Need input on my butter beer recipe

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zickefoose

zickefoose

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I'm making this for my girlfriend who is a huge harry potter fan and I'm just kinda winging it. I'm posting a 5 gallon batch but I'm only doing 2.5 in case it just completely blows.

But if anyone has any input on the recipe I'd sure appreciate before I take the plunge into brewing it. :)

I'm going for a STRONG
cream ale, but with huge body and really nice head retention.

9lbs American Wheat
3lbs Flaked Barley (head retention and body)
2lbs flaked rice (Alcohol Content)
1lb 12oz American crystal 10L
1.5lbs Carapils (Body)
1.5lbs Caramel Wheat Malt
2oz Ahtanum Hops (bittering)
1oz liberty Hops (finishing)
1lb lactose (5min boil)
1lb butter (2 weeks secondary)

Aiming for around 1.090 OG

Any input would be great! :)
 
Pretty sure the butter will spoil if it's left at room temperature for 2 weeks. Also, the fat in the butter will totally kill the head retention on the beer. Search the forums, some other people have attempted this.
 
I can never envision the day that I'd put butter into a fermenter, primary or secondary.

I'd suggest using pils malt and doing a 75 min. boil which will leave some corn character which has been described as buttery (I suspect mostly because people generally put lots of butter on their corn). There are also yeast strains which throw off diacetyl when stressed, find one of those. US-04 possibly? Remember to underpitch. If that's not enough 'butter' character there's always butter flavoring available at the grocer in the extract/spice section. It's good stuff used mostly in baking.

Personally I'd flavor the last gallon of my next suitable brew with the butter flavor and see how that goes.

Schlante & Good Luck,
Phillip
 
MVKTR2 said:
I can never envision the day that I'd put butter into a fermenter, primary or secondary.

I'd suggest using pils malt and doing a 75 min. boil which will leave some corn character which has been described as buttery (I suspect mostly because people generally put lots of butter on their corn). There are also yeast strains which throw off diacetyl when stressed, find one of those. US-04 possibly? Remember to underpitch. If that's not enough 'butter' character there's always butter flavoring available at the grocer in the extract/spice section. It's good stuff used mostly in baking.

Personally I'd flavor the last gallon of my next suitable brew with the butter flavor and see how that goes.

Schlante & Good Luck,
Phillip
Click to expand...

I'd second this. Just underpitch quite a bit and ferment a little higher than normal. This should give it plenty of butter flavor.
 
Ringwood ale yeast seems to produce higher than normal diacetyl. I'd try something like that and maybe some oats for a smooth buttery texture. I would think "dry-buttering" would dramatically up your risk of infecting the beer.
 
Beware too much Cara-pils.

I used 1/2 Lb in my Better Red Than Dead Red Ale and found that dispensing from my tap creates a 5" head on every pour...when the beer is only carbonated to 2.1 volumes or so.

I never used more than a Lb of flaked Barley, but that should be nice.

I echo the sentiment of the gang...don't use butter but try for a high diacetyl content. You can get it to taste like buttered popcorn if the yeast misbehaves enough (underpitch and over temp the fermentation).

Good luck with it.
 
Thanks for all the input! I'm really excited about this.

So when fermenting, what should my temp be? Its been in the low 30's all week here and its hard to keep my house at 68 degrees. I've got a little space heater but that would be hard to keep at a regular temp for the entire time. Any suggestions?
 
Taste your beer starting on day 3 of fermentation. When you think the buttery flavor has peaked, keg it. If you bottle prime, the yeast in the bottle will slowly clean up the diacetyl, so if you must bottle you're going to want to consume it young. Ringwood does throw off absurd amounts of diacetyl, that would be my pick for a yeast if I wanted an undrinkably high diacetyl beer.
 
The butter in butterbeer is for butterscotch, not actual butter. You will also want it to be "warming" if not served hot, probably by having a bit of alcohol. Can beer be served hot?

This would be fun and make for a great competition if a bunch of people tried it. I always imagined it as being like a butterscotch-flavored winter warmer.
 
Yeah you can serve beer hot. In Poland they drink hot beer because they live in the mountains.

I have to bottle so I'll be sure to let eveyone know how it turns out :)
 
High levels of diactyl is a flaw in beer. You know that right? If you do and still want to make a butter beer, make a lager. Those babies throw a ton of diactyl if fermented warm and cooled down over fermentation.
 
I've seen butter flavoring available at some extract places you may want to try that. I would be hesitant to use real butter since it will probably kill the head retention and might go rancid.
 
I would say a flaw is something done on accident. If I intend on using diacetyl to my advantage, I wouldn't call it a flaw :)
 
ThereThere said:
The butter in butterbeer is for butterscotch, not actual butter. You will also want it to be "warming" if not served hot, probably by having a bit of alcohol. Can beer be served hot?

This would be fun and make for a great competition if a bunch of people tried it. I always imagined it as being like a butterscotch-flavored winter warmer.
Click to expand...

so do the bavarians. my host father would put his beer in the microwave.
 
So, I cracked my first bottle yesterday and it turned out amazing.

I under pitched my yeast, fermented warm at about 72°F, then when my gravity hit 1.022 (starting at 1.056) I crashed the yeast by putting it into my fridge at around 45°F. Bottled 2 days later.

I've already re-written my recipe and I'll be doing it again soon :)

If you love butter the diacetyl worked great
 
zickefoose said:
So, I cracked my first bottle yesterday and it turned out amazing.

I under pitched my yeast, fermented warm at about 72°F, then when my gravity hit 1.022 (starting at 1.056) I crashed the yeast by putting it into my fridge at around 45°F. Bottled 2 days later.

I've already re-written my recipe and I'll be doing it again soon :)

If you love butter the diacetyl worked great
Click to expand...

I must be missing something here, but how do you not have bottle bombs? You should still have some active yeast in those bottles, so unless you keep them all chilled....

Any beer I'm afraid of exploding I put in picnic coolers with the lid closed. If they seem fine in a month, then I'll take them out.
 
You will eventually have grenades in your cellar. Get them all in the fridge and drink them fast before someone gets hurt.
 
He put lactose in... Mostly unfermentable and it boosts the gravity. My sweet stout with lactose finishes at 1.022. It was probably really close to finishing at that gravity.
 
I am looking at adding a butter extract to a secondary at the time of bottling. Thinking of a crystal with 5lbs extra extract.
 
zickefoose said:
I'm making this for my girlfriend who is a huge harry potter fan and I'm just kinda winging it. I'm posting a 5 gallon batch but I'm only doing 2.5 in case it just completely blows.

But if anyone has any input on the recipe I'd sure appreciate before I take the plunge into brewing it. :)

I'm going for a STRONG
cream ale, but with huge body and really nice head retention.

9lbs American Wheat
3lbs Flaked Barley (head retention and body)
2lbs flaked rice (Alcohol Content)
1lb 12oz American crystal 10L
1.5lbs Carapils (Body)
1.5lbs Caramel Wheat Malt
2oz Ahtanum Hops (bittering)
1oz liberty Hops (finishing)
1lb lactose (5min boil)
1lb butter (2 weeks secondary)

Aiming for around 1.090 OG

Any input would be great! :)
Click to expand...
You could always melt some butter in the bottom of your beer glass and pour the ice cold beer you made on top tp get your butter beer. Or look into butter extract from watkins, its alcohol base so the butter flavor will be hydrophilic. See my recipe im making tomorrow. Old Saint Nick's British Butterbeer Beer Recipe | BIAB Holiday/Winter Special Spiced Beer | Brewer's Friend
 

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