Breckenridge vanilla porter

[Ryanh1801]

Any one tried to clone this? Just found some at Central market and remembered how much I like it. Would love to clone it.

 

[RichBrewer]

I haven't tried to clone their vanilla porter but I definitely enjoyed the original.
I'm not a fan of vanilla in beer but they did a darn good job with this. I would definitely order it in a restaurant or bar. (Or in their brewery)

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

so good...

 

[Ryanh1801]

I haven't tried to clone their vanilla porter but I definitely enjoyed the original.
I'm not a fan of vanilla in beer but they did a darn good job with this. I would definitely order it in a restaurant or bar. (Or in their brewery)

Same here, I have had vanilla beers that were way, way over done. But this one IMO is the perfect amount.

 

[Ize]

I haven't searched for a clone yet, but one of my all time faves.

It's an awesome creation.

Ize

 

[Ryanh1801]

This is what they have on their website

Malts: Two Row Pale, Caramel, Chocolate, Black, Roasted Barley
Hops: Chinook, Tettinang, Perle, Goulding
Vanilla: Real vanilla beans for Paupau New Guinea and Madagascar.
Bitterness Units: 16
Alcohol By Volume: 4.7%

I can't say I really taste the chocolate and roasted too much, so those must be very minimal amounts.

 

[MriswitH]

I really, really enjoy the Vanilla Porter they have. My sister and I discovered it a few years back and fell in love with it.

You probably could shoot with 4oz of each, Chocolate and Roasted Barley if you do that to get the flavor.

 

[Buford]

I've tried it but could barely drink it. It must say something about my taste that other folks say it's got a good amount of vanilla in it, but to me it tastes way too vanilla-y. I like vanilla, but I can't go this beer.

 

[brewt00l]

The brewer from Breckenridge is going to be at a local event later this month...if I go (not likely right now), I will see if I can run a few questions by him. This and their small batch IPA are their best beers IMHO.

 

[Beerthoven]

I'm with Buford on this one. Got a sixer...4 were given to friends.

 

[BrewBrain]

Not the same beer, but I've tried the vanilla porter from Dry Dock Brewing and found it excellent. They have homebrew versions of their recipes on their site. I've got the AG version of the vanilla porter clearing now.

 

[jeff]

I've tried it but could barely drink it. It must say something about my taste that other folks say it's got a good amount of vanilla in it, but to me it tastes way too vanilla-y. I like vanilla, but I can't go this beer.

I find this beer to be terribly inconsistant. The first time I tried it I loved it; good balance of malt and vanilla. Then I try it again a couple months later and the sweetness was cloying with way too much vanilla. It's been hit or miss every time since to the point that I won't risk my money on it anymore. But I will say that when it's good, it's really good.

 

[Ryanh1801]

Not the same beer, but I've tried the vanilla porter from Dry Dock Brewing and found it excellent. They have homebrew versions of their recipes on their site. I've got the AG version of the vanilla porter clearing now.

Cool thanks for the link, please let me know how it turns out.

 

[olllllo]

I posted this in another thread:

I'm at my undisclosed wifi location having lunch and enjoying a Breckenridge Vanilla Porter. (I may have to post this in that thread as well.) I understand that they will be phasing this out.... .

Here's the take away for you. It is served here way too cold and in a frosted mug to boot. Its a completely useless beer when served that way. I have them put it in a glass right from the dishwasher. THAT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

You will not be able to tightly control this as a brewer.


I'm not sure if this is feasable, but you may have to brew for this kind of environment. As homebrewers we brew beer and serve at the correct temperature and pressure. Is it possible to compensate for the LCD when formulating your recipies?

Where LCD is the Lowest Common Denomenator.

 

[sweaterman]

Old thread, but I recently had this beer and I loved it. Has anyone had much success in making a vanilla porter? I made an extract version that is sitting in primary right now. I could have sworn I tasted a creamy undertone to Breckenridge's Vanilla Porter so I added a pound of lactose. Here is my recipe:

http://hopville.com/recipe/861236/robust-porter-recipes/vanilla-porter

What do you think?

 

[kitemanks]

Well, bitterness should be around 15 acording to their website..., and I place the color in the same area based on my other beers 14-15. My brother wants me to brew this but I taste no nutty-ness, or vanilla at all. My pallet is week i guess. Maybe I'm used to vanilla soda being over the top vanilla. I think if you keep the to the color around 14-15 using chocolate and some crystal and then use some mild hops getting the bitterness to 15 and then shoot for a 4.7% ABV everything should work out. I wouldn't use all 2nd row either. A little victory or Munich will get this where it needs to be also. SB-05 is what I'll be using, along with straight Tettinang, or perle, to easy to overshoot the mark with chinook. I hate brewing just 5 gallons so I'll do 10 hope its a good one. I think double infussion to give it that decotion flavor and then chilling with a plate chiller should strip alot of the vanilla out hopefully, making it balanced like the commercial brew. Anyone else chiming in??

 

[jolee1868]

I am currently in Breckenridge and had the Vanilla Porter for the first time today. It is easily top 3 favorite beers of all time. I am fairly new to homebrewing still doing brewer's best extract kits to get the hang of things. However, i would love to make this beer. I talked to the brewmeister today and he was a great guy and real encouraging too a NOOB. I tried getting info out of him subtely but he didnt really say much. He let me try a vanilla porter still fermenting made with belgian yeast and it was great too had a definate twang to it. Ill be checking back into this thread to see if anyone has some suggestions. Have a good one all

-P.S.--> First post So excited

 

[kitemanks]

Hmmm. I'll have to vault the Belguim yeast thing... and correct my color of 15 to 22 from my previous statement. I Brewed my first try at cloning this beer today. I'll keep anyone interested up to date on how it goes.

 

[tm999xxx]

Any updates? This beer has been a seasonal favorite of mine over the last few years.. Fairly consistent from my tastes too. I'd love to make a home version.

 

[djbradle]

Meh . ..you can have the three left over from the sixer I bought a while back. Hated it.

 

[kitemanks]

I put the vanilla in the last 10 minutes of the boil and it smoothed the flavor but I didn't notice any vanilla almost like the real thing. I also added more vanilla once kegged. and I still really didn't taste it. I hit this for some reason with beer gas and it now tastes similar to guiness. When you make this beer carbonate it at 2.2 and you should be fine. It tasted so good in the fermenter I had to have a glass... even flat it was fantastic.

 

[kitemanks]

I think the big opportunity with the recipe I came up with is the Chocolate Malt. Either less of it or none at all.

10 Gallon recipe

16.25 lbs Pale malt
1.00 lbs Caramel/Crystal malt-60L
.50 Black Patent malt (500 SRM)
.50 Chocolate Malt (350 SRM)

Single infusion mash @ 154 90 minutes

.65 0Z Perle (6.5%) boil 90 minutes
.75 OZ Tettnang (4.8%) boil 90 minutes
10 minute boil Servomyces 1 capsule +.50 Wyeast nutrient
Oxygenate with stone at a rate of 1 liter/minute for 2 minutes.

Ferment @ 68 with SB-05 for 7 days in connical. Keg and check final gravity.

 

[SonOfLiberty]

Thanks so much Kite. I'm having my first taste of this brew and really liking it. I was looking at an earlier posting that listed Chinook and Goulding additions.Is there a reason you left them out. Same with the roasted barley. I would expect a small addition of vanilla beans as well as a 3-4 day addition of raw beans to the secondary. That would add the vanilla. Your recipe looks delicious and I may do a 5gal batch just to try it out. Thanks for taking the time to experiment and share. Maybe with a few of us working together and sharing, we can tweak it to what it should be.

 

[kitemanks]

I Love lacing and or legs on my glass and I always have flaked on hand but many breweries don't use flake anymore. If seems mills are a little tougher than they used to be. This allows the Breweries to customize the roast they use. A good example is Guiness Draught.

In this recipie attempt I was trying to 1)match the color 2)match the gravity 3) match the IBUs 4) match as many of the primary ingridents as possible. I think that goal was achieved.

Im my opinion the commercial beer has alot of coffee flavor that is not overpowering. I think the vanilla really smooths this out. I don't even taste vanilla in the fore front, middle, or end of the beer. I think the vanilla translates to a sweetness that quiets the coffee not making it so robust.

So I added the Black patent (milled as well) because I felt I could get a heavier coffee flavor and by not using very much maintain the redish color of the beer. I also didn't use Chinook hops because my boils sometimes go long and that is a high alpha hop. Some times, I believe the hops listed on websites to be a bit misleading. Some are used interchangably by the brewer or in such a ratio that at our volume of beer the mix is negligable. Trying to hit a low IBU beer is easier without using a high alpha hop. That should do it.

 

[SonOfLiberty]

Thanks Kite. The insight is golden. I agree that breweries list hop additions that may be negligible to the homebrewer and may be misleading. This is why I tend to rely more on homebrewer experience.

I'm going to give your recipe a go round. Probably on a 5 gal scale to test. I'd like to add some vanilla beans to the secondary for a couple days. May break it into two 2.5 gal batches, one with and one w/o, to taste.

I've been looking for a good porter to add to rotation and I may have found it. I plan to brew next weekend. I hope to post my results (I suffer from CRS at times)

 

[jbsg02]

This beer is so much better if you can find it on tap somewhere, the bottled version really doesn't do it justice

 

[cherokee180c]

Not the same beer, but I've tried the vanilla porter from Dry Dock Brewing and found it excellent. They have homebrew versions of their recipes on their site. I've got the AG version of the vanilla porter clearing now.

I have this NB all grain kit in my secondary with the included 5 vanilla beans floating in the carboy. The only thing I was really disappointed in was the grind of the grain from NB. It was poor, and I missed my OG to the low side pretty significantly. Hopefully the beer will still taste good. I brewed the Caribou Slobber kit from NB that I purchased at the same time and my buddy re-ground the grains. I actually exceeded the OG targets significantly from the higher efficiency.

 

[MrSpiffy]

Not the same beer, but I've tried the vanilla porter from Dry Dock Brewing and found it excellent. They have homebrew versions of their recipes on their site. I've got the AG version of the vanilla porter clearing now.

I'm having a tough time finding any recipes on their site. My guess is they've taken them down since your post. Any chance you still have the recipe?

 

[SonOfLiberty]

This beer is so much better if you can find it on tap somewhere, the bottled version really doesn't do it justice

I did some looking and it is not available in Austin or any of the surrounding towns (that I am aware of). The bottled version was really good though. If/When I make it up to Colorado, I'll definitely have to try it on tap!

 

[tjderrington]

My wife and I had the Breck Vanilla Porter at the Brewery after a full day on the slopes back in January. She flew a six pack back to Houston with her not knowing we could find it at the local HEB. She loves the stuff, for me its just ok. I can attest that it tastes much better on tap after a day on the slopes!