Caramel cream ale?

[iloman]

I also didn't make a starter in time, I used "EasYeast" American Ale yeast. Never used their yeast before but the bottle said it had 4 million viable yeast cells and didn't need a starter for a standard 5 gallon batch of beer.

I have some questions on this bearing in mind I've only done about 6 batches now. From what I've read and been listening to on The Brewing Network it sounds like that many yeast cells would attenuate quickly making what would normally be a dry beer. Is that correct? Does it matter that much in this recipe considering all the flavors and un-fermentable sugards that are in it?

Jason

 

[Cheesefood]

I have some questions on this bearing in mind I've only done about 6 batches now. From what I've read and been listening to on The Brewing Network it sounds like that many yeast cells would attenuate quickly making what would normally be a dry beer. Is that correct? Does it matter that much in this recipe considering all the flavors and un-fermentable sugards that are in it?

Jason

Smack Packs contain <dr evil voice>100 billion</dr evil> cells. 4 million isn't a lot. You'll end up with a few trillion cells after everythings done fermenting.

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

<dr evil voice>100 billion</dr evil>

tag humor=geek

someone who thinks tag humor is funny=also geek


I guess that's me... :cross:

 

[Cheesefood]

tag humor=geek

someone who thinks tag humor is funny=also geek


I guess that's me... :cross:

You'll also notice my sloppy coding. I kinda left the tag open.

<?php echo "<div class=dr_evil_voice>100 billion</div>"; ?>

CSS is so much more efficient.

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

You'll also notice my sloppy coding. I kinda left the tag open.

<?php echo "<div class=dr_evil_voice>100 billion</div>"; ?>

CSS is so much more efficient.

Well I didn't want to embarrass you, but since you brought it up...

:cross:

 

[debtman7]

Smack Packs contain <dr evil voice>100 billion</dr evil> cells. 4 million isn't a lot. You'll end up with a few trillion cells after everythings done fermenting.

Those are the big activator packets, the standard wyeast smack packs say '15-18 billion when fully activated', so I'd guess that when you buy the dormant pack, it's something significantly less than 15-18 billion. I got mine wrong, it had 4 billion cells, not million, but I still would have liked to have done a starter. Oh well, I pitched the yeast at 4PM and it was bubbling away the next morning, so probably good enough. Plus since I had nearly 6 gallons in a 6.5 gallon fermenter, it's probably good that the yeast got off to a slow start...

 

[DG Paul]

What an amazing thread. This sounds like a great brew. Gonna do it once I move my primary to secondary. Think I'll do version #1. Should be ready in time for Christmas consumption.

 

[Pedro-]

Yes I also want to throw this together for x-mas.

And pages ago, my fiance loves the smell when I brew. And loves the beer too! My (male) roommate on the other hand came out and said, "Uaghhh, GOSH, That's what stinks!" later that brew session, "I'm a miller lite man myself". Oui. hah

Oh well. To each his own I guess.

I can't wait to try this one. I have only kegged but I think I would like to bottle some of this brew too. A little off topic but if I were to bottle into some growlers, and use the coopers drops, would simply adding 5 (1-12oz, 64/12=5.3) drops do the trick? Or would I be messing with a little too much sugar/beer and end up with some rather large bottle bombs?

I wanted to do this to experiment a little with some spices, beyond that I think I would use some 12/20 ouncers.

Then again doing that much volume I guess I could just batch prime.

This should be moved to a new category, "Eternal and Illustrious Threads"

 

[Cheesefood]

What an amazing thread. This sounds like a great brew. Gonna do it once I move my primary to secondary. Think I'll do version #1. Should be ready in time for Christmas consumption.

ANother brewer in S.N.I.Z.Z.L.E. territory! Woo hoo!!!

 

[flubdubman]

I don't really have much to add to this thread... It's just that... well, I read the entire thread... I have a lot of time invested here (your tax dollars at work ) I felt like after that much reading, darn it, I deserve a post, don't I? Doesnt take much to make me happy... a twenty page thread on Carmel Cream Beer... Yep, that'll work

This one is definately in line for one of my first brews in the new place. Prolly right after my very first brew, which I hope will be a ten gallon BigBeer/SmallBeer batch deal.

Cheers!

 

[JoeRags]

Ingredients procured... I cant wait to brew this one tomorrow!

 

[Reverend JC]

Put this in primary last night at about 2:00 in the morn. didnt start brewing till 8:30.

about 4 today it was bubbling about once every 30 seconds. went to dinner got home about 9:30 and the airlock is rocking. one bubble/second. huge krausen..............................can not wait to transfer and taste.

 

[JoeRags]

Brewed this one tonight... the day after thanksgiving... Smelled delicious the whole way through.

Cant wait for this one!

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

Brewing right this moment... more or less (I made a few adaptations given the peculiar tastes of my audience... but I'll post my version later).

HOWEVER- I forgot to buy the lactose, and the stores are (one would imagine) closed. If I don't put the lactose in the boil... how big of a deal is that? Can I put it in at primary? Secondary?

Please advise-

Your vanilla brother-
The Cap'n

 

[veggiess]

You can add the lactose at bottling, just boil first in the water with your priming sugar. It's unfermentable so this is a fine time to add it.

 

[herkojerko]

I brewed up a batch last Sunday and checked on it before I went to bed. The airlock had blown off and the foam was running down the carboy. Cleaned it up and put on a blow off tube. It is still bubbling about 5 bubles a minute 5 days later.

 

[jezter6]

I just brewed it as well. I don't know if the plain wheat DME listed in the v1.0 recipe is the same as Bavarian Wheat DME, but that was all they had and what we used. It smelled good with the crystal and extra light, but that Bavarian wheat smelled rough after putting it in.

Never new DME was so darn foamy...after pouring 6 pounds into 6.5-7 gallons wort, I had about 8 or 9 inches of foam..almost had an all foam boil over in a 14 gal pot!!

Tasted good during hydrometer. Forget what it 'should' be, but I got about 1.050 or so with it. I tasted no vanilla at all in my hydrometer test, so I think that'll be $5 saved if I try this again. Will update to see how it turns out.

 

[debtman7]

I just kegged it today. I had added 1/2 C lactose and 2 oz vanilla after cooling and tasted it a week ago. We ended up adding 6 more ounces of vanilla extract (8 total) along with 2 ounces of bourbon and another 1/2 C lactose. That's a ton of vanilla, but I think it's pretty balanced. With 4 ounces total I could barely taste the vanilla. I also added an old vanilla bean I had around, split, and let it sit another week in the fermentor to mellow out. Tasted today and it was great, nice vanilla taste and the bourbon really adds a nice dimension, but you can still taste the malt and hops. I'm pleased with the end result, even though I added a lot of vanilla... It tastes like how I wanted the AB Vanilla Bourbon Cask Ale to taste Next time I think I'll do some oak chips as well...

 

[Jester]

I just bottled my second keg of this... still a great brew...!!!! one of the most asked for out of the beers I've brewed... people get upset when they come over and I'm out of the caramel cream ale...

debtman, thanks for leaving the amount of additives you've used... I was thinking of adding some oak chips and bourbon to the next batch...

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

Well, bottling now...

And it seems to have been hit by some kind of diacetyl bomb... eep.
It's like opening a bag of popcorn...

Oh well. It's...interesting. I'll add some vanilla extract (going to get it now), and sweeten it up some more, and maybe the diacetyl will disappear in the bottle...somehow?

Oh well.

 

[the_bird]

Vanilla popcorn... mmm....

Maybe you should send me something else for FFB, m'kay?...

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

Ha!

Actually, the buttery taste has now basically disappeared... not sure AT ALL what happened, but there you go. There may have been something in my baster? ("wine thief"?) Now it's just caramel-vanilla-y, and very sweet. Made for SWMBO. You may not like it anyway, I'll send you a sweet potato ale.

I'll be sending around a variety of beers, I think

 

[the_bird]

Sorry to kick your ass yesterday, BTW. Actually, no, I'm not sorry at all...

Too bad Eli Manning decided to start sucking.

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

Yeah, seriously. He turned on the suck hard-core. In fact, given his performance LAST week, the only acceptable description is one that I borrow from Spaceballs. He's "gone from suck to blow!!!"

Congrats though- Ron Dayne is an unearthly beast.

 

[Cheesefood]

So I noticed in the orig. recipe it states:

Malts
3 pounds extra light DME
3 pounds light wheat DME
1 pound Caramel Caramel 60L (steeped for 45 minutes)

Hops
1oz Cascade for bittering (60 minutes)
.5oz Saaz for flavor (20 minutes)
.5 oz Tettnang for aroma (end of boil)

Yeast
WLP008 East Coast Ale

Extras
1 tsp Irish Moss (15 minutes)
A blend of:
4oz Lactose, disolved in 2 cups of boiled water
2-3 oz real vanilla extract
Added to the secondary and stirred.

A second version (the BOILING RIGHT NOW version) states that youre susposed to use >1cup lactose and 1 1/4 cup LIGHT DME during the priming stage.

Is this the 'preferred' method or shall I stay with the version above?

-=gp125racer=-

The second version is less sweet and has less vanilla. I liked both versions and created the second in response to those who thought the original was too sweet.

 

[gp125racer]

Thanks for the response Cheesefood. Not sure why I started a new thread for that question ... it was late I guess thats my only excuse

-=gp125racer=-

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

D'oh! Opened one too early - I "lost track of time" (okay, I ran out of patience) and opened it at 10 days in the bottle. No head, a bit of carbonation. (sigh).

It is, however, going to be incredible. IN-credible. Very, very drinkable, and yummy.

 

[Fiery Sword]

I've had my batch aging for over a month now and it hit the taps this weekend. first day out i get a call from my brother that the majesty of the Carmel Cream has re-affirmed (his) SWMBO's faith in the homebrew. Some would take this a s knock on the local product (a commonly leveled SWMBO complaint) but I think it's testament to this recipe's longevity. Truly, truly a great beer.

FTR, I went with 1 cup lactose and no vanilla anything at bottling/kegging. It is simply excellent.

 

[Cheesefood]

I've had my batch aging for over a month now and it hit the taps this weekend. first day out i get a call from my brother that the majesty of the Carmel Cream has re-affirmed (his) SWMBO's faith in the homebrew. Some would take this a s knock on the local product (a commonly leveled SWMBO complaint) but I think it's testament to this recipe's longevity. Truly, truly a great beer.

FTR, I went with 1 cup lactose and no vanilla anything at bottling/kegging. It is simply excellent.

No vanilla at all?

Glad everyone liked it.

 

[Fiery Sword]

No vanilla at all?

My thoughts at bottling/kegging (I bottled half and keg/forced half) were that if I could taste vanilla I was not going to add extract or the cognac/vanilla mix - if the distinct tast of vanilla wasn't present...the I'd spike it with vanilla. Next time around (and this will happen soon) I think I'd go with a bit of the vanilla cognac but as-is w/o sweetning it is still excellent. I probably aged it out for longer than required, but the clarity of the end result is more than i would have thought for the half-wheat base.

I can't say it enough - this is a great, great beer.