Vanilla Coffee Stout

Recipe Type: Extract with specialty grains
Yeast: WLP007 X2
3 Quart Starter
Batch Size: 3 Gallons
Boil Size: 3.8 Gallons
Est. OG: 1.134
Est. FG: 1.034
IBU: 36.3
Boil Time: 60 Min.

INGREDIENTS
7 lbs. DME
10 oz. Flaked Oats
7 oz. Dark Brown Sugar
7 oz. Cara 45
7 oz. Honey Malt
4 oz. Cara 8
3 oz. Chocolate Malt
3 oz. Carafa III
3 oz. Debittered Black Malt
2 oz. Molasses
10 oz. Coffee Grounds
0.3 oz. Magnum Pellets (60 Min.)
0.3 oz. Magnum Pellets (30 Min.)
0.9 oz. Sterling Pellets (10 Min.)
Secondary: 10 fl. oz. Coffee (30 days)
Secondary: 1.2 fl. oz. Bourbon (30 days)
Secondary: 0.5 tsp. Cocoa Powder (30 days)
Secondary: 1.5 ea. Vanilla Bean (30 days

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(a) Do you see anything glaringly wrong with this recipe?
(b) What is the minimum amount of time this should spend in the primary fermenter?
(c) What is the ideal amount of time this should spend in the primary fermenter?
(d) Is this enough yeast to eat up all those fermentables?
(e) Feel free to offer any suggestions you feel would be helpful.

Thanx!

Nothing is GLARINGLY wrong, but you are making something that's going to top out at 13.7 ABV. Are you confident that WLP007 can handle an alcohol level this high? White Labs claims it's good to 10% ABV.
Perhaps you may want to eliminate the brown sugar and / or the molasses.
You could always boil longer if you're looking for caramelized flavours and dilute to your OG after the boil.

Also, are you mashing those 10oz of coffee grounds or are they for making the 10 fl.oz of liquid coffee you're putting into the secondary?

With that much liquid coffee you will probably drown out the vanilla. Speaking from experience I'd up the vanilla to 2-2.5 beans of the freshest, plumpest Madagascar Bourbon beans you can fine. Those shrivelled up beans in the glass tubes at the supermarket won't cut it.

baldric said:

Nothing is GLARINGLY wrong, but you are making something that's going to top out at 13.7 ABV. Are you confident that WLP007 can handle an alcohol level this high? White Labs claims it's good to 10% ABV.
Perhaps you may want to eliminate the brown sugar and / or the molasses.
You could always boil longer if you're looking for caramelized flavours and dilute to your OG after the boil.

Also, are you mashing those 10oz of coffee grounds or are they for making the 10 fl.oz of liquid coffee you're putting into the secondary?

With that much liquid coffee you will probably drown out the vanilla. Speaking from experience I'd up the vanilla to 2-2.5 beans of the freshest, plumpest Madagascar Bourbon beans you can fine. Those shrivelled up beans in the glass tubes at the supermarket won't cut it.

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Good stuff. I think this recipe could use some fine tuning. Thanks for your input.

I have a recommendation for you. I've done an expresso stout in the past and here's what I did. I had the coffee beans ground to accommodate a French press. Boil the water, pour it over the beans then use the French press. Put the press in the fridge for 24 hours. Just pour in your carboy/conical when needed.

LilManBrewing said:

I have a recommendation for you. I've done an expresso stout in the past and here's what I did. I had the coffee beans ground to accommodate a French press. Boil the water, pour it over the beans then use the French press. Put the press in the fridge for 24 hours. Just pour in your carboy/conical when needed.

Click to expand...

Depending on whether bitterness is of interest to you, you might also consider cold-brewing.

How To Make Cold-Brew Coffee

Using hot water (boiled, I suppose) may give you a little coffee bitterness. I just finished up a chocolate coffee stout, and I used this cold-brew method instead of adding coffee to my boil as some do. I really like the result. It's not too bitter, and that coffee really hits you in the aftertaste. The method I linked above says you should dilute it to drink it, but... I just added the entire thing to the carboy. Remember to sanitize your French press before adding the coffee, etc. If you're still worried about sanitation, shake it up with some vodka before adding it in.

I'd mix up two or three batches of the above linked instructions (I think it's one cup by volume of coffee for that method), then add in each of them to taste. Sample it as you go.

I don't know what your experience is, but that is a big beer that is going to end up too sweet to be a decent beer. Comments:

- 13.1% is too much for WLP007.
- 1.134 is too high a gravity for many yeasts. A lot may die from the osmotic pressure. You would want to start around 1.090/1.100 and feed the fermentables into it over several days.
- A beer that size is going to need a lot of aeration, otherwise it is going to stall out at a high gravity.
- 1.034 (if you get there) is very sweet.
- I'd suggest trying to make a beer starting around 1.100, and trying to get it down somewhere close to 1.020. A 1.100 beer is still a challenge for anyone who has not done one yet, but you have a lot better chance of getting a drinkable beer at the end of it.
- The oats and honey malt really need to be mashed. They will not contribute any fermentables from steeping.
1.2 fl ozs of bourbon will not be noticed. I'm assuming you are just using it to extract the vanilla before tossing the bourbon and beans in.
- I just did a quick mental check of your ingredients, and I think you are over-estimating the sugars you will get from the grains. I estimate this will get you an OG of about 1.020.