Caramel cream ale?

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First post! I've been poking around on this site for a week or so now, having recently decided to try my own home brewing. I'm not a huge drinker (in fact, I dont really drink) but I do love beer and trying beer. My main purpose for homebrew is 1) a new hobby since i cant do much diving in Atlanta 2) gifts for friends/family

Anyway, I found this and decided this will be my first beer I try.

I've already got some equipment (actually, nothing that I can use) for making my own mead (have an ancient orange going).

Cant wait to make this up and give it a taste in about a month (wont start until next week)

:drunk:
 
I'm sorry for being a noob... but I have some questions. I bought all my ingredients today from Northern Brewer.

I realized, this being my first beer, I dont really know what to do :(

I've read some posts on here, and sticky posts and this is kind of my take, but I dont know the exacts (and I want to!)

1. Heat water (spring) -- not sure what temp?
2. Add malt extract (and grains?) and bring to boil
3. Keep at boil (at what temp?) and watch for boilover, and once foam stops, add hops and follow the schedule?

ORRRRRRRRR

1. Heat water to ~165 F, add grains (caramel) and steep for 30 minutes @ 155 F (do I put them in a bag?)
2. Remove grains
3. Add the light wheat DME and extra light DME to water and stir (should this be a bag?)
4. Bring all back to a boil, watch for boilover and boil for 60 minutes
5. How long should this go?
6. With 60 minutes left, add cascade pellets (should these be in a bag?)
7. At 20 minutes left, saaz hops (bag?)
8. At 15 mins left, add in the lactose
9. At 10 mins left, add tettnang and irish moss and 2 oz vanilla
10. Do I leave everything in the wort to cool, pitch yeast, leave everything still in wort and seal to ferment?

I'm doing the 1-2-3 staging, so then after 1 week in the 2nd stage, do I add in priming ingredients, or is that RIGHT before I bottle?

Thank you guys for your help! I probably should have chosen an easier brew, now that I'm looking back...
 
ctufano said:
1. Heat water to ~165 F, add grains (caramel) and steep for 30 minutes @ 155 F (do I put them in a bag?)
2. Remove grains
3. Add the light wheat DME and extra light DME to water and stir (should this be a bag?)
4. Bring all back to a boil, watch for boilover and boil for 60 minutes
5. How long should this go?
6. With 60 minutes left, add cascade pellets (should these be in a bag?)
7. At 20 minutes left, saaz hops (bag?)
8. At 15 mins left, add in the lactose
9. At 10 mins left, add tettnang and irish moss and 2 oz vanilla
10. Do I leave everything in the wort to cool, pitch yeast, leave everything still in wort and seal to ferment?

I'm doing the 1-2-3 staging, so then after 1 week in the 2nd stage, do I add in priming ingredients, or is that RIGHT before I bottle?

Thank you guys for your help! I probably should have chosen an easier brew, now that I'm looking back...
Click to expand...

1. Yes, in a bag.

2. right.

3. Yep, stir in the extracts. Take the pot of the heat and stir it in. It'll dissolve, like making Kool-aid.

4, 5, 6. Yes. Bring to a boil. Start a timer for 1 hour (60 minutes) and drop in the first hops. Those are your 60 minute hops. From now on, you'll be counting back to 0.

7. With 20 minutes left, add the saaz hops. Bag or no bag- it doesn't matter a bit.

8. Yes

9. Yes.

10. Turn off the heat, and take the pot to the sink and put it in an ice/water bath to cool it rapidly. Gently stir the water bath to avoid "hot spots". You can check the temperature with a sanitized thermometer and stir the wort gently with a sanitized spoon, so that it cools faster.

Once it's below 75 degrees, pour into your fermenter and top up with water to 5 gallons. Check the temperature again, to make sure it's between 62-75 degrees (mid 60s is best) and add the yeast. Cover, airlock, and wait a week.

If you're using a clearing vessel (bright tank), you can rack to it in about a week, or when you're at the FG expected. Right before bottling, mix up your priming solution, add to the bottling bucket, and rack the beer into the bottling bucket, so that it gently "swirls" around at the bottom to mix. You can gently stir with a sanitized dowel or long handled spoon if you want. The idea is to put the tubing at the very bottom of the bottling bucket when you rack, so that you fill the bottling bucket from the bottom and it'll mix well as you fill the bottling bucket. Then, fill your bottles.
 
Thank you for the gentle reply! I was fearing a reaping for being so green (and seemingly to me) getting way over my head!

I'm really looking forward to this! As far as 7 & 10, if I dont put the hops in a bag, how do I get them out? Do I need to? If I dont, I pour into my fermenting bucket with everything? From what I can tell, they are meant to flavor and should be removed after certain times.

One other question, is my apartment is around 70-73 at all times. In my kitchen drawer I had my digital food probe and it was on and reading at 74. If my cupboard is the same temp, how will that affect brewing? From what I've read, brewing should be cooler right? My floors are cement, so if needed I can try to figure something out to have my bucket not in a cupboard. Only drawback, are my kittens and their love of playing with EVERYTHING. I'd PREFER to leave in the cupboard at ~74 if possible, thoughts?

Thanks again -- and yooper, been readin lots of your posts on the forum for the last few days as I've gotten into this!
 
ctufano said:
Thank you for the gentle reply! I was fearing a reaping for being so green (and seemingly to me) getting way over my head!

I'm really looking forward to this! As far as 7 & 10, if I dont put the hops in a bag, how do I get them out? Do I need to?

Nope. THere is no need to get em out. When you go to rack to secondary (or tot he bottling bucket... They will have settled to the bottom and you can rack (siphon) right off (over) the top of them.

If I dont, I pour into my fermenting bucket with everything?

You will find some add everything and some try to leave behind the break (stuff). I have done it both ways and they both seem to be fine. For your first time I would just add it all to the fermenter if I were you.

One other question, is my apartment is around 70-73 at all times. In my kitchen drawer I had my digital food probe and it was on and reading at 74. If my cupboard is the same temp, how will that affect brewing?

This could be a problem but is fixable. If the ambient (your room) temperature is already at 73-74... then when the beer gets to fermenting it will rise (the wort temp) 5-10 degrees and be in the 78-84 range which is usually too high (for most styles).

What I have done when temps were too high in my house is put the carboy in a utility sink with cool water and monitor until the wort temp was in the right range.
Click to expand...

Hopefully this helps... Post any other questions you have
 
Definitely helps. I'm trying to determine the best way to cool the bucket. I have a big plastic hamper and going to get my setup going like this I'm thinking.

Only situation THEN, is my kittens. Theyre 9 months old and get into everything. I'm thinking this will be best served in my laundry room. I live in a loft where there are no doors. I have two 'doors' into my room, but neither have an actual door. My closet has no door. Only my bathroom and laundry room. Problem HERE, is its where the water heater is as well as my AC unit and will get pretty warm in there, which means constantly adding new cold ice bottles.

Additionally, should I worry about anything coming off the A/C or washing machines & chemicals? The bucket will be sealed and have a blow off tube going nito a sanitation bottle

I may try a set up out in the open, and see how the cats do with it. Its only a week... maybe they'll be fine :p
 
Oh -- had another question today. I have a 5 gallon pot at home. How much water do I need to boil for my wort? 2.5 gal? Then top to 5 gal in bucket?
 
Interesting recipe. I just drafted this up my own all grain version of this in BeerSmith. I made a few changes:
  • I used a base malt of maris otter because I prefer the distinct crispness of that grain vs. standard 2-row.
  • I've used lactose in my chocolate toffee ale in the past and personally feel that less is more. As a result I've only kept the lactose addition in the boil. It's 0.5# which is more than I used in my chocolate toffee ale, but I think that'll work well here.
  • Similarly I've changed to a single vanilla addition in secondary rather than one in primary (I've found that flavorings in primary often get blown out with the yeast during fermentation) and one at bottling (I'm planning to keg and force carbonate anyway). I've used this technique with my vanilla porter and a vanilla coconut porter successfully.
Otherwise I've made some standard assumptions when changing to all grain such as targeting a six gallon batch for a five gallon final yield, lengthening the boil to 90 mins to minimize DMS, and throwing some rice hulls to prevent a stuck mash given the wheat in the grist. I'm mashing kind of high at 154F and might even adjust that a little higher to retain some residual sugars.

Anyway, you can find the current draft in BeerSmith or BeerXML formats here. Additionally I've posted a text version inline below. Don't know when I'll brew it but it definitely sounds tasty enough that I want to give it a go!

Code: 
Recipe: Vanilla Caramel Cream Ale
Style: Specialty Beer
TYPE: 23A, All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 6.00 gal      
Boil Size: 7.51 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 9.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU      
0.50 lb       Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM)                      Adjunct      4.48 %        
7.00 lb       Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)          Grain        62.78 %       
2.00 lb       Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)                 Grain        17.94 %       
1.15 lb       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)     Grain        10.31 %       
1.00 oz       Cascade [5.50 %]  (90 min)                Hops         18.1 IBU      
0.50 oz       Saaz [4.00 %]  (20 min)                   Hops         3.7 IBU       
0.50 oz       Tettnang [4.50 %]  (0 min)                Hops          -            
0.50 tsp      Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 min)            Misc                       
1.00 tsp      Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min)                Misc                       
4.00 oz       Vanilla Extract (Secondary 14.0 days)     Misc                       
0.50 lb       Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM)            Sugar        4.48 %        
1 Pkgs        German Ale (Wyeast Labs #1007) [Starter 20Yeast-Ale                  


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 10.65 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp     
60 min        Mash In            Add 14.00 qt of water at 169.5 F    154.0 F       


Notes:
------
Base style is 6A, Cream Ale.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
You just have to export it as an xml file and then underneath the reply box there is a "manage attachments" button. You can attach the file there
 
smuth10 said:
You just have to export it as an xml file and then underneath the reply box there is a "manage attachments" button. You can attach the file there
Click to expand...

Yeah, the former (in Beersmith) I use all the time. Wasn't sure how to attach the file here. It says I'm not allowed to post attachments. Is that something I have enable myself or does and admin have to enable that for me?
 
I think you need so many posts before you can do that. Or maybe you need to be a paying member. Not sure, but I am sure you can ask one of the mods to help a brotha out.
 
I just short-circuited things and posted it in BeerSmith and BeerXML formats to my own (otherwise pretty much barren) Web site. You can find the link in my edited post above. Please let me know if you can't access it for some reason.
 
Made this up today as my first batch! Think I did it pretty well, but who knows!

I ended up needing around 1/4 gallon of tap water to finish topping off, aside from the 5 gallons of spring water I bought at store (guess lost it in the boil).

Once I finished topping, I took an OG reading in the bucket and was a little hard to read, but I'm pretty sure it was around 1.055 OG at ~60 to 65 degrees, which I believe is nearly spot on target, ya?

Hopefully my yeast will pick up in next two days and I'll see my blowoff tube in action!
 
PearlJamNoCode said:
I bottled this yesterday, 21 days after my brewdate.

I've got one in the fridge now, I'll save the rest for a week or 2 from now.
Click to expand...

Hey, hows yours look and taste? Mines been in primary for 18 days now, and this is it. Its still pretty hot, and only around 4.6% ABV. Heres mine

29518_676822789669_12815781_37909140_4961498_n.jpg
 
ctufano said:
Hey, hows yours look and taste? Mines been in primary for 18 days now, and this is it. Its still pretty hot, and only around 4.6% ABV. Heres mine
Click to expand...


Looks the same as mine.

Popped a bottle tonight just out of curiosity. Obviously not carbonated yet, but has a GREAT nose. Taste is a little off, somewhat astringent/biting, but will definitely mellow in the coming weeks.
 
Ya, I thought the exact same. Cant wait! I'm going to bottle, and a week in I'm shipping a six pack to my dad down in West Palm -- flying down for a job interview and staying with him the weekend of July 4, so will have some beers out by the pool and smoke some nice cigars. Woo!
 
So I just brewed this one. I got excited after reading countless pages of props given to this recipe. My OG was 1.064, and I am going to try using the 1-2-3 method. Any advise? I followed the recipe to the T so far. I'm only 24hrs in the primary. I used Muntons DME, LD Carlson pellet hops, and White Labs German Ale Yeast WLP029. Primary is at 70 degrees.
 
Made this today - a few not so subtle changes include an extra .5lb of dextrose to the boil, 1lb of amber candy cane sugar, and the use of safale 05 for yeasties. Pitched 1oz of all hops to counter the additional sugars (got lazy and didnt want to store half oz hop pellets). I couldnt get the recipes grain so using Weyermann Caramunich instead, also went full strength wheat as I couldnt get light wheat DME. Added lactose last ten minutes. Cant wait to try it!

OG 1.58 (5.5 gal) - dissapointing with all those extra sugars but there you go. Expecting a 6% ABV pint.
 
ctufano said:
Ya, I thought the exact same. Cant wait! I'm going to bottle, and a week in I'm shipping a six pack to my dad down in West Palm -- flying down for a job interview and staying with him the weekend of July 4, so will have some beers out by the pool and smoke some nice cigars. Woo!
Click to expand...

Did you do the full 4oz of vanilla at bottling? Wondering if that will be too much.
 
I am, too. I tested it the other day, and I didnt taste any of the original. All 4oz here I come! Bottling mine later this week
 
bulldogbrit said:
Made this today - a few not so subtle changes include an extra .5lb of dextrose to the boil, 1lb of amber candy cane sugar, and the use of safale 05 for yeasties. Pitched 1oz of all hops to counter the additional sugars (got lazy and didnt want to store half oz hop pellets). I couldnt get the recipes grain so using Weyermann Caramunich instead, also went full strength wheat as I couldnt get light wheat DME. Added lactose last ten minutes. Cant wait to try it!

OG 1.58 (5.5 gal) - dissapointing with all those extra sugars but there you go. Expecting a 6% ABV pint.
Click to expand...

Interested to see if you ferment all that out. Mine went from 1.055 (brewed to recipe) and has stopped at 1.020, which puts me at I believe a 4.4% or so
 
Made this 4.5 weeks ago.... bottled it 10 days ago. This beer is FANTASTIC. Vanilla still a little strong in the nose and flavor, but some slight hop bitterness is present in the finish. I'm amazed at how well balanced this is for such a new beer.
 
I have had my eye on this recipe for months, now finally going to make the AG version in a couple of weeks.

If anyone has a Trader Joe's near them, they sell 4oz bottles of pure vanilla extract for $4.99.
 
I made this Sunday and it is bubbling along nicely. Can't wait to try it in a few weeks.

The color of it looks really caramely and delicious.
 
Youre gonna love it! This was my first brew, and everyone thats tasted it LOVED it. I brought out about 20 for a crawfish boil, and gave some to people I didnt know at the pool and they asked me what kinda beer it was and where I could buy it!

Def will have to make this one again -- and I added 3oz vanilla at bottling, and it seems to be getting stronger the longer it ages
 
hey all, I brewed this on 5-31 and bottled it two weeks and two days ago. Tried the sample I pulled on bottling day and didn't think the sweetness or vanilla came through much. I also added 3 oz of vanilla at bottling. Popped my first one tonight, excellent carbonation already and it tastes wonderful. I can't wait to see how it ages out given my perceived changes in this short amount of time. I am already thinking I need to get another batch started.
 
I'd say start another batch man! If I could, I would for sure.

I had a friend over yesterday to help me cap my cream stout as I filled the bottles, and he went bat****crazy over this one and sent him home with a 32ozer.

This is one helluva beer -- in my experience, the vanilla comes out even more in time. I, too, added 3 oz at bottling, and I personally like it but get a lot of comments about it being 'candy like' so next time I may cut back to 2oz at bottling
 
ctufano said:
Interested to see if you ferment all that out. Mine went from 1.055 (brewed to recipe) and has stopped at 1.020, which puts me at I believe a 4.4% or so
Click to expand...

I brewed this on 7/2 with an OG of 1.058. Checked it today and it is at 1.018. Going to check again in a couple of days.
 
Malts
3 pounds extra light DME
3 pounds light wheat DME
1 pound Caramel 60L (steeped for 45 minutes at 150'-165')

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

Yeast
Wyeast German Ale

Extras
1 tsp Irish Moss (10 minutes)
4oz Lactose @ 15 minutes
2 oz real vanilla extract

Priming
>1cup Lactose
4oz vanilla (Be careful! This may be too much vanilla for some people.)
1.5 cups light DME

So, my first batch without my hand being held and I goofed already. I added the 1.5 cups light DME to the boil instead of at priming along with the other two DME's. Anyone have an idea what the result will be? Any steps to correct any upcoming problems? Thank you!
 
Is that the only DME you added? What step are you at now? If you havent pitched yeast, I would add the rest of the DME (hell, I'd just add teh 6 pounds total + your 1.5 cups) and go with that, it will be a lil stronger in alcohol than needed but thats ok :)

if you finished the boil and pitched yeast, well, i dunno then. its gonna be very weak :\
 
Yeah! Thank you for the quick reply. We just finished putting it to primary, was at the boiling part when I realized my goof. Cooling it down to pitch the yeast now. We shall see! Thanks again!
 
I took a sample yesterday (3 weeks in). It really tastes quite bitter. I am sure it will mellow out with age. I plan to keg around the 6 week mark. I put 2oz of vanilla in with primary and will put another 2 oz in when I keg.
 
Yeah, mine had a strange mid-tone a couple of weeks after I brewed it but the one I just cracked open is perfect. Give it a little more time. I am going to get another batch going next weekend.
 
Caught off guard with nothing to brew in my pipeline and I am bottling some stuff up today. Just made an order for Brewmasters Warehouse to go pick up ingredients for this brew again!

People loved it the first time, might as well make up some more!
 

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