Anyone catch the Drew Beechum recipe in the newest Beer Advocate? (Page 24) I think I'm going to try brewing it, but I'm not sure on the defatting of the cake. How big is a full sheet cake? And how large of a pot would be needed to reduce it to cake slurry?
Let Them Eat Cake Stout
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When I did it before I did it once with a 1/2 sheet cake from the grocery store which is usually something like 11"x15" or so. You could also, if you're a mad man go for a full sheet cake which is 18x24, which was the other time I did it..
When I did it with a 1/2 sheet, I just used my pasta pot. For a full sheet, I pressed my old 5 gallon extract brew pot into service.
Hope that helps!
When I did it with a 1/2 sheet, I just used my pasta pot. For a full sheet, I pressed my old 5 gallon extract brew pot into service.
Hope that helps!
mbbransc
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I'm curious where in the process you introduce the cake. Mash? Secondary?
This may not be helpful, but I made a peanut butter stout a while back with 2 full boxes of Captain crunch in the mash. I found out that the preservatives help the flavors survive fermentation and boiling. I would figure the same for any sort of cake you'd be adding.
But i'd definitely be interested in the de-fatting. Cereal in general is pretty low in fat, so I wasnt worried about a layer of oil on top of my fermentation, ruining the yeast's access to oxygen. But a full cake is a different story. I used the Captain Crunch as opposed to real PB due to the fat content. No head retention issues with my PB stout though
But i'd definitely be interested in the de-fatting. Cereal in general is pretty low in fat, so I wasnt worried about a layer of oil on top of my fermentation, ruining the yeast's access to oxygen. But a full cake is a different story. I used the Captain Crunch as opposed to real PB due to the fat content. No head retention issues with my PB stout though
Owly055
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I just attempted this beer over the weekend and I had more than a few hiccups. My first AG brew as well.
I used an entire sheet cake and defatted in an 8 qt. pot. I know full well I didn't defat it very well. I got a decent amount out, but by that point the mashing process had already resulted in two messes and a lot of sweat and tears so I decided to go for broken.
Took forever to cool in an ice bath, which only worried me more about the fat, and in the morning I could see a few globules that all but doomed the thing in my mind, but low and behold somewhere between 7 and 15 hours post-pitch, the airlock is bubbling up a storm.
I'm still worried it will halt early or that I might drain off the residual fat while bottling, but maybe I'll keep getting lucky.
I used an entire sheet cake and defatted in an 8 qt. pot. I know full well I didn't defat it very well. I got a decent amount out, but by that point the mashing process had already resulted in two messes and a lot of sweat and tears so I decided to go for broken.
Took forever to cool in an ice bath, which only worried me more about the fat, and in the morning I could see a few globules that all but doomed the thing in my mind, but low and behold somewhere between 7 and 15 hours post-pitch, the airlock is bubbling up a storm.
I'm still worried it will halt early or that I might drain off the residual fat while bottling, but maybe I'll keep getting lucky.
Please give us an update when you get to sample it. It's next on my brew list, but Swmbo says I have to drink some of the closet full of bottles I have first.
Promise. Fermentation slowed a bit more than I like on day two, but steady so far.
Sleepyemt
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What's the recipe? Are you suppose to get a cake flavor from this?
Sleepyemt
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Interesting! I'll be following to hear the results
I think you're supposed to get more of a mil chocolate flavor, warm and rich, than cake persay.
Recipe:
Is it possible to upload a slightly larger pic? It's tough to read, at least for my old eyes. I appreciate what you've posted thus far.
Defatting cake though...that just sounds weird. I'm very curious about this beer now.
Sure thing. This one is MUCH larger.
The defatting process was the most worrisome. Not terribly difficult, but I didn't do a great job either. There is a skein of fat on top of the wort, but air gets through so fermentation is ok.
I think the issue was that I didn't use enough water in the slurry and it was too viscous to let the fat float to the top and settle. This calls for 1-2 qts for that, but I was using a pretty big cake, so I probably needed 3-4 qt. That, plus the 13 qt for mash and 6.5 for sparge already puts you over 5.5 gallons, and then the beer, but with evap, loss from defatting, etc, you should be fine.
FYI, I'm also documenting stuff on a threat about my first AG brew.
The defatting process was the most worrisome. Not terribly difficult, but I didn't do a great job either. There is a skein of fat on top of the wort, but air gets through so fermentation is ok.
I think the issue was that I didn't use enough water in the slurry and it was too viscous to let the fat float to the top and settle. This calls for 1-2 qts for that, but I was using a pretty big cake, so I probably needed 3-4 qt. That, plus the 13 qt for mash and 6.5 for sparge already puts you over 5.5 gallons, and then the beer, but with evap, loss from defatting, etc, you should be fine.
FYI, I'm also documenting stuff on a threat about my first AG brew.
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This one is on my list and I am real curious to know how it turned out. Tasting notes?
Sorry to go radio silent. Lots of travel lately.
I was worried about this brew from the start, as it was my first beer with alt ingredients and my first AG. But it fermented and carbonated very well.
Unfortunately, it didn't much come out as the style I intended. The body is light for a stout, both in mouthfeel and in color. It looks a lot more like a very malty, roasted brown. It pours with an a great, two inch head but that dissipates at once because I couldn't get enough of the fat out. Oh well, that's to be expected.
The nose is interesting and smells more spiced than roasty or chocolatey. Pleasant (but as I said too light) mouthfeel with sweet, roasty notes that remind me of a mix between a dubbel and a dopplebock. Not sure how I ended up there, but c'est la vie.
Surprisingly little of the cake flavor came through. Seems to have transformed to more of a spiced porter or, as I said above, a dubbel-bock. Totally quaffable, but missed the mark by a wide margin, I'm afraid.
I was worried about this brew from the start, as it was my first beer with alt ingredients and my first AG. But it fermented and carbonated very well.
Unfortunately, it didn't much come out as the style I intended. The body is light for a stout, both in mouthfeel and in color. It looks a lot more like a very malty, roasted brown. It pours with an a great, two inch head but that dissipates at once because I couldn't get enough of the fat out. Oh well, that's to be expected.
The nose is interesting and smells more spiced than roasty or chocolatey. Pleasant (but as I said too light) mouthfeel with sweet, roasty notes that remind me of a mix between a dubbel and a dopplebock. Not sure how I ended up there, but c'est la vie.
Surprisingly little of the cake flavor came through. Seems to have transformed to more of a spiced porter or, as I said above, a dubbel-bock. Totally quaffable, but missed the mark by a wide margin, I'm afraid.
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