made a version of this, although I was very loose with the recipe:
8lb 2 row
2lb crystal 20
2lb flaked corn
152F mash
OG was low at about 1.58, apparently corn may not mash well, or my process got screwed up. Not sure on FG because I am using a refractometer.
14g 60min citra
7g 30min cascade
7g 0min cascade
1.5l starter of wlp080 at 63-65. fermentation was complete after 3 days, after a week i racked to secondary one 1 lone vanilla bean for ****s and giggles, and then cold crashed it for 48 hours. after racking to the keg i noticed that the yeast which fell out in secondary were all dyed a slight brown, must have been from the vanilla bean? there was no perceptible vanilla from the sample i pulled.
for the vanilla extract i split, scraped, and chopped 3 comoros (similar to madagascar) beans into ~6oz of makers mark and shook the jar once a day. this extract sat for only about a week before going to the keg, i have since made a second batch of extract to use in the future which should give better flavor and aroma since the extract will have more time to develop.
The wife loves it... hell, I love it. If you take a potato peeler and put a bit of orange zest in your glass before you pour, it tastes like an orange creamsicle.
next time i'm going to cut the corn down to 1lb (it smells too much like butwiper), sub honey malt for the crystal 20, and add some carapils. i may add hops because this has almost no hop character and i'd like to get more citrus from it. i would like to try comparing mexican vanilla as well since it's supposed to be a more aggressive vanilla.
pics or it didn't happen:
not as clear as i would have liked, i probably shouldn't have rushed it to the keg like i did.