla and chocolate milk, as a beer.

Any thoughts? Does this need its own thread?

Make two beers and float one over the other ala Black and Tan.
 
Beware about "amping" the vanilla in this recipe; there are several who claim that it's already on "11," so to speak...

4050-Spinal_Tap_05Custom.jpg
 
I'd do two beers, just so I had three different flavor options if I got bored. Personally, I've started to rebel against non-beer-tasting-beers (not that there's anything wrong with them), I made a mocha stout that my wife loves but that I can't drink (too much coffee, not enough beer, and I loves me my coffee, it's odd I just don't like them mixed).

I'd do the Caramel cream, do it as light in color as possible. Then, make a chocolate porter or stout. The thing is - how do you get one to float on the other? Presumably, they need to have very different densities, so one might need to be pretty light in body while the other is jacked up with malto-dextrine, lactose, lots of crystal, anything that will leave some body behind. If you mash, one gets mashed at high temp, the other low. That's how I would approach it. If you get it right, the visuals could be stunning, and this could be a beer that my wife would ADORE (I might request that you send some bottles as my FFB winnings :D)
 
the_bird said:
(I might request that you send some bottles as my FFB winnings :D)

I'd "Pffft: at that, but after this advice, I owe you the product of whatever comes from this anyway!

I'll probably adapt the Caramel Cream recipe to be as light as possible, but it needs to have the sweetness. I could do lactose (if that won't put too much body in it), or hell just hit it with Splenda.

The Chocolate will be dark, dense, lacto-sweetened, etc. I'll be starting a new thread on this soon, so we can all gang up and hammer out details.
 
Hey, I never said you'd be sending me three bottles! I'm still in position for two beers for second place!

I'm not a big fan of using Splenda in beers, but this might be the time when it's approrpriate. I just don't like drinking too many chemically things, but if the white beer is to be the light beer, it's a way of doing that without using lactose.

With regards to the chocolate, I get some head from the mocha porter. If I do it again, I might try adding a little bit of wheat for head retention (the cloudiness you get from wheat wouldn't be a bad thing for the vanilla side, if this beer looked like a wit you'd be, well, golden). I used baker's chocolate for mine, I really can't tell you if I used enough or not because the coffee is overpowering.
 
I'm interested in this project, though. I'll play around with Beer Smith tonight. What I might try with the cholocate side is some of the de-bittered black malts for the color. I don't think you want a lot of roastiness in this brew. I used Northern Brewer for bittering, no flavor or aroma hops, you'll get some bitterness from chocolate malt as well. I used a lot of lactose, lots of crystal. I'll crack one tonight and re-visit what I do like about the brew and what might be useful to you.
 
So, I've read this thread a couple times, drooled on the keyboard, went out and got the ingredients for v.1 with less vanilla ($9 for 4oz of vanilla extract - how does this compare to everyone else's price?) and am ready to brew this weekend. Hopefully I will finally brew something my wife (not a beer drinker) will drink - or maybe not (more for me!)

Cheese, I just had one question:

4oz vanilla
2 oz Makers Mark Bourbon
.5 cups light DME
.25 cups honey
What effect does the bourbon add?

Also, I am planning on using White Labs German Ale/Kolsch yeast. Anyone have any comments on this one?
 
PicoD42 said:
Cheese, I just had one question:


What effect does the bourbon add?

No clue. I haven't made it without the bourbon. I really like Makers Mark and I was drinking some during my brew session.
 
the_bird said:
With regards to the chocolate, I get some head from the mocha porter.

So it's essentially the best beer ever! It gives head and doesn't complain about the brewing smell or if the floor (or anything else) is sticky. I'll bet it goes down real easily.
 
PicoD42 said:
So, I've read this thread a couple times, drooled on the keyboard, went out and got the ingredients for v.1 with less vanilla ($9 for 4oz of vanilla extract - how does this compare to everyone else's price?)

Slightly off topic, but I made my own vanilla extract using a 750 bottle of Smirnoff that I already had (I suppose it's fairly cheap at Costco) and mexican vanilla beans from Vanilla.com ($7.50 for 3 beans) There's a thread here somewhere that gives the technique for doing this. It smells great and tastes better than the bottled stuff you get at the store. I'm guessing because the ingredients are better than the mass produced stuff which I assume uses a cheaper form of vanilla. And, since I have a 750 of extract, my wife is bottling some of it to use in Christmas gift packs of homemade cookie ingredients.

Here's the link: http://www.vanilla.com/cgi-bin/store/search.cgi?session=1&subcategory=Beans&category=Culinary
 
Cheesefood said:
So it's essentially the best beer ever! It gives head and doesn't complain about the brewing smell or if the floor (or anything else) is sticky. I'll bet it goes down real easily.

Man, the drop from altitude right down into the gutter...
 
Cheesefood said:
He don't know me very well, do he folks?

It's actually nice to see a "Gutter-Mate" out there. Especially from Chicagoland. I used to live in Bolingbrook and worked in Itasca and reading the IL posts reminds me of one of my favorite places to live.
 
Hopfan said:
It's actually nice to see a "Gutter-Mate" out there. Especially from Chicagoland. I used to live in Bolingbrook and worked in Itasca and reading the IL posts reminds me of one of my favorite places to live.

<officially off topic>My wife works in Itasca, just off of Lake Street in the Spring Lake office park. </oot>
 
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